Stickies

Stickies allows you to write down things, so you don’t have to remember them. This free utility may look like a basic tool, but underneath the surface you’ll find options for quite possibly everything you would ever want from a sticky notes app.

PROS

Set a sticky on a timer: Whether it’s a predetermined day and time or just a couple of hours from now, Stickies allows you to hide your notes and have them appear exactly when you need them. There are even options to create secret notes that are shown and hidden via keyboard shortcut.

Stickies manager: Using the stickies manager, you can group and store your stickies, bring back stickies that you might have accidentally closed, and even attach individual stickies to the windows of third-party apps, so they always go together.

Highly customizable: In addition to text formatting, you can change the color, shape, and opacity of the sticky windows, add scrollbars, roll them up when you don’t need them, etc. Once you get that perfect setup, you can save it as one of several presets.

CONS

Unintuitive: As powerful as the app is, don’t be surprised if it takes you a couple of attempts to accomplish your task successfully. We’ve found that some options in the app, such as the coupling of a sticky with another app, are not as intuitive as they could be.

Cannot combine images and text: Given the number of options present, we were very surprised to see that there isn’t a way to insert an image alongside regular text. When we tried dragging an image into a sticky, we just got the path to the inserted image.

BOTTOM LINE

When compared to Windows’ default Sticky Notes app, Stickies is light years ahead. From the higher level of visual customization to the advanced features like snoozing stickies and coupling them with other apps, this free software is a must if you are in the habit of writing down your thoughts on your computer and feel that the stock Sticky Notes app is too restrictive.