# Quick Note vs sticky note on Mac

> **TL;DR** Quick Note is a feature of Apple Notes on the Mac, not a separate app: press and hold the Fn or Globe key and press Q, or move the pointer to the bottom-right hot corner, and a note opens that stays visible over other apps while it is open. It saves into the Quick Notes folder in Notes, so it reaches your iPhone and iPad through Notes, and by default it reopens your previous Quick Note. A sticky note is different: it lives on the desktop as its own window. Stickies by Coduo, a Mac app that is not released yet, makes a new sticky already pinned with ⌘⇧N from any app, and every sticky is its own floating window, so several stay up at once. Use Quick Note to capture into Notes; use sticky notes for several short notes you want in view.

Quick Note is Apple's built-in way to jot something down from any app on a Mac, and it is a feature of Apple Notes, not a sticky-notes app. It opens a note over whatever you are doing, and that note is saved into Notes. A sticky note lives on the desktop as a window of its own. Which one you want depends on whether the note is headed into your notes library or should stay in view.

Facts about Quick Note below come from Apple's Notes and Mac user guides, read on 2026-09-25. Facts about Stickies by Coduo, a Mac app that is not released yet, come from its source code.

## What is Quick Note on a Mac, and how do you open it?

Quick Note is a note from Apple Notes that "stays visible on the screen while it's open", in Apple's words, so you can write in it while you work in another app. You open it in one of three ways:

1. Press and hold the Fn key or the Globe key, then press Q.
2. Move the pointer to the bottom-right corner of the screen, the default hot corner for Quick Note, and click the note that appears.
3. In Safari, choose Add to Quick Note to add the page's link, or Control-click selected text to add it with a highlight.

Every Quick Note lands in the Quick Notes folder in the Notes app. By default, opening Quick Note again brings back the previous one. To get a fresh note each time, choose Notes > Settings and deselect "Always resume to last Quick Note". One more limit from Apple's guide: you can't lock a Quick Note.

## Is Quick Note a sticky note?

Not really. A Quick Note is a Notes note in a window that stays on top while it is open, and it lives in your Notes library once you close it. A sticky note is a note that stays on the desktop as its own window, next to other sticky notes.

Apple's guide describes Quick Note as a single note you resume, and it does not describe keeping several Quick Notes open at once. We have not tested whether macOS allows it. If you want three short notes in view side by side, that is what a sticky-notes app is for.

## What does Quick Note do better?

Quick Note puts your note inside Apple Notes, and that brings a lot with it. It is built into the Mac at no cost. Your iCloud notes reach your iPhone and iPad through Notes, so a Quick Note written on the Mac is waiting on your phone. Stickies by Coduo runs on a Mac only.

Notes also forgives mistakes. Upgraded iCloud notes keep a Recently Deleted folder that holds deleted notes for 30 days. Stickies by Coduo deletes a sticky the moment you choose Delete, with no confirmation and no trash.

Then there is Safari. Quick Note can save a page's link, or a highlighted passage, straight from Safari, and when you return to that page a thumbnail of the Quick Note appears to remind you. Stickies by Coduo has nothing like it. And a Quick Note can hold everything a note in Notes can, where a sticky in Stickies by Coduo holds text formatted bold, italic or strikethrough.

## How is a sticky in Stickies by Coduo different?

Stickies by Coduo makes a new note each time and keeps every note [in its own window](https://www.coduo.co/stickies/features/pinned-floating-stickies). [Press ⌘⇧N in any app](https://www.coduo.co/stickies/features/quick-panel-and-new-sticky-shortcut) and it creates a sticky that is already pinned and opens it. Press it again and you get a second one; the first stays where it was.

A pinned sticky is a borderless window at the floating window level, so it stays above your other apps. It appears on every Space and over full-screen apps, and it keeps the position and size you give it. Several can float at once.

When you no longer need a sticky in view, click its pin. The window closes and the sticky becomes a colored sliver at the right edge of the screen. Hover over the sliver to peek at that one card; click it to open it again. Quick Note has no resting place like that: it is open over your work or it is in the Notes folder.

There is also a menu bar panel. It composes a new sticky, which saves to the screen edge, or as a pinned window if you switch on the pin beside its title, and it shows your stickies with the most recently edited first.

Limits worth knowing before you compare further:

- ⌘⇧N is fixed for now; the app cannot rebind it yet.
- The menu bar panel closes when you click outside it, even with its own pin switched on.
- There is no iPhone or iPad app, and no link to Apple Notes in either direction.
- Sync is built on your private iCloud database but has not yet been checked between two Macs.

## Can you turn Quick Note off?

You can turn off the hot corner. Open System Settings, click Desktop & Dock, click Hot Corners, and set the bottom-right corner to another action. Apple's Quick Note page does not describe a way to turn off the Fn-Q or Globe-Q shortcut, so we cannot give you one here.

If the problem is that Quick Note keeps reopening an old note, you do not need to turn it off: deselect "Always resume to last Quick Note" in Notes > Settings.

## How do Quick Note and Stickies by Coduo compare?

| | Apple Notes Quick Note | Stickies by Coduo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | A feature of Apple Notes | A separate Mac app, not released yet |
| Price | Part of macOS | See [plans](https://www.coduo.co/stickies#pricing) |
| Open from anywhere | Fn or Globe + Q; bottom-right hot corner | ⌘⇧N, fixed for now |
| What the shortcut opens | The previous Quick Note, by default | A new pinned sticky every time |
| Several notes in view at once | Not described in Apple's guide | Yes, one window per sticky |
| Stays above other apps | While it is open | Every pinned sticky |
| Where notes rest | Quick Notes folder in Notes | Slivers at the right screen edge |
| iPhone and iPad | Yes, through Notes | No, Mac only |
| Recover a deleted note | Recently Deleted, 30 days (iCloud) | No |
| Safari links and highlights | Yes | No |
| Formatting | Everything Notes supports | Bold, italic, strikethrough |
| Lock a note | No | No |

## Which should you use?

Use Quick Note when the thought belongs in your notes library: a link to read later, a passage from Safari, an idea you want on your phone tonight. It is free, already there, and everything it captures lands in Notes.

Use a sticky-notes app when the note is meant to stay in view while you work, and especially when you want more than one. Stickies by Coduo is built for that: ⌘⇧N for a fresh floating note every time, and a sliver at the screen edge when you want it out of the way. It is not released yet; the [plans page](https://www.coduo.co/stickies#pricing) has the details.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the difference between a Quick Note and a sticky note on a Mac?

A Quick Note is a note in Apple Notes that opens over other apps from Fn-Q or a hot corner and saves into the Quick Notes folder. A sticky note is a note that stays on the desktop as its own window, as in Apple's Stickies or Stickies by Coduo. Quick Note reopens your previous note by default; a sticky app keeps several notes up at once.

### What is the Quick Note shortcut on a Mac?

Press and hold the Fn key or the Globe key, then press Q. Moving the pointer to the bottom-right corner of the screen and clicking the note that appears also opens a Quick Note, because that corner is the default hot corner for it.

### How do I turn off Quick Note on a Mac?

To stop the bottom-right corner opening Quick Note, open System Settings, click Desktop & Dock, click Hot Corners, and choose a different action for that corner. Apple's Quick Note page describes no way to turn off the Fn-Q shortcut.

### Does Stickies by Coduo sync with Apple Notes or Quick Note?

No. Stickies by Coduo never reads from or writes to Apple Notes or Apple's Stickies. It keeps its own notes and is built to sync them through your own private iCloud database.

### Is there a Stickies by Coduo app for iPhone?

No. Stickies by Coduo is a Mac app only, for macOS 15 or later, and it is not released yet. If you need a quick note on your iPhone too, Quick Note saves into Apple Notes, which is on iPhone and iPad.