Stickies by Coduo is a sticky-notes app that lives in the Mac menu bar. Click its icon and the Quick Panel opens, with a blank sticky to write in and your recent stickies underneath; press ⌘⇧N anywhere and a new sticky opens on the desktop without the panel. Stickies by Coduo is a separate Mac app from Apple's Stickies, it never reads or changes Apple's notes, and it is not released yet.
What is the Quick Panel?
The Quick Panel is the window that drops from the Stickies by Coduo icon in the menu bar. It lets you write a new sticky and reach the ones you already have without touching the desktop.
It is a fixed 288 × 468 point panel with three parts, top to bottom:
- A header with a settings button and a pin.
- A compose card the same size as a sticky, 264 × 300 points, with a title field and a body.
- A row of your recent stickies, or a short invitation to write your first one if you have none.
How do you write a sticky from the menu bar?
Click the menu-bar icon and start typing: the cursor is already in the body. Then:
- Type a title in the field at the top of the card, if you want one.
- Write the note. Click the T button for bold, italic and strikethrough.
- Leave the pin beside the title off to send the sticky to the stash, or turn it on to put it on the desktop.
- Press Return or ⌘S to save. Return saves the card rather than starting a new line.
Saving with the pin off adds the sticky to the top of the stash, a column of thin slivers on the right edge of the screen that you can hover to read. With the pin on, the sticky opens straight away as its own floating window. Either way the card clears, ready for the next one.
A card with both the title and the body blank does not save, so a stray Return makes nothing. The card's … menu has Copy, which copies the draft's body, and Delete, which clears the draft.
How do you open a recent sticky?
Click it in the row under the compose card. The row holds every sticky you have, pinned and stashed, as small cards showing the first lines of each, ordered by when you last edited them, newest first. About three fit across the panel; scroll sideways for the rest.
Opening a sticky from the row does not change where it lives. A pinned sticky opens at its saved position, or comes forward if its window is already open. A stashed sticky opens in a floating window and returns to the edge when you click somewhere else. The app never opens a second window for the same sticky.
The row is also how you get pinned stickies back after the app has quit. The current build does not reopen them on its own at launch; they stay pinned, and each one opens again from here.
What does ⌘⇧N do?
⌘⇧N creates a new, empty sticky and opens it pinned on the desktop, from whatever app you are in. It skips the Quick Panel entirely.
The shortcut makes an untitled sticky. Titles come from the Quick Panel's title field, and a sticky's own window has no field for one, so a ⌘⇧N sticky keeps the placeholder "Title". If the title matters, write the sticky in the Quick Panel instead.
Can you change the ⌘⇧N shortcut?
Not yet. ⌘⇧N is fixed in the current build, and the Settings window has no shortcut row. The code marks rebinding as planned for later.
That matters if you use ⌘⇧N elsewhere. Apple's list of Mac keyboard shortcuts gives Shift-Command-N as Finder's New Folder command, and until the shortcut can be moved, Stickies by Coduo uses the same keys.
What are the limits?
The Quick Panel and the shortcut do a few things, and the current build has gaps in them:
- The panel pin does not keep it open. The header pin is labelled Keep Quick Panel open, but clicking outside the panel still closes it. Keeping it open is an open task.
- One global shortcut, and it is fixed. ⌘⇧N is the only one, it cannot be changed yet, and no shortcut opens the Quick Panel itself.
- No search. Recents are a scrolling row ordered by last edit, with no search box.
- Three formats. Bold, italic and strikethrough, with no lists or images.
The Quick Panel is where a sticky starts. What happens next is on the pages for pinned floating stickies and the stash at the screen edge. What Stickies by Coduo will cost is on the plans page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the keyboard shortcut for a new sticky in Stickies by Coduo?
⌘⇧N, that is Command-Shift-N. It works from any app and opens a new, empty sticky already pinned to the desktop. It is the only global shortcut Stickies by Coduo has, and it cannot be changed yet.
Does Stickies by Coduo live in the menu bar?
Yes. Stickies by Coduo puts an icon in the Mac menu bar. Clicking it opens the Quick Panel, where you write a new sticky and open recent ones.
Where does a sticky saved from the Quick Panel go?
By default, a sticky saved from the Quick Panel in Stickies by Coduo goes to the stash, as a sliver on the right screen edge. Turn on the pin beside the title first and it opens on the desktop as a pinned sticky instead.
Can the Quick Panel stay open while I work?
Not yet. The Quick Panel in Stickies by Coduo has a pin labelled Keep Quick Panel open, but the panel still closes when you click outside it.
Is the ⌘⇧N shortcut the same as Apple's Stickies?
No. Stickies by Coduo is a separate app from Apple's Stickies and does not read or change Apple's notes. ⌘⇧N in Stickies by Coduo creates a sticky in Stickies by Coduo only.