Attribute Data Type:
Attribute Default Value:
Attribute Group:
Attribute Purpose:
Attribute Inherited from Preferences?
Attribute UI-configurable?
Attribute Read-Only?
Attribute Intrinsic?
Attribute First Added:
Attribute Altered:
boolean [other boolean-type attributes]
false
Textual [other Textual Group attributes]
Note text
No
No
No
No
Baseline
8.5.1
Controls the whether the user can edit the text content ($Text) of a note.
$ReadOnly does not affect other note attributes. By default new notes are editable. Besides various read-only system attributes, this attribute is normally used for notes that fetch their content from the web: you do not really want to modify their content or indeed, cannot.
When set to true, to select text in the note you must use Cmd+drag-select instead of the normal drag select.
From v8.5.1, $ReadOnly is exempted from being read-only, even true. This allows you to turn off ReadOnly from the displayed attributes table or from Get Info ▸ Attributes.