diff --git a/Sources/HeardCore/MeetingNoteComposer.swift b/Sources/HeardCore/MeetingNoteComposer.swift
index f36dfa8..720bba8 100644
--- a/Sources/HeardCore/MeetingNoteComposer.swift
+++ b/Sources/HeardCore/MeetingNoteComposer.swift
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import SwiftUI
 
 /// Floating composer for in-meeting notes. Hotkey opens the panel; the panel
 /// becomes key immediately so the first keystroke goes into the field. Esc
-/// cancels, Cmd+Return submits.
+/// cancels, Return submits, Cmd+Return inserts a newline.
 @MainActor
 public final class MeetingNoteComposer {
     public static let shared = MeetingNoteComposer()
@@ -159,16 +159,28 @@ private struct MeetingNoteComposerView: View {
                     RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 6)
                         .stroke(Color.secondary.opacity(0.3))
                 )
+                .onKeyPress(.return) { press in
+                    if press.modifiers.contains(.command) {
+                        if let tv = NSApp.keyWindow?.firstResponder as? NSTextView {
+                            tv.insertNewline(nil)
+                        }
+                        return .handled
+                    }
+                    guard !text.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).isEmpty else {
+                        return .handled
+                    }
+                    onSubmit(text)
+                    return .handled
+                }
 
             HStack(spacing: 8) {
-                Text("⌘↩ to save, Esc to cancel")
+                Text("↩ to save  ·  ⌘↩ new line  ·  Esc to cancel")
                     .font(.caption)
                     .foregroundStyle(.tertiary)
                 Spacer()
                 Button("Cancel") { onCancel() }
                     .keyboardShortcut(.cancelAction)
                 Button("Save Note") { onSubmit(text) }
-                    .keyboardShortcut(.return, modifiers: [.command])
                     .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent)
                     .disabled(text.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).isEmpty)
             }
diff --git a/handoff.md b/handoff.md
index 0d0b3ef..c0a93e7 100644
--- a/handoff.md
+++ b/handoff.md
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ The app builds cleanly with `swift build` and runs as a menu bar app on macOS 15
 
 ### In-Meeting Notes
 - During an active recording, the user can press a global hotkey (default Ctrl+Shift+N, configurable in Settings → General → Meeting Notes) to open a small floating composer panel.
-- Composer is an `NSPanel` subclass overriding `canBecomeKey` so the text editor takes focus immediately; first keystroke goes into the field. Esc cancels, Cmd+Return saves.
+- Composer is an `NSPanel` subclass overriding `canBecomeKey` so the text editor takes focus immediately; first keystroke goes into the field. Esc cancels, Return saves, Cmd+Return inserts a newline.
 - The note's recording-relative timestamp is captured at panel-open time (not submit time), so a slow typer's note still anchors to when they reacted.
 - Notes are stored on `RecordingSession.notes` while the meeting is in progress; carried into the `PipelineJob` when recording stops; persisted in `pipeline_queue.json` (with backwards-compat decoding for pre-feature queue files).
 - If the user submits *after* the meeting has ended, `PipelineProcessor.attachNoteToFinishedJob(at:text:)` finds the matching enqueued/processing job by wall-clock time and attaches there instead.