Customizing Your Notes

Every note in BetterStickies can look different — change colors, fonts, backgrounds, and more to suit how you work.

Quick Customization

These options are available directly from a note's header buttons:

Button	What it does
Pin	Lock the note in place and make it read-only — unpin to edit again
Always on top	Keep the note above all other windows
Collapse	Shrink the note to just the title bar — click again to expand

Note Settings

Click the Settings button (gear icon) in any note's header to open its settings.

The Note Settings dialog

Font and Text

Font family — pick any font installed on your system
Font size — 8pt to 72pt (you can also zoom with Ctrl+Mouse Wheel)
Text color — click the color button to pick a color
Line spacing — adjust how much space appears between lines (100%–200%)

Note Color

Click the Background Color button to change the note's color. You can pick from preset colors or choose any custom color.

Background Opacity

Use the slider to make the note more or less transparent (1%–100%). The preview updates live as you drag the slider — so you can see exactly how it'll look. Line spacing also previews live.

Note Size

Set the exact width and height of the note. You can also resize notes by dragging any corner.

Background Images

You can set a photo, pattern, or GIF as a note's background.

Setting a Background

Two ways:

In Note Settings, click Choose Image...
Drag an image file directly onto the Note Settings dialog

Supported Formats

Format	Notes
PNG, JPG, BMP, WebP	Standard image formats
SVG	Vector — stays crisp at any size
GIF	Animated — loops automatically
ICO, TIFF	Also supported

Adjusting the Background

Use the Background Opacity slider to blend the image with the note color. At lower opacity, text is easier to read over busy images.

Removing a Background

In Note Settings, click Remove Image to go back to a plain color background.

Screenshot coming soon

A note with a subtle background image at reduced opacity, with readable text on top

Note Title

By default, notes show their creation date in the header. To set a custom title:

Double-click the date in the header
Type your title (up to 50 characters)
Press Enter to save

The title appears in search results and makes notes easier to find.

Show on All Desktops

If you use multiple virtual desktops, you can make a note visible on all of them by right-clicking and selecting Show on All Desktops. See Virtual Desktops for platform details and how to set it as the default.

Defaults for New Notes

Changes in Note Settings only affect that individual note. To change the defaults for all new notes:

Open Menu > Settings from the hub
Adjust the Note Defaults section

Screenshot coming soon

The Note Defaults section in Global Settings showing font, color, size, and checkbox options

You can set defaults for:

Font family and size
Background and text color
Note size
Background opacity and line spacing
Always on top — whether new notes float above other windows
Show on all desktops — whether new notes appear on all virtual desktops
Confirm before deleting — show a confirmation dialog when deleting notes

Existing notes are not affected — only notes you create after changing the defaults.

Not sure what a setting does? Hover over any section heading in Settings — a tooltip pops up explaining what it affects.

Grid Snapping

If you like your notes neatly organized, turn on grid snapping:

Open Menu > Settings from the hub
Find the Grid section
Switch from Free Form to Snap to Grid

When enabled, notes snap into a grid when you drag them. A faint grid overlay appears while dragging to help you align notes. Each note uses its own size as the grid cell, so different-sized notes still align cleanly.

Free Version

The free version supports 1 animated GIF background. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited GIF backgrounds on all your notes. Static images (PNG, JPG, SVG, etc.) are unlimited in both versions.