Backing Up Your Notes

BetterStickies saves your notes automatically and keeps a daily copy of them in case anything goes wrong. You can also make your own manual backup.

Where Your Notes Are Stored

Your notes live in a data folder inside the BetterStickies configuration folder:

Inside the data folder, the notes folder holds one file per note (notes in the Trash included). From version 1.5 a note's reminder is kept inside that note's file. Next to the notes folder are any screenshots you've pasted and any sound clips you've added.

You can also find this path in Menu > Settings…, at the bottom of the General tab, under Data Storage. There's an Open Folder button that takes you right there.

On Windows, the Microsoft Store version and the version you download from betterstickies.com use this same folder. If you have both installed, they show the same notes. Update both to 1.4 before you use the other one again: whichever 1.4 you start first converts your notes to the new format, and the other one simply finds them. An installation still on 1.2 cannot read the new format and opens empty, and notes it saves then are not merged (see Going Back to an Older Version below).

Automatic Backups

Once a day, the first time BetterStickies saves, it writes a copy of all your notes, including the Trash, to the backups folder shown above. The last 7 days are kept, so a problem you only notice later is still recoverable. The backups folder sits outside the data folder on purpose: anything that damages the data folder can't reach it.

Two things keep those copies safe:

• If there's nothing to copy (every note deleted, or the notes folder emptied by something outside BetterStickies), no daily copy is made, so the older copies stay.
• If a note couldn't be read, no old copy is deleted until it can be read again.

From version 1.5 your reminders are part of your notes, so the daily copy includes them too.

The first time you start version 1.5, it updates your notes to its new format (you don't need to do anything) and first saves a copy of them as notes-before-1.5.json in the backups folder: your notes as the earlier version left them. That copy is never deleted automatically, and it's what you need if you ever go back to 1.4 (see Going Back to an Older Version).

If a single note file is ever damaged, BetterStickies can't fix it on its own. It skips that note, leaves the file where it is, and tells you when it starts. See Restoring from a Backup below.

Files you might see in the data folder

Manual Backups

Close BetterStickies, then copy the complete data folder somewhere safe. That copy contains your notes, reminders, and the screenshots and sound clips BetterStickies keeps for them. It does not copy external files referenced by file shortcuts or a background image selected from elsewhere on your computer.

You can also use Export Notes to create a readable text or Markdown archive, or a structured JSON copy. Exports do not bundle image files and BetterStickies does not currently have an Import command.

Syncing Across Computers

You can use a cloud service like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or Syncthing to keep your notes on more than one computer by syncing the data folder.

Use BetterStickies on one computer at a time. Close it on one computer and let the sync finish before opening it on the next. A later version will add a safe way to keep notes on several computers.

Updating to version 1.5? Update every computer that shares the folder. Once one computer has started 1.5, version 1.4 says Newer Version Needed and closes instead of opening the notes, so nothing gets mixed up.

Updating to version 1.4? Version 1.4 stores each note in its own file. Update every computer that shares the folder to 1.4 before using BetterStickies on it again, and let your sync service finish after the first computer updates. A computer still on an older version saves notes in the old format, and 1.4 doesn't mix those into your notes: it keeps them aside and tells you (see Troubleshooting).

From version 1.4.2, the pictures and sound clips stored in your data folder work on every computer that shares the folder, even where the data folder sits at a different path. Anything a note only links to stays where it is: a background image chosen from elsewhere on your computer, a file shortcut, or a sound clip over 50 MB (which is linked, not copied; see File Shortcuts) may not work on another computer.

Restoring from a Backup

Everything from a manual backup: close BetterStickies. Rename the current data folder (to data-old, say) so nothing is left in its place, then copy your backed-up data folder to the location in the table above and reopen BetterStickies. Don't copy the backup over the existing folder: the files from both would mix, and a backup made before 1.4 would not be restored at all (BetterStickies would keep its notes aside instead, as described in Troubleshooting). Keep data-old until you've checked your notes. From version 1.4.2, the pictures and sound clips stored in your data folder come back too, even when you restore on another computer or under another user name.

One note from a daily backup (for example a note BetterStickies reported as unreadable): close BetterStickies and open the newest good daily copy (notes-YYYYMMDD.json in the backups folder) in a text editor. Find the note's entry: everything between its matching { and }, starting before its "id". Save that entry on its own as a new file in the notes folder, named after the id with .json on the end (for example 3f2a…-…9c.json), replacing the damaged file. Then reopen BetterStickies.

All notes from a daily backup: close BetterStickies. In the data folder, rename the notes folder (to notes-old, say). Copy the daily copy you want into the data folder twice: once named notes.json and once named deleted_notes.json (the second brings back the Trash). Reopen BetterStickies. It imports them into a fresh notes folder, just as it did when you first updated to 1.4 (this replaces the two .migrated files from that first update, so copy those somewhere else first if you want to keep them). A daily copy made by version 1.5 or later brings your reminders back with the notes; one made by an earlier version (or notes-before-1.5.json) brings the notes back without reminders.

Going Back to an Older Version

From 1.5 to 1.4

Version 1.4 can't read notes saved by 1.5: it says Newer Version Needed and closes. To go back by hand:

1. Close BetterStickies and install version 1.4. Don't start it yet.
2. In the data folder, move the notes folder somewhere else (out of the data folder).
3. Copy notes-before-1.5.json from the backups folder into the data folder twice: once named notes.json and once named deleted_notes.json (the second brings back the Trash). If the data folder already has notes.json.migrated and deleted_notes.json.migrated from your update to 1.4, copy those somewhere else first if you want to keep them: this step replaces them.
4. Rename reminders.json.migrated back to reminders.json, and reminders.backup.json.migrated back to reminders.backup.json, whichever of the two you have.
5. Start version 1.4.

You get your notes and reminders as they were when you first started 1.5. Notes and reminders you created or changed in 1.5 aren't included. For newer notes, copy the latest daily backup into the data folder as notes.json and as deleted_notes.json instead of notes-before-1.5.json in step 3; its reminders are inside the notes, where 1.4 doesn't read them, so step 4 still brings back only the reminders you had before 1.5.

On Windows and Linux, a note that was set to the old Inter font comes back in your system's standard font.

If you later update to 1.5 again, it updates your notes again from what 1.4 left, and makes a new notes-before-1.5.json and new .migrated files in place of the old ones.

To a version before 1.4

Versions before 1.4 can't read the new notes folder and will open empty. If you must go back:

1. Close BetterStickies and install the older version.
2. In the data folder, rename notes.json.migrated to notes.json and deleted_notes.json.migrated to deleted_notes.json. If you've already used version 1.5, also rename reminders.json.migrated back to reminders.json.

The older version then shows your notes as they were when you updated to 1.4. Notes you created or changed in 1.4 aren't included (they stay in the notes folder). For something newer, copy the latest daily backup into the data folder as notes.json and as deleted_notes.json instead: it's at most a day old.

If you later update to 1.4 again, you get the notes 1.4 had. Anything the older version saved in between is kept aside as notes.json.not-imported-… rather than mixed in; you can open it in a text editor to copy text out.

See Also

• Export Notes: save notes as text, Markdown, or JSON
• Trash & Recovery: restore recently deleted notes
• Troubleshooting: help with common issues