How to Retrieve Accidentally Deleted Sticky Notes in Windows

Microsoft’s Sticky Notes, the digital counterpart of Post-It notes, is a handy desktop application included with Windows 7, 8, and 10. It allows users to swiftly jot down notes, create reminders, and pin them to their Windows desktop.

With the advent of Windows 10, Microsoft has significantly enhanced the Sticky Notes application, making it an invaluable tool for list-making, brainstorming, setting reminders, and more. The application boasts features such as color customization, text formatting, and image addition.

Why Do Sticky Notes Disappear?

The disappearance of Sticky Notes can be attributed to several factors. Accidental deletion is a common cause. Other reasons include data loss from computer viruses or malware, power outages or system crashes, hidden notes, or a Windows system update.

Effective Methods to Retrieve Lost Sticky Notes

Here are three efficient strategies for recovering lost Sticky Notes on Windows 7, 10, and 11 computers.

Strategy 1: Inspect the Notes List

If your Sticky Notes seem to have vanished, they may simply be hidden. Follow these steps to check:

1. Launch Sticky Notes on your computer.
2. Right-click the Sticky Notes icon in the Windows taskbar and select ‘Notes list’.

You should now see all your Sticky Notes displayed on the screen. To access a specific note, either right-click and select ‘Open note’ or double-click the note.

Strategy 2: Verify Your Microsoft Account

If you’re using a new computer or a different Microsoft account than the one used to sync Sticky Notes, you may not see your notes. In such cases, sign in to Sticky Notes with the original Microsoft account to check if the notes are indeed lost.

If your notes remain invisible even after signing in with the correct account, they might be permanently lost. However, you can try the following methods to recover deleted Sticky Notes.

Strategy 3: Utilize Windows Backup

If you have a backup of your Windows system, you can restore your Sticky Notes from it. Here’s how:

1. Navigate to the backup location (usually an external hard drive or network location).
2. Find the ‘StickyNotes.snt’ or ‘plum.sqlite’ file and copy it.
3. Paste the copied file into the Sticky Notes directory on your computer.

After these steps, your Sticky Notes should be restored.

Remember, losing Sticky Notes can be frustrating, but with these strategies, you can recover your important notes and continue your work seamlessly. Always remember to regularly back up your data to prevent future data loss.

Strategy 4: Retrieve from Outlook Folder

Sticky Notes 3.0 and above allow you to view notes on other devices or applications when signed in with the same Microsoft account. If a Sticky Note is accidentally deleted, you can retrieve it by logging into Outlook online. Here’s how:

1. Visit the Outlook sign-in page and log in with the same Microsoft account used for Sticky Notes.
2. Navigate to the ‘Deleted Items’ folder and check for deleted Sticky Notes.

Strategy 5: Locate the Sticky Notes File in File Explorer

Windows stores Sticky Notes as ‘StickyNotes.snt’ or ‘plum.sqlite’ files by default. These files may contain accidentally deleted Sticky Notes. Here’s how to locate them:

1. Press Windows + E keys to open File Explorer.
2. Click ‘View > Options’, then go to the ‘View’ tab.
3. Check ‘Show hidden files, folders, and drives’ and click ‘OK’.
4. In the address bar of File Explorer, type the following location path and press ‘Enter’:For Windows 10 Anniversary Update Version 1607 and later:

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

   For Windows 10 version 1511 and earlier:

   C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Sticky Notes

5. Locate the Sticky Notes file (StickyNotes.snt or plum.sqlite).
6. Right-click the file to open it with Notepad or WordPad, etc. Then use the Ctrl + F keyboard shortcuts to find your deleted Sticky Notes.

Strategy 6: Recover from .snt Files

This is a common and straightforward method to recover Sticky Notes on Windows 7, 10, and 11. Here’s how:

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the ‘Run’ prompt.
2. Type the command “%AppData%\Microsoft\Sticky Notes” and open Sticky Notes.
3. Locate the Sticky Notes (.SNT) file, which will contain information about your deleted notes.
4. Right-click on the file and open it with a text editing application like MS Word, WordPad, Notepad, etc.
5. The editor will ask you to decode the file. Choose the default actions and proceed.
6. Manually filter the data as it would display a cipher text.

Strategy 7: Restore Previous Version

Restoring Sticky Notes to a previous version can help recover all deleted notes. Here’s how:

1. Search for Sticky Notes on your system, right-click on it, and click on ‘Properties’.
2. Navigate to the ‘Previous Versions’ tab at the top. Here, you’ll see older versions of the Sticky Notes app with dates. If you find a previous version, select it, click on ‘Restore’, then ‘Apply’, and finally ‘OK’.
3. Relaunch the Sticky Notes app to recover deleted Sticky Notes.