--- title: "Currency, time zones and units inside your notes" author: Pedro Thomaz source: https://coffeetext.app/blog/currency-time-zones-units-in-notes --- # Currency, time zones and units inside your notes > Checked November 2026 against the Apple pages linked below. Coffee isn't affiliated with Apple. In Coffee, you write the conversion as an ordinary line, such as `$30 in EUR`, `Tokyo time` or `5 km in miles`, and the answer appears beside it, with nothing added to your file. Units and time zones are worked out on your Mac. Currency conversions need exchange rates, and so a connection. Numbers follow your Mac's region unless you change that in Settings, which is why `1,234` can mean two different amounts. This article covers those three things in detail. For sums, percentages, dates and how this compares with Apple's Math Notes and apps like Soulver, see [a calculator inside your notes](https://coffeetext.app/blog/calculator-in-notes-mac). If you only need a quick answer and not a note, [Spotlight](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/search-with-spotlight-mchlp1008/mac) is already on your Mac. Press Command and Space, and type something like `5 miles in km` or `€200 in USD`. ## Currency ``` $30 in EUR €100 in BTC 1 bitcoin in USD 100 ARS in EUR ``` You can use symbols, codes or a few names. `$` means US dollars here. I haven't printed the answers because they move with the rate. **You need a connection for these.** Coffee doesn't load any rates until a note converts a currency. It then asks Coinbase's public rates endpoint, and asks again when the rates are over an hour old and a note converts a currency. The request says nothing about your note. Lines that don't convert a currency send nothing, and `€10 + €5` gives `€15` with no rates at all, as nothing is being converted. Offline, one of two things happens: - If Coffee has never fetched rates, the line shows no answer. - If it has fetched rates before, it uses the last ones it saved. Once those are a day old, the line says so beside the answer, as in `rates 3 days old`. The same words go in with the answer in a PDF, an HTML export or a print. On a line too full to fit them, the answer shows alone, and copying an answer copies only the figure. So if a figure matters and you see that, check it before you rely on it. These are rates for a rough sum, and your bank or card may charge you something different. ## Time zones The answers below are for a Mac in Lisbon at 14:30 on a November day. Yours will depend on where you are and when you ask. | You write | Answer | |---|---:| | `Tokyo time` | 23:30 | | `New York time` | 09:30 | | `Time in Madrid` | 15:30 | | `PST time` | 06:30 | | `now in Berlin` | 15:30 | | `10 am in New York` | 05:00 | | `14:30 in Tokyo` | 23:30 | | `2:30 pm HKT in Berlin` | 07:30 | A time with no zone is in your own, so `10 am in New York` means 10 am where you are. Name a zone first to start from somewhere else, as in the `HKT` line. An answer on a different day shows that day, and lines using the current time keep up as the clock moves, so `Tokyo time` stays correct in a note left open. Neither of these needs a connection. The clock changes for daylight saving, so a line like `2:30 pm HKT in Berlin` gives a different answer at another time of year. Words alone don't count. `Tokyo`, `Berlin` and `the time` get no answer, so a sentence about a trip stays a sentence. ## Units | You write | Answer | |---|---:| | `5 km in miles` | 3.11 miles | | `1 kg to lb` | 2.2 lb | | `1 stone in kg` | 6.35 kg | | `100 C in F` | 212°F | | `1 gallon in liters` | 3.79 l | | `100 km/h in mph` | 62.14 mph | | `90 min in hours` | 1.5 h | | `1 acre in sqft` | 43,560 ft² | | `1 GB in MB` | 1,000 MB | | `1 GiB in MiB` | 1,024 MiB | | `12 pt in px` | 16 px | You can add across units too: `2 km + 500 m` is `2.5 km`. Conversions that make no sense, such as `5 km in kg`, get no answer. Neither does a bare `5 km`, which is just a measurement in a sentence. Answers are rounded for reading, as you can see with miles and gallons. Don't use them where the last decimal matters. ## How your region changes numbers `1,234` is about twelve hundred in the UK and the US. In Portugal or Germany, where a comma marks decimals, it's one and a bit. Coffee has to pick one, so it follows your Mac unless you tell it otherwise. There's a Numbers option under Calculations in Coffee's Settings, with three choices: Automatic, `1,234.56` and `1.234,56`. Here's what that does to the same lines: | You write | With `1,234.56` | With `1.234,56` | |---|---:|---:| | `1,234 + 1` | 1,235 | 2,234 | | `1.234 + 1` | 2.234 | 1.235 | | `12,5 + 1` | no answer | 13,5 | | `1.5 + 1` | 2.5 | no answer | | `1.000.000 + 1` | no answer | 1.000.001 | In the first two rows, both answers are correct by their own rules, and only your region tells you which you meant. The others show what Coffee does with a number that doesn't fit: no answer, rather than a guess. The setting also decides how answers are written. Automatic goes by your [Mac's Language & Region settings](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-language-region-settings-intl163/mac), under System Settings > General, where you can pick a Region. The note itself doesn't carry any of this. It's a setting per Mac, so one note can read differently on two Macs set differently. If you share notes with people in another region, write whole numbers without separators, or check that your settings match. ## Questions ### Do currency conversions work offline? Only if Coffee has already saved rates. It uses those, and shows their age on the line once they're a day old. If it has never fetched them, the line shows no answer. Time zones and units don't need a connection. ### Where does Coffee get exchange rates? From Coinbase's public rates endpoint, once a note converts a currency. It fetches them again once they're over an hour old and a note converts a currency, and the request says nothing about your note. ### Why does 1,234 + 1 give different answers on two Macs? Numbers follow each Mac's region unless changed in Settings. On one set to `1,234.56` the answer is 1,235, and on one set to `1.234,56` it's 2,234. ### Can I change how Coffee reads numbers? Yes. In Settings, under Calculations, Numbers offers Automatic, `1,234.56` or `1.234,56`. ### Are the answers saved in my note? No. They're drawn beside the line, and the file keeps what you typed. PDF, HTML and Print from Coffee include them. --- Written by Pedro Thomaz, who makes Coffee, a Markdown editor for the Mac on macOS 15 or later. It's free for 14 days with no card or account, then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates. More at https://coffeetext.app/llms-full.txt