Where are Stickies stored on a Mac?

Apple doesn't say where its Stickies app stores notes, but on a Mac running macOS 26.6.2 they are in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Stickies/Data/Library/Stickies/, one .rtfd bundle per note. That is what we found on the Mac this guide was written on (build 25G83); we did not check earlier versions.

The searches around this one are about lost notes ("stickies disappeared mac", "backup stickies mac", "can you recover deleted stickies mac"), so this guide covers why notes vanish, how to back them up with Apple's own options, and what Apple says about deleted notes. The last section covers Stickies by Coduo, a separate menu-bar app from Apple's Stickies that stores its stickies somewhere else entirely. It is not released yet.

Where does Apple's Stickies store notes on a Mac?

On macOS 26.6.2, Apple's Stickies stores notes in its container folder in your user Library, at ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Stickies/Data/Library/Stickies/.

Inside, each note is a separate bundle named with a long ID, like 793A7173-0961-4BFF-A6D2-5A01011AE42C.rtfd, and there is one more file, .SavedStickiesState. RTFD is the export format Apple describes as including graphics, which fits the pictures and PDFs Apple's Stickies lets you drag into a note.

To look at the folder:

1. In Finder, press Shift-Command-G to open the Go to Folder window.
2. Paste the path above and press Return.

Look, but don't edit. Apple documents none of this folder, so there is no promised way to change files in it safely. Quit Apple's Stickies first if you are going to copy anything.

Is it the same on Sequoia and Sonoma?

We don't know, and we would rather say so than guess. The path above comes from one Mac on macOS 26.6.2. Apple's Stickies guide doesn't give a location for any version, and we checked no Mac running macOS Sequoia or Sonoma.

Why did my stickies disappear?

Most likely the Stickies app is closed. Apple's guide says that when Stickies is closed, notes don't appear on your desktop. The files stay in the folder above; open Apple's Stickies and the notes show again.

One other case from Apple's guide: if you upgraded to macOS 14 from macOS 10.14 or earlier and had notes in the Stickies widget in Dashboard, Apple says to follow the onscreen instructions the first time you open Stickies to import them.

How do you back up Apple's Stickies?

Use Apple's two export commands, both in Apple's Stickies:

1. One note: select it and choose File > Export Text. You pick where it goes and the format: plain text, RTF, or RTFD, which keeps pictures.
2. All notes: choose File > Export All to Notes, then click Export All. Every note goes into the Notes app, organised into one folder per note colour, and the notes also stay in Apple's Stickies.

The second is the better backup if you use iCloud for Notes, because from then on the copies live in Notes, which syncs across your Apple devices. File > Import Text brings a single exported file back in as a note.

Copying the container folder somewhere else also gives you a copy of the files. Apple documents no way to restore from that copy, though, and we did not test one, so rely on the export commands.

Can you recover a deleted sticky?

Not from anything Apple documents. You delete a note in Apple's Stickies by clicking the box in its top-left corner and choosing Delete Note, and Apple's guide describes no undo and no trash after that.

The Notes app is different. iCloud notes have a Recently Deleted folder that keeps notes deleted in the last 30 days. Apple adds that without an upgraded iCloud notes account, or in a non-iCloud account, there is no Recently Deleted folder and deleted notes are gone for good. So a note exported to iCloud notes has a 30-day safety net; the same note deleted in Apple's Stickies has none.

Where does Stickies by Coduo keep its stickies?

Stickies by Coduo keeps every sticky in one file, ~/Library/Application Support/Stickies/stickies.json.

The code builds that path from the Application Support folder, and the app is not sandboxed, so it is the one in your user Library rather than inside a container. A development build wrote the file to exactly that path on the Mac this guide was written on. It never reads or writes Apple's Stickies folder or the Notes app.

What is in the file, from the code:

• One entry per sticky, with its ID, title, body text as markdown, theme name, placement (pinned or stashed), window position and size, order in the stash, and created and modified times. The times are stored as seconds since 1 January 2001, which is how Apple's Foundation encodes dates by default.
• The whole list, rewritten on every save. Each change writes the full file again, atomically, so a crash mid-save does not leave half a file. There is no version history: the file only ever holds the current state.
• No trash. Delete, in a sticky's menu, removes the sticky from the file at once. There is no confirmation and no Recently Deleted.

Backing up is simpler than with Apple's Stickies because it is one plain text file. Quit the app and copy stickies.json. The app reads the file when it starts, so putting a copy back before launch restores that set of stickies. With iCloud sync on, we have not tested what sync does with a restored file. For a single sticky, Copy in its menu puts the body text on the clipboard.

Two cautions. Stickies by Coduo is built to sync through your private iCloud database, and a delete is sent to iCloud like any other change, so treat sync as a copy of your current stickies, not a backup of past ones. And if the file ever cannot be read, the app starts with a fresh store in a temporary folder instead of crashing, and leaves the original file where it was. Do not delete that original; it is still your data.

Which is easier to back up?

If your notes are in Apple's Stickies today, run File > Export All to Notes before anything else. That one command gives every note a second home. For how the two apps differ in daily use, the guide to putting sticky notes on the desktop and the guide to hiding sticky notes cover the rest.