How to create a new notebook

First, go to the Pluto main menu. Then, click the “New” button. This will create a new empty notebook in the current Pluto session.

How to save a notebook

Notebooks are saved automatically when you run code. When you start typing new code in a cell, this code is not yet saved, but when you run the cell, the code is saved.

When there are unsaved changes in a notebook, you will see a button in the top right corner of the notebook – the “Save” button. Clicking this button will run all unsaved cells in one batch, which will automatically save the notebook.

How to preview and run a notebook

When you first open a Pluto notebook, it opens in safe preview mode. This lets you explore the notebook without running any code yet. In this view, you can:

• Read through the code and verify you want to run it
• Edit code, move cells around, or hide cells, all without executing anything!
• View md"" and html"" blocks without interpolation (JS and CSS won’t run)

When you’re ready to run the notebook:

• Click the “Run Notebook Code” button to start
• The package environment will initialize
• All cells will execute

How to shut down a notebook

⚠️ Closing the browser tab doesn’t stop the notebook — it keeps running in the background. This means you can reopen the notebook anytime by navigating back to its URL in Pluto’s main menu, and it will appear exactly as you left it without needing to rerun all the cells.

To actually shut down a notebook:

1. Navigate to Pluto’s main menu (the home page with your list of notebooks)
2. Find the notebook you want to shut down in the list
3. Click the button on the left side of the notebook entry

This will completely shut down the notebook and stop its Julia process, freeing up system resources. The notebook will remain in your list so you can easily reopen it later (it will need to rerun from scratch when you open it again).

To remove a notebook from the list: If you want to clear a notebook from your main menu entirely, click the “forget” button on the right side of the notebook entry. This only removes it from the list — the notebook file itself remains saved on your computer.

Tip: To stop all running notebooks at once, you can close the Pluto server by pressing Ctrl+C in the terminal or command prompt where Pluto is running.