Where are Sticky Notes Saved in Windows 10 and How To Backup and Restore Them

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Since the Anniversary Update, the classic version of Sticky Notes has been replaced with the new Universal app that is tightly integrated with Cortana. Because of this, the underline of the data structure has changed. If you are a Sticky Notes person who loves sticking your notes up on your screen, you may want to know where your notes are and how to properly back them up and restore them when needed.

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Where are Sticky Notes stored?

All the notes you took are stored in a file called plum.sqlite located in the following folder in your profile.

%LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState

Windows 10 Sticky Notes plum file 600x306 - Where are Sticky Notes Saved in Windows 10 and How To Backup and Restore Them

As its extension name implies, it’s a database file powered by SQLite, a self-contained, high-reliability, embedded, full-featured, public-domain, SQL database engine.

To back up Sticky Notes

You simply go to the folder mentioned above and copy the plum.sqlite file to another folder or USB flash drive.

To restore

If you need to restore your notes to another computer for whatever reason, you can easily copy the same file you backed up earlier to the same directory on that computer.

Before you copy the file, make sure the Stick Notes app isn’t running. Do a quick check in Task Manager to see if it’s still running, and kill the process there if it does.

Task Manager Sticky Notes - Where are Sticky Notes Saved in Windows 10 and How To Backup and Restore Them

If you are still on Windows7

The Sticky Notes file is saved in a file called StickyNotes.snt in the following folder:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Sticky Notes

You can simply copy the file to another folder or onto a USB flash drive to back up your Sticky Notes.

Wondering what’s in the plum.sqlite file?

Since it’s an SQLite file, we can use an SQLite browser to peek at the file to see what the data structure is behind the scene. Quite interesting, isn’t it?

DB Browser for SQLite C  Users Kent Desktop plum.sqlite 2016 12 28 22 23 46 600x415 - Where are Sticky Notes Saved in Windows 10 and How To Backup and Restore Them

6 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you for this advice!! A recent Windows update killed my sticky notes (stupid Windows) and I lost a great deal of very important information that I needed to act on. I’ve been panicking for days as I couldn’t find any current posts (apparently I’m the only person this has happened to?) that helped me to figure out how to read the buried file. I downloaded your 64bit SQL browser and it’s an absolute dream!!! Not only can I see all the file data, I can browse the content and back it all up in another format. I just can’t say thank you enough… saved my fannie!!

  2. Why did you screw up my Sticky Notes? I liked them just as they were, pasted on my screen or minimized. Now I can’t even find them so I’ve quit using them. This change was not an improvement.

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