# Manage notes

> Keep your local view of the pool in sync: discover, import, export, list, and verify your notes.

Your shielded balance is a set of [notes](/concepts/notes) that your client reconstructs from on-chain events and holds in local state, rather than an account the chain keeps for you. The utilities in this group keep that local state current: they pull new notes in, move note material between devices, and cross-check the chain before you spend.

## How the pieces fit

These utilities do three jobs:

-   **Discovery** keeps your local set in sync with the chain. It scans the pool's `Note` events, trial-decrypts them with your [viewing key](/concepts/keys), and reconciles every change since the last sync: deposits that got attested, transfers that arrived, requests that were paid, notes spent from another device. Run it after a transaction lands and before displaying balances.
-   **Import and export** handle notes that discovery can't see. A note received [out-of-band](/concepts/discoverable-vs-oob) is never published on-chain, so the sender hands you its material directly, often inside a payment receipt, and you import it to claim it. The imported note joins your local set as `PENDING` until the next sync confirms it. Export is the same hand-off outward, packaging a note's material for another of your devices. Treat exported material as sensitive: its `noteSecret` reveals the note to anyone who sees it, even though spending it still needs your keys.
-   **Listing and verifying** are the read-side checks. Listing filters your local set by status, asset, or deposit label. Verifying spent status asks the chain directly whether a note's [nullifier](/concepts/commitments-and-nullifiers) has been used, which matters because local state can lag after a failed flow and a spend built on a stale input reverts.

## In this group

-   [Discover your notes](../operations/discover-notes): sync local state from the chain.
-   [Import a note](../operations/import-note): claim a note delivered out-of-band.
-   [Export a note](../operations/export-note): package note material for another device or a receipt.
-   [List notes](../operations/list-notes): filter by status, asset, or deposit label.
-   [Verify spent status](../operations/verify-spent): cross-check the chain before picking inputs.