Sticky Notes That Stay on Your Mac Desktop

How to Put Sticky Notes on Your Mac Desktop

1. Choose a Pad

   Click a pad on the “Board”, the tray that holds three pads, or press ⌘1 for the “Tall pad”, ⌘2 for the “Vellum pad” or ⌘3 for the “Cloud pad” (a pad of clouds, not cloud storage; with Peel & Stick Pro).

2. Write on the Top Sheet

   Type on the sheet in front of you. The first plain line becomes the note’s bold title. Choose “Checklist” in the tools for boxes to tick.

3. Peel It Off From the Bottom

   Drag the sheet from its bottom edge until the glue lets go and the paper curls. Let go too early and it sticks back down.

4. Drop It on Your Desktop

   Let go where you want the note; over the “Board”, it lands just beside it. A blank sheet is thrown away, not pinned. To pin without dragging, choose “This Note” ▸ “Pin” in the tools.

5. Answer the Screen-Sharing Question

   The first time you peel a sheet off, Peel & Stick asks whether your notes should show when you share your screen. Choose “Show Them” or “Keep Them Private”. You can change this later for any single note, from its menu.

6. Edit It Later on the Pad

   Double-click the note, or hover over it and click the pencil, “Edit on the Pad”, to send it back to its pad. Peel it off again when you’re done.

Floating Sticky Notes, Above Your Other Windows

Each sticky note you pin on your Mac desktop with Peel & Stick is its own borderless window. It floats above your ordinary windows, so it stays in sight while you work in another app.

It doesn’t take focus, either. Tick a box and you stay in the app you were typing in, which suits a to-do list sticky note on your Mac desktop. From any app, press ⌥⌘N (“Quick Stick”) for a fresh sheet on the pad, then peel it off. It’s Peel & Stick’s sticky note keyboard shortcut for Mac.

macOS can’t promise every case: an app that uses a higher window level, and some full-screen Spaces, can still cover a note.

Sticky Notes on All Desktops, and Over Full-Screen Apps

Pinned notes join every Space, so they follow you between desktops and stay put in Mission Control. They can also appear over a full-screen app.

When another app in front fills a whole display, as full-screen video or a presentation does, pinned notes fade to 40%. To keep them at full strength, turn off “Fade notes during full-screen video and presentations” in Peel & Stick’s Settings.

Fading isn’t hiding: to keep a note out of what others see, hide sticky notes when screen sharing. The same floating notes work as notes on top during a video call. With more than one screen, each note remembers its display: see sticky notes on a second monitor.

See-Through Sticky Notes With “Vellum Blue”

“Vellum Blue”, one of the 4 free papers, turns see-through once you pin it. It blurs whatever is behind it, so your windows show softly through the paper.

On the pad it is drawn solid, and with Reduce Transparency turned on in macOS it stays solid when pinned too. The “Tall pad” and the “Vellum pad” both include “Vellum Blue” sheets, and “Type & Paper” ▸ “Paper” in the tools switches the sheet you’re writing on to it. See Vellum Blue among all 16 papers.

What a Note Pinned to the Desktop Can Do

A pinned note is for reading: you can tick its checkboxes and drag it anywhere, but you can’t type on it, so a stray click never changes your words.

Put the pad away and your notes stay on screen; quit Peel & Stick and each one reopens in the same spot. Without Pro you can keep 3 notes pinned at once (a fourth sheet goes back onto the pad), and Peel & Stick Pro removes the limit.

Pinned paper also reacts to moving air: a quick pass of the pointer, or a window set down nearby, lifts its free edge, and the paper settles back without sliding. Reduce Motion turns this off, and it needs no Accessibility or Screen Recording permission.

Hover over a pinned note and up to three handles appear beside its top-left corner:

• The ×, “Unstick and Throw Away”, throws the note away without asking. It can’t be undone.
• The pencil, “Edit on the Pad”, sends it back to its pad with the cursor in it.
• The padlock, “Lock This Note”, opens a short explanation, then locks the note where it hangs. Locking is free on every plan. An open locked note shows “Lock Again Now” instead.

Questions