Screenshot of Zen Mode activated on a Windows 11 system with native title bar off and background effects on.

When Zen Mode is activated (pictured on the side), most of the user interface of Trilium is hidden away in order to be able to focus on the content, whether it's for reading or writing.

Screenshot of the Zen Mode option in the global menu.

## Activating & deactivating

The Zen Mode can be activated by accessing the global menu and selecting the “Zen Mode” option:

Aside from the global menu, it's also possible to activate this mode by using a keyboard shortcut (which is `F9` since TriliumNext 0.92.5 and `Alt`+`Z` for older versions). Look for `toggleZenMode` in the shortcut configuration.

Once Zen Mode is activated, all the UI elements of the application will be hidden away, including the global menu. In that case, the Zen Mode can be deactivated either by pressing the icon in the top-right corner of the window or by pressing the keyboard combination again.

Do note that, by design, activating or deactivating the Zen Mode applies only to the current window. Restarting the application will also disable the Zen Mode.

## Moving the window around

If “Native title bar” is activated, then the operating system's default title bar can be used to drag the window around. If deactivated, the window can still be moved by dragging the mouse across the top part of the window where the note titles are.

Screenshot of two notes side-by-side while Zen Mode is active, on Windows 11 with background effects off.

## Split windows and tabs

Tabs are completely hidden, however it's still possible to use keyboard shortcuts such as `firstTab` (`Ctrl`+`1` by default), `secondTab` (`Ctrl`+`2` by default). There are also some newer shortcuts such as `activateNextTab` (`Ctrl`+`Tab`) or `activatePreviousTab` (`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Tab`) that allow easy navigation, however make sure that they are configured properly in the settings.

For the split view of notes, there are no keyboard shortcuts at the time of writing, but it's still possible to have them in Zen Mode by creating the split while the Zen Mode is off and then reactivating it afterwards.