Hold My Notes vs Apple Stickies
Stickies has shipped with the Mac since 1994 and it is still a fine way to leave yourself a note. Hold My Notes is for the same notes, kept at the edge of the screen instead of on top of your work. Here is where each one is the better pick.
Short version. Stickies is free, already on your Mac, and puts each note in its own window you can drop anywhere. Hold My Notes keeps every note in one deck docked to the right edge: a thin pill at rest, fanned out when the pointer reaches over. It shows over full-screen apps, searches across every note, archives instead of deleting, exports in bulk, syncs between Macs through a folder you pick, and encrypts note bodies on disk. It costs $6.99 once.
Line by line
| Feature | Apple Stickies | Hold My Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, built into macOS | $6.99 once, 3 Macs, free trial |
| Where notes live | Separate windows anywhere on the desktop | One deck docked to the right screen edge |
| At rest | Windows stay open, or collapse to a title bar | A thin pill, one dash per note |
| Over full-screen apps | No, a full-screen app has its own space | Yes, with one switch in the pill's menu |
| Stage Manager | Notes belong to the stage they were opened in | The deck stays on every stage |
| Several displays | Each window sits on one screen | A pill on each screen's edge |
| Search | Find inside the open note | Across every note: titles, bodies, tags |
| Putting a note away | Closing a note deletes it | Archive keeps it, searchable, one keystroke back |
| Formatting | Rich text, any font, images | Bold, italic, underline, lists, checklists |
| Export | One note at a time as text | Any number of notes as Markdown, plain text, a single file or a .stickies archive |
| Sync between Macs | None, notes stay on that Mac | Optional, one plain file per note in a folder you choose, iCloud Drive by default |
| Encryption | Only what FileVault gives the whole disk | Note bodies encrypted with AES-GCM, key in your login keychain |
| Global shortcuts | ⌘N works while Stickies is in front | ⌥⌘N and friends from any app, all rebindable |
| Permissions | None | None: no Accessibility, Input Monitoring or Screen Recording |
| Requirements | Any Mac | macOS 13 or later |
Where Stickies is the better pick
- You want it freeIt is already installed. Nothing to download, nothing to buy.
- Notes as windowsA note pinned beside a spreadsheet, floating on top, placed exactly where you want it. Hold My Notes keeps everything at the edge instead.
- Images and fontsStickies takes pasted pictures, any typeface and any size. Hold My Notes keeps to text with basic formatting.
Where Hold My Notes is the better pick
- Out of the wayThe deck is a 34-pixel stripe until you reach for it, so it never covers the work.
- Full-screen and Stage ManagerThe deck follows you into full-screen apps and stays on every stage.
- Many notesEight in the deck, the rest behind a "+N more" tile, and one window that searches all of them.
- Nothing lost by accidentArchive instead of delete, and ten seconds to undo when you do delete.
- More than one MacTurn on sync and the same deck appears on your other Mac through iCloud Drive, without an account of ours.
- Your notes, your filesOne plain
.hmnotefile per note when sync is on, and bulk export to Markdown or plain text at any time.
Moving your notes over
Stickies exports one note at a time as text through File › Export Text. Paste each one into a new note in Hold My Notes with ⌥⌘N. There is no direct importer for Apple's Stickies database; if you have a lot of notes, moving the ones you still use is usually the right amount.
Questions
Is Hold My Notes a replacement for Apple Stickies?
For notes you want within reach all day, yes. Hold My Notes keeps them in a deck at the right edge of the screen that fans out when the pointer arrives, works over full-screen apps, searches across every note, archives instead of deleting, exports in bulk and syncs between Macs through a folder you choose. Stickies is free, built into macOS and better if you want free-floating windows you place anywhere, with images and rich fonts inside.
Can I move my Apple Stickies into Hold My Notes?
Stickies exports one note at a time as text through File › Export Text; paste each one into a new note in Hold My Notes. There is no direct importer for Apple's Stickies database.
Is there a free trial of Hold My Notes?
Yes. Download the app from holdmynotes.app or install it with Homebrew and try it before buying. The full licence is a one-time $6.99 for up to three Macs, with no subscription.