diff --git a/app/components/SimpleEditor/ContainerEditor.js b/app/components/SimpleEditor/ContainerEditor.js
index b28e25672fc85229056746745acb1edc6ed74b94..e2e44955ddb5cc5667ba2df8d5c1cabe129939a4 100644
--- a/app/components/SimpleEditor/ContainerEditor.js
+++ b/app/components/SimpleEditor/ContainerEditor.js
@@ -48,10 +48,12 @@ class ContainerEditor extends SubstanceContainerEditor {
   }
 
   didMount () {
+    // TODO -- replace with super
     Surface.prototype.didMount.apply(this, arguments)
+
     this.container.on('nodes:changed', this.onContainerChange, this)
-    if (this.isEmpty()) this.createText()
 
+    if (this.isEmpty()) this.createText()
     if (this.isReadOnlyMode()) this.addTargetToLinks()
   }
 
diff --git a/app/components/SimpleEditor/elements/note/NoteTool.js b/app/components/SimpleEditor/elements/note/NoteTool.js
index d27d83f51dfd204e25e2db88cf8cc743f4a983f0..c66a6e4e404f73e2673b6e3518c3f86ebbb1c50b 100644
--- a/app/components/SimpleEditor/elements/note/NoteTool.js
+++ b/app/components/SimpleEditor/elements/note/NoteTool.js
@@ -1,6 +1,29 @@
+import { isUndefined } from 'lodash'
 import { AnnotationTool } from 'substance'
 
-class NoteTool extends AnnotationTool {}
+class NoteTool extends AnnotationTool {
+  renderButton ($$) {
+    const el = super.renderButton($$)
+    const readOnly = this.isSurfaceReadOnly()
+
+    if (!isUndefined(readOnly)) el.attr('disabled', 'true')
+    return el
+  }
+
+  getSurface () {
+    const surfaceManager = this.context.surfaceManager
+    const containerId = this.context.controller.props.containerId
+
+    return surfaceManager.getSurface(containerId)
+  }
+
+  isSurfaceReadOnly () {
+    const surface = this.getSurface()
+    if (!surface) return
+
+    return surface.isReadOnlyMode()
+  }
+}
 
 NoteTool.type = 'note'