Getting started

First launch and setup

What the six-step setup asks, what each choice does, and how to skip it.

On this page

The first time you open Engram, a short splash screen appears (click or press any key to skip it), followed by a six-step setup. It assumes you’ve never used a study app before. You can go back to any earlier step with Back or the numbered steps along the top.

The first setup screen, titled “Learn things, and actually keep them”, explaining the write, remember, test and ask loop

Skip it if you like

On the first screen, Skip setup and use defaults creates an empty profile called “My Study” with the default look and takes you straight into the app. You can change everything later.

The six steps

1. Welcome

A plain explanation of what Engram does: write notes, turn the important parts into flashcards, review them on a schedule, quiz yourself, and ask the optional AI tutor.

2. You

  • What should we call you? Optional. It’s only used to greet you, and it’s stored on this computer. It is not an online account.
  • Name this profile. Required. A profile is a separate workspace with its own notes, cards, theme and timers. Most people need just one. See Profiles.
  • Focus labels. Optional words of your own, like a subject or a course. Type one and press Enter. Engram doesn’t come with any, and they don’t change how anything works.
  • Where your notes are saved. Engram suggests Documents/Engram/<profile name>. Use Browse to choose a different folder, or pick an existing Obsidian vault to use it in place. Your notes are ordinary files in this folder. See Your data.

The “You” step with a display name, profile name and two focus labels filled in

3. Look

Pick a theme pack. Clicking a pack previews it straight away behind the setup window. You can also turn on Reduce effects here, which switches off glow, blur and motion. Everything on this step can be changed later in Themes.

The Look step showing the seven theme packs with colour swatches, and the Reduce effects option

4. Tour

A map of every section in the sidebar and a three-step example of how a note becomes a flashcard.

5. Tutor (optional)

Explains the AI tutor, what it needs and where your data goes, and lets you connect an AI provider now. The tutor chat is the one paid part of Engram. You can press Skip for now and set it up any time. See AI tutor.

6. Start

Choose how to begin:

  • Write my first note: type a topic and Engram opens a new note for it.
  • Obsidian vault, Anki deck or Spreadsheet or markdown: jumps to Import with that source selected.
  • Explore with sample content: adds a few example notes and two small decks (Japanese and JavaScript) so you can try everything. Delete them whenever you like.
  • Start empty: nothing is added.

The Start step with the choices: write a first note, import from Obsidian, Anki or a spreadsheet, explore with sample content, or start empty

After setup

The sidebar on the left (a menu button on narrow windows) takes you to every section. Press Ctrl + 1 to 9 (Cmd on a Mac) to jump between the first nine sections. The bar across the top shows how many cards are due, the time, and which profile you’re in.

Next: learn how Notes work, or go straight to Decks and cards.