How to Recover Sticky Notes in Windows? Get Tips to Rescue Your Reminders

Ever since its launch, Windows has been one of the most beloved operating systems. Among its many positives, one of the underappreciated utilities is sticky notes. This hidden productivity enhancer has been a part of multiple Windows versions for the better part of the last decade. It has many use cases, be it jotting down contact information, or setting up a reminder. These digital post-it notes have never refused any request, so when users want to recover sticky notes in Windows, it is a serious cause for concern.

Losing access to important information is something that no one wants. Not to worry, as we will point you toward a solution that helps you get back deleted sticky notes data on any Windows device. Before that, let’s see where exactly your Windows machine stores the sticky notes data.

Location to Recover Sticky Notes in Windows Machines

When we look at the sticky notes from an app-based perspective, finding them is no big deal. All the sticky notes (the ones that have not been deleted) are present right where you made them. That is inside the sticky notes application. In case you have not pinned the app on the taskbar. Search for it using the search bar present on the taskbar. It is a yellow-colored icon. However, the real challenge comes in finding the folder location itself. This is especially true for those sticky notes that have been deleted recently. Before that it’s important to know what exactly we are looking for. The following explanation helps figure this out.

Every time you make a new sticky note. Windows stores its content in a separate SQLite file. However, you can’t simply type .sqlite and expect the files to pop up. As they form the critical part of the application, they are often kept hidden from plain view. Also, you need admin privileges to see the contents. So, before you start looking for them in File Explorer make these changes.

• Log out and log back in with the admin account.
• Launch File Explorer.
• Go to the View Tab on the top Ribbon.
• Mark the Box Next to Hidden items.
• It is the bottom-most option of the Show/hide section. Now to find the Sticky Notes storage area follow this path.

C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\

Note: Depending on your device configuration, the path may vary.

Also Read: Steps to recover permanently deleted files using command prompt in Windows devices

Keep this path with you as it helps us during the automated retrieval of sticky notes later.

Professional Means to Get Back Deleted Sticky Notes

As manual retrieval of sticky notes is nearly impossible. Moreover, the instant sync via One Note cloud removes all copies of a sticky note from every device. As a result, users have only one option left which is to trust the SysTools SQLite viewer. The free-to-use tool is available for all users who wish to recover sticky notes.

Its unique Hex view allows a clear-cut view of the data that was on the sticky notes. The tool works even if your Sticky Notes application has crashed. With the color-coded users can easily differentiate between the Active items and the ones that are deleted. Moreover, a dedicated section for recently deleted items is there to check and retrieve the data. So next up we have the procedure to deploy and utilize the tool in your local environment.

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Steps to Restore Sticky Notes Via the Tool

• Once the installation is complete, launch the tool.
• Click on the Add file button on the top menu ribbon.
• In the small window that pops up on your screen click on the 3 dots in front of the SQLite option.
• It in turn opens a file explorer window where you need to follow the same path to get back deleted sticky notes.
• Once you get to the plum.sqlite file select it and click open.
• Then move back to the tool and hit the Add button on the small window.
• This pulls the entire subsection and puts it on the preview screen.
• From the left-hand pane select the insights section. There, you can find the exact information that was in the original sticky note.
  
• Select, Copy, and Paste this text on a new sticky note or any text editor of your choice.

Alternative Methods to Regenerate the Data

If your Windows machine operates on version 10 or above, you can sync the sticky notes across devices.  This is another way with which you can recover sticky notes. Those people who have enabled this feature on their devices must have a Microsoft 365 account and One Note application installed. Getting back sticky notes via this method requires a complicated scenario. Let us explain, during creation your device must be online and be in sync. While at the time of deletion, your source/target device must be offline. Otherwise, the deletion itself gets synced and you no longer have access to the data.

Sticky notes like their real-life variant the post-it note is designed to keep only a small piece of information. Usually, it serves as a reminder. As it can be placed over other apps this comes in handy to keep track of important deadlines or store contact data in a jiffy. Although rare a user may keep a single sticky note and keep adding information to it. Even when there is no predefined limit, common sense tells us that doing this is not in our best interest.

Best Practices to Restore Sticky Notes

Here are some points that we believe are important to get back deleted sticky notes. Following them makes the restoration process simple and easier to complete.

• If you believe that sticky notes have been deleted without your permission don’t make new notes right away. This is because your Windows machine allocates a specified chunk of space for the notes. Whenever a note is deleted, it is not removed outright but the path to that data is removed.
• Your machine then considers the space as free and available for new data. So if you make a new note there is a chance that your device overwrites the existing information. In such a case it might be impossible to regain access to deleted sticky notes. Therefore, it is strongly advised to recover sticky notes via the tool ASAP.
• Add a secondary warning to verify the manual sticky note deletion. It is an inbuilt mechanism present inside all sticky notes. To access it launch the sticky notes app. Click on the gear icon at the top right corner. This opens the main settings of the sticky notes application, here you can find a “Confirm before deleting” option. Toggle it to get an alert every time you delete a note that is no longer required. Keep in mind that this option can be revoked during the deletion itself. If you mark the “Don’t ask me again” option while deleting a particular note.

Conclusion

Via this write-up, we helped recover sticky notes in Windows machines. Here we taught where exactly the sticky notes data is kept and why is it so important to get its data back. The tool that we discussed here is a sure-shot solution to get the recovery process done.