How to Hide Sticky Notes When Screen Sharing on a Mac
Answer the First Question
The first time you peel a sheet off a pad, Peel & Stick asks “Show your stickies when you share your screen?” Choose “Keep Them Private”. The answer covers that note and all the others. If you close the window without choosing, it asks again with your next note.
Keep One Note Private
Right-click a pinned note. A checkmark beside “Show When Sharing Screen” means the note shows in a share. Choose it to remove the checkmark, and that note stays out, whatever your default says.
Or Decide on the Pad, Before You Peel
With the sheet still on the pad, open the gear in the tools (“This Note”) and choose “Show When Sharing Screen” so it has no checkmark. The note stays out of a share from the moment it leaves the pad, though the pad itself still shows.
Set the Default for Every Note
Open “Settings…” (⌘,) from Peel & Stick’s menu bar item. Under “When you share your screen”, choose “Keep stickies private”. A note you set on its own keeps its own choice.
Put the Pad Away
The pad itself isn’t hidden from a share, so put it away first: with the pad in front, press Escape, or choose “Hide Stack” from Peel & Stick’s menu bar item. Your pinned notes stay where they are.
Test Before an Important Call
Start a test share or recording in the app you’ll use and check what it shows. If a private note still appears, that app may capture your whole display in its own way, as Settings warns.
Notes Hidden From Your Screen Share, Still on Your Screen
Hiding sticky notes when screen sharing on your Mac changes nothing on your desk. The note stays pinned where you put it, you can read it and tick its checkboxes, and it keeps floating over your work. What changes is that captures which respect macOS window privacy leave it out.
Peel & Stick uses the window privacy setting that macOS gives apps: a private note’s window tells the system to keep its contents out of captures. The note, its shadow and the sheet in flight as you peel it or return it to the pad all follow your choice. Everything else about sticky notes on your Mac desktop works as before.
Keeping a note out of a share doesn’t lock it: anyone at your Mac can still read it. To keep a note’s words out of sight until you open it with Touch ID, your Apple Watch or your login password (depending on your Mac), lock sticky notes on your Mac. Locking and screen-share privacy are both free on every plan.
Hide Notes From Screen Recordings and Screenshots on Mac
The same choice covers more than live shares. A private note is left out of screenshots and recordings you make with ⌘⇧3, ⌘⇧4 or ⌘⇧5, and out of other captures that respect macOS window privacy.
Peel & Stick states this limit in Settings: “Apps that capture your whole display in their own way may still show it.” macOS enforces the setting, not Peel & Stick, so a test share is worth a minute before a call that matters.
A Clean Desktop for Screen Sharing: What Isn’t Hidden
The private choice belongs to pinned notes. These parts of Peel & Stick have no such setting, so they appear in a share like any other window, words included:
- The pad and its top sheet, including a private note you send back with “Edit on the Pad” or “Return to Stack”.
- The Corkboard, which “Corkboard Overview” (⌥⌘Space) opens.
- The idle screen, which “Show My Notes on a Dark Screen” or “Show my notes when the Mac is idle” brings up.
- The Vault window, which “Open Vault” opens.
Talking Points That Stay Out of the Share
If you have ever found your presenter notes visible to others when sharing, keep your points on a pinned note set to private instead. It sits beside the call window, and ticking a box on it doesn’t pull you out of the call. For the whole routine, see notes on top during a video call on your Mac.
By default, Peel & Stick also fades pinned notes to 40% while a full-screen video, call or presentation is in front. That fade (“Fade notes during full-screen video and presentations” in Settings) doesn’t keep a note out of a share.
Questions
How do I hide sticky notes when I share my screen?
Right-click a pinned note and make sure “Show When Sharing Screen” has no checkmark. To set the default for every note, choose “Settings…” ▸ “When you share your screen” ▸ “Keep stickies private”. A note you set on its own keeps its own choice.
Will hidden notes show in screenshots or recordings?
Not in the ones macOS makes with ⌘⇧3, ⌘⇧4 or ⌘⇧5, or in captures that respect macOS window privacy. Apps that capture your whole display in their own way may still show a private note.
Does it work in every video-call app?
Not always. An app that captures your whole display in its own way can ignore the macOS setting and show the note. Do a test share in that app before an important call.
Can I choose which notes are hidden?
Yes. Each note has its own “Show When Sharing Screen” choice, and Settings holds one default for the rest. A note’s own choice wins. With nothing set at all, notes show like any window.
What isn’t hidden?
The pad, the Corkboard, the idle screen and the Vault window. Before you share, put the pad away (press Escape, or choose “Hide Stack” from the menu bar item) and close the others.
Is this the same as the fade during presentations?
No. “Fade notes during full-screen video and presentations” only fades pinned notes to 40% while an app fills your whole screen, such as a full-screen video or presentation. It’s on by default, and faded notes still show in a share.
