Text Formatting

BetterStickies supports rich text — you can style your notes with headings, bold text, checklists, code snippets, links, and more.

Basic Formatting

Select some text and press the shortcut (or click the button in the footer):

StyleShortcutWhat it does
BoldCtrl+BMakes text bold
ItalicCtrl+IMakes text italic
StrikethroughCtrl+Shift+XDraws a line through text

All three are toggles — press the shortcut again to remove the formatting. You can combine them (bold + italic, etc.).

If nothing is selected, the formatting applies to whatever you type next.

Headings

Use Title and Subtitle to create headings that stand out:

StyleShortcutAppearance
TitleCtrl+1Large and bold
SubtitleCtrl+2Medium and bold

A note with Title, Subtitle, and body text

Press the shortcut again to turn a heading back into normal text. Title and Subtitle are mutually exclusive — a line can only be one or the other.

Checklists

Press Ctrl+T to add a checkbox at the start of the current line.

  • Check it off: click the checkbox (☐ → ☑) — the text gets a strikethrough and the cursor moves to the next line
  • Uncheck it: click the checked box (☑ → ☐) — the strikethrough is removed

A checklist with checked and unchecked items

Nested Checklists

Press Tab on a checkbox line to indent it, creating a nested (child) item. Press Shift+Tab to move it back out.

You can select multiple checkbox lines and press Tab or Shift+Tab to indent or outdent them all at once.

A nested checklist with parent and child items

Tips

  • Press Enter on a checkbox line to create another checkbox on the next line
  • Press Enter on an empty checkbox line to exit the checklist and go back to normal text
  • Indentation stops if it would leave less than 30% of the note width for text

Code Blocks

Press Ctrl+M to turn selected text (or the current line) into a code block. Code blocks use a monospace font with a dark background — great for code snippets, terminal commands, or anything that should look like code.

Screenshot coming soon

A note with a code block showing a few lines of Python code in monospace font on a dark background

Press Ctrl+M again to turn it back into normal text.

Automatic Code Detection

When you paste multi-line text that looks like code (lots of brackets, semicolons, keywords like import or SELECT), BetterStickies automatically formats it as a code block. If it guesses wrong, just press Ctrl+M to switch it back to normal text.

Exiting a Code Block

Press Backspace on an empty line inside a code block to leave the code block and return to normal formatting.

Pasting Rich Text

When you paste content from emails, web pages, or documents, BetterStickies keeps the meaningful formatting (bold, italic, links, lists, highlights) while adapting fonts and colors to match your note.

  • Fonts are replaced with your note's font (monospace fonts like Courier are preserved for code)
  • Large bold headings become Title or Subtitle format
  • Text colors that are intentional (red, blue, navy) are kept; "design blacks" and near-white colors are remapped to your note's text color so they stay readable
  • Highlights (colored text backgrounds) are preserved as-is
  • External images become clickable placeholders — click to open the original URL
  • Tracking pixels (tiny invisible images from emails) are stripped automatically

Press Ctrl+Shift+V to paste as plain text, skipping all formatting and detection.

Links

Inserting a Link

Press Ctrl+K to insert a link. You can also just paste a URL — BetterStickies automatically turns it into a clickable link with an icon.

  • Web links show a 🌐 globe icon
  • File links show an icon matching the file type (📄 for PDFs, 🎵 for music, etc.)

Click any link to open it — web links open in your browser, file links open in your file manager.

Editing or Removing a Link

Right-click on a link to:

  • Open Link — open it in your browser or file manager
  • Copy Link Address — copy the URL to your clipboard
  • Rename Link — change the display text
  • Remove Link — remove the link formatting (the text stays)

File Shortcuts

Drag a file from your file manager into a note to create a clickable shortcut. BetterStickies recognizes 70+ file types and shows an appropriate icon for each. You can also drag shortcuts back out to copy files. See File Shortcuts for the full details.

Images and Screenshots

Paste a screenshot (Ctrl+V) or drag an image into a note. You can choose between inline display or link mode in Menu > Settings. Hover over image or PDF links to see a thumbnail preview. See Images & Screenshots for display modes, sizes, and more.

Text Color

Press Ctrl+Shift+C (or click the color button in the footer) to change the color of selected text. Pick from preset colors or choose a custom color.

Right-to-Left Text

Press Ctrl+Shift+R to switch the current line between left-to-right and right-to-left alignment. This is useful for Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu text.

BetterStickies also auto-detects RTL text — if the first thing you type in a new note is in a right-to-left script, RTL mode turns on automatically.

Text Size

Hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel to zoom text in or out. The size range is 8pt to 72pt. Headings scale proportionally — if you zoom in, titles and subtitles stay larger relative to body text.

You can also set a specific font size in the note's Settings (gear icon in the header).

See Also

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