How To Backup And Restore Sticky Notes In Windows 10

Windows operating system has had a built-in Sticky Notes program ever since the time of Windows XP Tablet Edition. The Sticky Notes is helpful to quickly write down notes and can be used as a to-do list app as well.

Although Sticky Notes has been part of Windows OS for a long time, many users often delete Sticky Notes while attempting to close Sticky Notes as there is no close button on the program/app. However, you can easily close and minimize Sticky Notes using Alt + F4 and clicking on the Sticky Notes icon on the taskbar.

Sticky Notes in Windows 10

Before the Anniversary Update for Windows 10, recovering deleted Sticky Notes was easy in Windows 10 as it was a desktop program back then. With Anniversary Update for Windows 10, Microsoft retired the classic Sticky Notes desktop application and introduced a modern Sticky Notes app.

The classic Sticky Notes program would store all notes under the %AppData%\Microsoft\Sticky Notes folder. But the new Sticky Notes app in Windows 10 Anniversary Update (version 1607) and later builds doesn’t save notes in that location as it’s a modern app. So, the old method of backing up and restoring Sticky Notes doesn’t work if you are on 1607 or later versions of Windows 10.

While there is no software out there to help you backup and restore Sticky Notes in Windows 10, the manual method is quite easy and straight-forward.

Users on 1607 and later versions of Windows 10 can follow the given below directions to backup and restore Sticky Notes in Windows 10.

IMPORTANT: This method applies to only Windows 10 Anniversary Update and later versions. Please make sure that you’re running version 1607 or later version of Windows 10 by typing Winver.exe in Start or taskbar search box and then pressing Enter key. For earlier versions, please go through our how to recover the deleted Sticky Notes guide.

Back up Sticky Notes in Windows 10

1: Close the Sticky Notes app if it’s running.

2: Open up File Explorer. Click the View tab, and then check Hidden items option to see all hidden files and folders.

3: Navigate to the following location:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\ Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe

In the above path, “C” is the drive letter where Windows 10 is installed, and UserName is your account name.

4: To backup Sticky Notes, copy all files and folders under Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe folder and save them in a folder where you want to. We recommend you create a folder called Sticky Notes Backup under Documents folder so that you can easily find your Sticky Notes backup.

Restore Sticky Notes in Windows 10

1: Terminate Sticky Notes, if running.

2: Launch File Explorer, click View, and then make sure that the Hidden items option is checked.

3: Navigate to Sticky Notes folder by using the following path:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\ Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Where “C” is the drive letter of the drive where Windows 10 is installed, and UserName is your Windows 10 account name.

4: Open up, Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe folder.

5: Navigate to the folder where you have saved all backed up files and folders of Sticky Notes. Copy all files and folders from the backup location and paste it in Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe folder.

When you see the following prompt, click Replace the files in the destination option.

6: You may launch the Sticky Notes app now. Good luck!

If you have any issues with Sticky Notes, you can reset or reinstall the Sticky Notes app in Windows 10.