Backing Up Your Notes

BetterStickies saves your notes automatically and keeps a backup copy in case anything goes wrong. You can also sync your notes across computers.

Where Your Notes Are Stored

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

This folder contains your notes, reminders, deleted notes (trash), and any screenshots you've pasted.

You can also find this path in Menu > Settings under the Data Storage section. There's an Open Folder button that takes you right there.

Automatic Backups

Every time BetterStickies saves, it keeps a backup copy of your notes, your reminders, and your trash. If a main file ever gets corrupted (power outage, crash, or a sync glitch), BetterStickies automatically recovers from the backup the next time you open it.

It also keeps a couple of daily snapshots as an extra safety net (a copy of how each file looked at the start of the last day or two) in case a problem isn't noticed until later.

There's one deliberate exception. If a file is ever completely empty (you deleted every note, you emptied the Trash, or something outside BetterStickies wiped the file) that empty version is never kept as a backup or a snapshot. The older copy stays instead, so an accidental wipe is still recoverable.

Two things are worth knowing about that exception:

• This one isn't recovered automatically. An empty file isn't a damaged file. It looks perfectly normal to BetterStickies, which has no way to tell "someone wiped this" apart from "you deleted everything on purpose". So the app opens empty and simply leaves the older copy alone for you. If that wasn't what you wanted, restore it yourself using Restoring from a Backup below.
• The old contents linger for a while. After you delete everything, the matching backup copy still contains what you deleted. Adding something new doesn't clear it straight away. The copy is refreshed on the following save, so it hangs around one step longer than you'd expect. And if you empty the Trash and never delete another note, that copy keeps the emptied items indefinitely.

You don't need to do anything. This all happens in the background.

Files you might see in the data folder

Alongside your notes, you'll notice some extra files. These are all part of the safety system and are safe to leave alone:

If you're ever unsure, the safest recovery copy is the matching *.backup.json, or the most recent *.snapshot-… file.

Manual Backups

To make your own backup, just copy the data folder somewhere safe. Everything you need is in there.

You can also use Export Notes to save all your notes as a text, Markdown, or JSON file.

Syncing Across Computers

If you use a cloud sync service like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive, you can point it at the data folder to keep your notes in sync across multiple computers.

The data folder is designed to be sync-friendly. It only contains your notes and related files, not machine-specific settings like window positions or theme preferences. Those stay separate so syncing doesn't cause conflicts.

How to Set It Up

1. Find your data folder (see the table above)
2. Set up your sync service to watch that folder
3. On your other computer, point BetterStickies to the same synced folder

A Word of Caution

Cloud sync works well for keeping notes backed up and accessible. However, editing the same note on two computers at the exact same time could cause a conflict. Most sync services handle this by keeping both versions, but it's worth being aware of.

Restoring from a Backup

If you need to restore your notes from a backup:

1. Close BetterStickies
2. Copy your backed-up data folder to the location shown in the table above
3. Reopen BetterStickies

Your notes will appear just as they were when the backup was made.

See Also

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