Hello Christina, thanks! Yes that is correct. If you add the following line

c.ContentsManager.default_jupytext_formats = "ipynb,md"

to your Jupyter configuration, then every ipynb notebook (and md document) that you edit in Jupyter will be saved as a paired notebook. Replace md with your preferred format. And yes, with that default configuration there is no need to edit the notebook metadata.

At some point we will provide a Jupyter extension to make pairing even easier — subscribe to this issue for updates.