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Sticky notes help organize your thoughts and write down quick tips. But it's easy to delete or lose them by mistake, which can be stressful and annoying. Today, we will explain easy ways to recover lost sticky notes on your computer.

You won't have to worry about losing important information if you know these recovery methods. You can then easily navigate the world of virtual sticky notes. Let's jump in and quickly get those important notes back!

About Sticky Notes

Before looking into restore options, knowing how sticky notes work on different operating systems and apps is essential. Sticky notes, sometimes called "Post-it notes," are electronic notes you can make and put on your screen or in specific programs to help you remember things quickly. Notes are usually just text, but some apps let users add pictures, drawings, or even voice recordings to their notes.

Microsoft Windows has a Sticky Notes app lets users make and organize virtual notes. These notes are kept in a specific place in the user's profile area, usually in a file called "plum.sqlite." But if you remove a sticky note by accident or can't get to it because of a system error, it can be hard to get it back if you don't have the right tools or knowledge.

Recover Sticky Notes on Windows

You can recover deleted files with tools like Do Your Data Recovery, Recuva, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, or Disk Drill. It includes the plum.sqlite file that stores Windows Sticky Notes.

Users should stop using the damaged drive right away so they don't overwrite any lost data, which can make recovery less likely.

Step 1. Download and install Do Your Data Recovery software on your computer, it is fully capable of recovering any file including Sticky Note file on your computer.

Step 2. Open Do Your Data Recovery and select the drive where you delete or lose your Sticky Note files.

recover deleted sticky notes

Step 3. Click on Scan button to deeply scan the hard drive.

recover deleted sticky notes

Step 4. After scanning, find the lost Sticky Note files and recover them.

recover deleted sticky notes

Copy the recovered files to the original folder: %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState

Most of the time, Windows automatically backs up user info, including files like plum.sqlite.

Users can use built-in Windows tools like File History or System Restore to restore earlier versions of the plum.sqlite file.

For advanced users who are used to going through system folders, it might be possible to get back the sticky notes by hand by finding the plum.sqlite file and using SQLite database management tools to extract the data.

Mac Sticky Notes Recovery:

Stickies is an app for Mac that lets users create and organize virtual notes. It works a lot like Sticky Notes in Windows. Stickies keeps notes in a database file in the user's library.

If you are a Mac user, you can try the following methods to recover deleted Sticky Note data:

Time Machine Backup:

Time Machine, Apple's built-in backup program for Mac users, can be used to get back to earlier versions of the Stickies database file.

Users can find and recover the version of the Stickies database that has the notes they want by opening Time Machine and looking through incremental backups.

Using Data Recovery Software:

Like Windows users, Mac users can use third-party data recovery programs like Disk Drill, Data Rescue, or Stellar Data Recovery to find and retrieve lost or damaged Stickies database files.

Manual Retrieval:

Advanced users who know how to work with macOS files can try to retrieve the notes by hand by finding the Stickies database file in the Library folder and using SQLite database tools to retrieve the note data.

How to Keep Data Safe?

Even though it's helpful to know how to get back sticky notes, it's even more critical to avoid losing data in the first place. Here are some ways to keep your sticky notes safe:

Regularly Back Up Data: Use built-in backup tools or third-party backup services to ensure your sticky notes and other important files are always backed up whenever possible; automate backups to ensure that data is always safe.

Enable Synchronization: If you use note-taking apps on multiple devices, ensure that syncing is turned on so your notes are always up to date. Ensure the synchronization settings are correct to avoid problems with synchronization or losing data.

Please be careful: When you delete or change sticky notes, be careful. Make sure you do everything right to avoid losing data by accident. For extra protection against deletions by mistake, you should turn on features like note versioning or recycle bins in note-taking apps.

Conclusion:

People use sticky notes to stay organized at work and home, but because they disappear quickly, users may lose data. Learning the different ways and tools for returning sticky notes on different platforms can lessen the damage when you accidentally delete them or your system crashes. Make sure that backing up and synchronizing your data is a top priority so you don't lose it again. It will keep your important notes safe and easy to find when you need them.

DoYourData Author

Written & Updated by Justin Kenny

Justin Kenny is a writer & editor of DoYourData. He joined DoYourData in 2016 and focuses on writing articles about Windows data recovery, Mac data recovery, external device data recovery, hard drive clone, data erasure, Mac cleanup, computer issue fixes, etc. He is a super fan of Apple devices and is big on testing new digital device and system utility software.

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