# Command line interface parameters
You can use these parameters on the command line interface (CLI) to control the behavior of the application:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
--help | Shows the help screen |
--version | Prints out the version number of the application |
--portable | Runs the application in portable mode |
--clear-settings | Clears the settings and runs the application |
--dump-settings | Prints out a dump of the settings and other information about the application and environment in GitHub Markdown and exits the application |
--session <name> | Runs the application in a different context for settings and internal files |
--allow-multiple-instances | Allows multiple instances of QOwnNotes to be started even if disallowed in the settings |
--action <name> | Triggers a menu action after the application was started (see below) |
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If you run into troubles with your installation of QOwnNotes you may want start
the application with fresh settings without losing your current settings by using
the --session parameter.
QOwnNotes --session test
You may run the application on the command line interface differently on different operating systems:
| Operating system | Command |
|---|---|
| Linux | QOwnNotes (or qownnotes if installed as snap) |
| macOS | /Applications/QOwnNotes.app/Contents/MacOS/QOwnNotes |
| Windows | QOwnNotes.exe |
# Trigger menu actions after startup
With the parameter --action <name> you can trigger menu actions after the application was started.
For example to open the todo list dialog after startup use:
QOwnNotes --action actionShow_Todo_List
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You can get the object names of the menu action from mainwindow.ui (opens new window). Just search for the English menu title. Note that these texts can change over time.
To trigger scripting actions
use customAction_ followed by the identifier of the custom action.
The identifier of the custom action is the first parameter of the script.registerCustomAction
call in the script.
For example to run the custom action myAction start QOwnNotes like this:
QOwnNotes --action customAction_myAction
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If you run QOwnNotes a second time with the action parameter and only have allowed one application instance, then the menu action will be triggered in the first instance.