Most notes don’t need a notebook. You want to write down a phone number, a few things to buy or a decision from a call, and get back to what you were doing. On a Mac you have three good ways to keep sticky notes like that: Apple Notes’ Quick Note, the built-in Stickies app, or a menu bar app like Notestaking. We make the last one, so keep that in mind as you read.
Before lunch
- Review Ana's draft
- Order new keyboard
Phone numbers
Plumber comes Tuesday, 9 to 11.
| Feature | Apple Notes | Stickies | Notestaking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opens with | FnQ or a hot corner | The Stickies app | Menu bar icon or ⌥⌘N, over any app, full screen included |
| Checklists | Yes | No | Yes, check off several at once |
| Rearranging | Notes sort by date or title | Move the windows around | Drag cards and tasks into any order, or onto Today or Someday |
| How notes are grouped | One Quick Notes folder | One window per note | Today and Someday tabs |
| Syncs to iPhone | Yes, through iCloud | No | No |
| Account and internet | iCloud, for sync | None | None. The app connects to the internet only for updates and has no tracking |
| Where notes live | Apple Notes | On your Mac | Plain Markdown files on your Mac |
| Price | Free, built in | Free, built in | Free |
Apple Notes
Quick Note arrived in macOS 12 Monterey. Press FnQ, or move the pointer to the bottom-right corner and click the note that appears, and a Notes window opens over whatever you’re doing. The note lands in a Quick Notes folder in Apple Notes and syncs to your iPhone and iPad.
Pick it if you need your notes on your phone, or if you already live in Apple Notes. The trade-off is that quick notes end up in the same app as everything else you’ve ever written, so they pile up unless you clean them out.
Stickies
Stickies has shipped with macOS for decades. Each note is its own small window in a color of your choice, and Window › Float on Top keeps one above your other apps.
Pick it if you want a handful of notes on screen all the time. It has bulleted lists but no checkboxes, and once you have more than a few notes the windows start covering your work.
A menu bar app
Notestaking lives in the menu bar and stays hidden until you click its icon or press the shortcut. It always opens on top, as a panel on the right edge of the screen, over any app and over full-screen apps too. Esc hides it again.
Inside are two tabs: Today for what you’re doing now, Someday for everything else. Cards can be notes or task lists, and everything moves by dragging. Reorder cards by their left edge, drag tasks from one list into another, or drop a card on the other tab to move it there.
Today
- Send the invoice
- Call the bank before 4
Plan the team offsite
Dates, budget, two venue options.
The menu bar shows how many of today’s tasks are still open. There’s no account and no tracking, and the app connects to the internet only for updates. Notes are plain .md files in your Library folder, which you can open in any editor or back up however you like.
Pick it if you want notes out of sight until you need them, and a short list of what matters today. It’s Mac only, it doesn’t sync, and it’s still in beta.
If you want to try it, download it here.