Pasting Content

Press Ctrl+V and BetterStickies works out what you pasted (a screenshot, code, a web page, a link, a Markdown file) and formats it to match your note.

What Gets Recognized

You don't have to tell BetterStickies what's on your clipboard. It checks in this order and uses the first thing that fits:

You copied	What lands in your note
A screenshot or image	The picture itself, right where your cursor is
Files or folders	Clickable shortcuts with an icon for each file type
Code	A monospace code block with a tinted background
Markdown	Real formatting: headings, bold, lists, checkboxes, code blocks
A web page, email, or document	The formatting that matters, restyled to fit your note
A web address	A clickable link with a globe icon
Anything else	Plain text in your note's own font and color

A small note pops up briefly at the bottom of the note telling you what was detected, and how to change it. It appears once per kind of paste each time you run the app, so it never becomes noise.

Screenshots and Images

Copy any image (a screenshot, a picture from a web page, a file from your file manager) and paste. The image appears inline and is saved with your notes, so it survives a restart.

Double-click an inline image to see it full size. See Images & Screenshots for display modes and sizing.

Files and Folders

Drag files from your file manager into a note (or copy and paste them) and each becomes a clickable shortcut with an icon matching its type. Click one to open it. See File Shortcuts.

Code

Multi-line text that looks like code (brackets, semicolons, indentation, keywords like import or SELECT) becomes a code block automatically, in a monospace font on a tinted background.

If it guesses wrong, press Ctrl+Z straight away, or select the text and press Ctrl+M to turn it back into normal text. Ctrl+M also works the other way: select any text and press it to make a code block by hand.

Pasting into an existing code block always keeps the text as code. No detection runs there.

Markdown

Paste raw Markdown (from a .md file, a GitHub comment, or a chat message) and it turns into real formatting: # headings become titles, - [ ] becomes a clickable checkbox, fenced blocks become code blocks, and links become clickable.

Rich Text from the Web

Content copied from web pages, emails, and documents keeps the formatting that carries meaning (bold, italic, links, lists, highlights, and headings) while adapting to your note:

Fonts and sizes are dropped so the text takes on your note's own font, and keeps following it if you change it later. Monospace text is kept as monospace
Big bold headings become Title or Subtitle formatting
Deliberate colors (red, blue, navy) are kept; near-black and near-white text adopts your note's text color so it stays readable on a colored note
Highlights are preserved exactly
Images hosted online become clickable placeholders: click one to open the original in your browser
Tracking pixels (invisible images that report when you open an email) are removed

Web Addresses

Paste a URL on its own and it becomes a clickable link with a globe icon. Right-click it to rename, copy, or remove the link.

Pasting as Plain Text

Press Ctrl+Shift+V to skip all of the above and paste raw, unformatted text in your note's own style. Nothing is detected, converted, or announced.

Capturing the Clipboard Without a Note Open

Press Ctrl+Alt+V from anywhere on your system (even when BetterStickies isn't focused) and a brand-new note appears with your clipboard already in it, everything above still applies, and the note is given a title based on what you captured. Text, formatted content, and screenshots all work.