Numlex Documentation
Numlex is a native macOS notepad calculator. These guides cover installation and everyday use, the full sheet-language reference, and the catalogs behind conversions, formats and live data.
Start here
Using Numlex
Approachable guides to everyday use.- Natural calculations Arithmetic, percentages, money, dates and totals — plain lines that are checked live.
- Variables & functions Assign values with name = expression, reuse them anywhere, and call the built-in math functions.
- Units, currencies & weather Convert 237 built-in units, 166 live fiat currencies, and look up the weather for a place you type.
- Linked answers Turn any answer into a live token that other lines can reuse — change the source, everything follows.
- Sheets & files Named sheets, one-level folders, local storage, .nlx import/export, PDF export and printing.
- Export & print PDF export and printing: File-menu commands, every session option, range and filter behavior, layout and the offline/privacy behavior.
- Settings & appearance The eight Settings categories — General, Notebook, Editing, Numbers, Dates & Times, Constants & Units, Styling and About — and every appearance, formatting and footer behavior.
Syntax Reference
The sheet language, documented from the pinned source reference.- Sheet language How a sheet is written and evaluated: notation, line forms, names, strict versus quiet lines, and the total command.
- Numbers & integer bases Decimal, grouped, scientific and compact literals, quick operators, and exact integer bases (hex, binary, octal).
- Operators & logic Full precedence, arithmetic, comparisons, boolean logic (true short-circuit rules) and the exact-integer bitwise rules.
- Built-in functions All 27 math functions with arity, domains and examples, plus call syntax, nesting and argument separators.
- Tags, subtotals & statistics Tagged rows, divider sections, subtotals, grand totals, tag aggregates, statistics, dynamic random values and the configurable footer statistic.
- Percentages Percent literals, additive vs multiplicative contexts, and every strict phrase pattern — including inverses and 'what %' forms.
- Money & rates Currency markers, ISO annotation, named money values, time rates, and the strict phrase rules that never guess.
- Finance & investments Compound interest, ROI and CAGR, present value, loans, configured sales tax, 2026 income-tax estimates and CPI inflation — strict and fully offline.
- Dates & times The complete temporal reference: dates, duration arithmetic, clocks, timezones, timestamps/ISO, Timespan, video timecode, work calendars and special dates.
- Units & quantities Unit expressions, conversions, quantity arithmetic, strict phrase patterns, cooking densities and custom units.
- Answer tokens How live tokens are created and used: insertion rules, supported answers, unit conversion, copying and precision limits.
Reference
Catalogs, formats, live data and privacy.- Number formats & result display The four regional presets, paste behavior, result display modes, and the custom pattern grammar.
- Custom units & constants Define your own units and app-wide constants: grammar, dependencies, limits and rejection rules.
- Live data & geography Weather lookups, geocoding, distance (Haversine) and DMS/decimal degree syntax — with offline behavior and privacy.
- Unit catalog All 237 built-in non-currency units: ids, labels, explicit aliases, SI prefixes and dimensions.
- Currency reference All 166 ISO 4217 fiat codes, named aliases, input markers, fractional digits and live-rate caching.
- Keyword index Every syntax keyword by type — finite, contextual, free — plus what deliberately is not part of the syntax.
- Privacy & network Local-first by design: what stays on your Mac, every network request the app can make, and how offline fallbacks work.