When opening FSNotes, the note list will initially be empty. If I escape, the notes appear again.
If you have selected an empty folder in the sidebar, then no notes will be shown in the notes list. Typing the escape key shows every note in every folder in the current storage area. There could be other reasons for what you're seeing, but this is most likely.
If this doesn't help, you may want to provide some additional information as to the default storage area set in FSNotes preferences and the notes folder structure you use with FSNotes.
Thanks for the response @peavine 馃槃 I have it currently set to a folder with lots of notes inside of it, so I don't _think_ that's it. Happy to try other things, send videos, or share a screen.
a screenshot of your initial FSN window would help :)
Absolutely! I resized it a little, but otherwise this is what it looks like:

A screenshot with the sidebar visible would be better. From the top menu bar select:
View > Hide/show sidebar
Ah ha! I believe I just figured it out. Apologies @peavine you were right all along. I had ToDo selected in the sidebar and I didn't know it. I thought you meant Folder like a directory in the path that I store all my notes. Not sure how I got here. Thanks for the assist.
Screenshot with sidebar for posterity

I reckon it could be cool to have the sidebar folders listed in a dropdown at the top of the notes column when you hide the sidebar.
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I reckon it could be cool to have the sidebar folders listed in a dropdown at the top of the notes column when you hide the sidebar.