Immediate Value
After this tutorial, you’ll create notes from profiles, use templates for consistent documentation, collaborate via @mentions, and set reminders for follow-ups.Prerequisites
- Tutorial 2: Navigating Profiles
Quick-Start Roadmap
- Create your first note from a profile
- Use a note template
- Collaborate with @mentions
- Use rich text formatting
- Set a reminder for follow-up
- Log a manual interaction
What Notes Are For
Notes capture meeting outcomes, call summaries, due diligence findings, and any unstructured information you need to retain. They’re linked to one or more entities (people, companies, opportunities) and appear on their profiles plus in the activity timeline.Task 1: Create Your First Note
Context
Creating from a profile is the fastest method — the entity is pre-linked.Action
- Open any profile (use Cmd+K / Alt+K to search).
- Click “Add Note”.
- The entity is already linked.
- Type your note.
- Click “Publish”.
Expected Outcome
Your note appears in the profile’s Notes tab and in the Activity Timeline.📚 Help Center
Task 2: Use a Note Template
Context
Note templates pre-fill structure (sections, prompts) so your team’s documentation is consistent. Default templates include Meeting Notes, Due Diligence, and Call Summary; admins can create custom templates.Action
- Click “Add Note” from any profile.
- Find the “Templates” dropdown in the note editor toolbar.
- Select a template (e.g., “Meeting Notes”).
- The pre-filled structure appears with sections and prompts.
- Fill in the content → “Publish”. To create your own template: Settings → Note Templates → Create.
Expected Outcome
You’ve published a note using a template with pre-filled structure.📚 Help Center
Task 3: Collaborate with @Mentions
Context
@mentions notify a specific teammate that they should look at the note.Action
- In the note editor, type @.
- A dropdown appears with teammate names.
- Click to select a teammate.
- They receive an email notification about the note.
- Click “Publish”.
Expected Outcome
Your teammate receives an email notification linking to the note.📚 Help Center
Task 4: Rich Text Formatting
Context
Headers, bullets, and emphasis make notes easier to scan during meeting prep.Action
In the note editor, highlight any text to surface the formatting toolbar, or use shortcuts:- Bold: Cmd+B / Ctrl+B
- Italic: Cmd+I / Ctrl+I
- Underline: Cmd+U / Ctrl+U
- Highlight: Cmd+Shift+H
- Bulleted list: type
-then space - Numbered list: type
1.then space - Headers: use the formatting toolbar
Expected Outcome
You’ve created a formatted note with headers, bullets, and emphasis.📚 Help Center
Task 5: Set a Reminder
Context
Reminders surface a follow-up at a chosen date and time, assigned to you or a teammate.Action
- On any profile, click the dropdown menu (top-right, ⋯ icon).
- Select “Set Reminder”.
- Choose a date and time.
- Add a description (e.g., “Follow up on term sheet discussion”).
- Assign to yourself or a teammate.
- Click “Create”.
Expected Outcome
A notification is sent at the scheduled time with the reminder description.📚 Help Center
Task 6: Log a Manual Interaction
Context
Affinity auto-captures email and calendar interactions. Phone calls, in-person meetings, and conference encounters aren’t synced automatically — log them manually to keep the activity timeline complete.Action
- Open the relevant profile, click the dropdown arrow, and choose Log Interaction — or click + Add New in the bottom-left of the navigation sidebar.
- Choose the type: Meeting, Call, or Message. Meetings and calls update Last Meeting and Last Contact; messages update Last Contact.
- Set the date and time.
- Add the people you spoke with under Participants. If someone isn’t in Affinity yet, type their name and choose Add to create them there.
- Under Add note to, add any people, organizations, or opportunities you discussed — you can create missing ones from the picker.
- Save.
Expected Outcome
The interaction appears in the Activity Timeline alongside auto-captured emails and meetings, and counts toward relationship strength.Getting Meeting Notes into Affinity
Meeting notes do more than record what was said: when a note is attached to an external meeting, Affinity’s Data Update agent reads it and suggests field updates for you to review, usually within a minute. A note written on a company or person profile doesn’t trigger suggestions. Three ways to get notes onto the meeting:- Affinity Notetaker (Scale, Advanced, and Enterprise) joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings, captures notes, and attaches them to the meeting automatically. Set your preferences in Settings → Notetaker; admins control org access, internal meeting notes, meeting note language, transcript retention, and summary emails.
- Add the note to the meeting yourself after it happens.
- From a Meeting Prep brief, use Add as note to turn the brief into a note.
Notes from other notetakers, such as Granola, attach to the person and company records rather than the meeting — so they don’t produce suggested field updates.
Common Questions
Can I edit a published note?
Can I edit a published note?
Yes. Open the note and click “Edit” to make changes.
Who can see my notes?
Who can see my notes?
Notes visibility depends on your organization’s permissions and the lists they’re linked to. Notes linked to a shared list are visible to list members by default.
Can I link a note to multiple entities?
Can I link a note to multiple entities?
Yes. When creating or editing a note, you can add multiple entities (people, companies, opportunities) to the same note.
See It In Action
Where to Go Next
- Next tutorial: Tutorial 5: Pipeline Basics
- Learning Paths: Fundraising & IR (Step 3), Portfolio Management (Step 3)
- Help Center: How to create and use Note Templates