A long note shouldn't read as punctuation.
What changes as you type
The marks you type, the pound signs, asterisks and dashes, are drawn in a quieter colour, and the words they mark stand out.
- Headings: the text takes the accent colour and a heavier look.
- Bold: the words look heavier. Italic only dims its asterisks; the words are not slanted.
- Strikethrough: the words are struck through.
- Links: the link text is underlined in the accent colour and the address recedes.
- Quotes: the marker is terracotta and the quoted words are muted.
- Lists: the dash or number takes the accent colour. A finished checklist item is struck through and muted.
Still plain text underneath
Nothing is converted. The markers are still there, and you can select and edit them like any other character. Sizes never change while you type, so a heading stays the size of the line around it. If you want headings at real size and the markers gone, the formatted note editor is a personal setting for that. This view is the default for everyone, and it works the same in patient notes, session notes and long-text fields.
It paints the same constructs the saved note shows, so what is emphasised while you write is what you see afterwards. While you are composing text with an input method such as Japanese or Chinese, the note switches to a plain view until the word is committed.