Big Microsoft Sticky Notes update teased, coming to Skip Ahead Insiders 'soon' (Updated)

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

The handy little app will soon make the jump to version 3.0 for Insiders.

Sticky Notes may not be the most high-profile of Microsoft's Windows 10 apps, but it's a handy little tool nonetheless. And if you're among its users, it looks like you have a big update to look forward to.

Reza Jooyandeh, the Engineering Manager for Sticky Notes at Microsoft, recently teased a big update to version 3.0 will be headed to Windows Insiders on the Skip Ahead ring soon (via MSPU).

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Jooyandeh didn't provide any more details, so it's unclear what Microsoft has in store for the utility. However, the bump to 3.0 may portend a relatively big refresh.

Most recently, Sticky Notes picked up a slight refresh to its menu, bringing a more elegant design for the color picker and some other slight tweaks to the settings cog.

While Skip Ahead Insiders will be the first to get a look at whatever is new, you can give the current iteration of Sticky Notes a go at the Microsoft Store now.

Updated August 15, 2018: While we still don't have a full look at what's coming, Jooyandeh recently followed up his initial tease with a preview of one big new feature: dark mode for notes.

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Updated August 22, 2018: Jooyandeh has been gradually teasing new features, including accessibility improvements and more, on Twitter over the last week. But he saved some of the best for last. Sticky Notes 3.0 will sync your notes across devices and you'll be able to keep things a little more tidy with a new home for all of your notes.

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Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

19 Comments
  • Good, it needs it. I am so annoyed that when I close the note "workspace", all my notes are still sitting there. I then have to right click on notes on the taskbar to close. What is the point of the workspace then?
  • If I understand correctly, you're describing my favorite feature. I have a lot of notes, and they clutter my desktop...the taskbar icon serves as a toggle, allowing you to switch on the fly and only litter your desktop with notes when you need them.
  • No, I think we're on the same page, I really like the idea of the "Workspace" to have them all in one place. Easy access to all of them at once, easy way to get rid of all (hide) all at once. My issue is that I have to close them twice to get them to go away. I want to close the workspace, and have my notes close with it. Right now, on all of my machines, when I close the workspace, the notes don't close. I then have to right click on the taskbar to get them to close.
  • I don't want them to close, though. I like the current design. I can use them in two modes currently: normal/windowed (so I can have other stuff open to look at and work with) and focused (Workspace where it's just the notes).
  • I don't want them to "close" I want them to go away so I can come back to them. When I close the note workspace, my notes still litter my desktop. I then have to right click on the task bar, then click close to get them to hide.
  • I understand what you mean. I still like it that way. I think of them like windows (except maybe there's no way to "minimize" them other than to close the app). Other windows will still go on top of them and you can bring one or two notes to the foreground to look at them. When in the workspace, it'll be just the notes. If clicking the X hides them completely, there would be no scenario where you can have the notes... sticking... out alongside other windows (rather than constrained in their own space).
  • Make sticky notes an important item from ToDo. So they co exist. You can pin them on your desktop or if your on mobile you can manage them directly via ToDo. They will auto update your sticky notes with a Done written across them when you look again. Microsoft really needs to integrate and align all their apps better like this.
  • That's right
  • I would love if they made a way to redirect the new Sticky Notes via AppData or some other Group Policy for computers on a domain. Its the only program in my network that won't neatly follow my users from computer to computer...and they insist on using Sticky Notes.
  • They should add cross device syncing and compact overlay mode
    (two apps that I know of Quick Pad and Neon Notepad both have compact overlay, but no cross device syncing)
  • Ugly. haha. Been using Windows for awhile. I also have the Mac. Certain things on Windows are looking outdated and ugly. This is one of them. Simple is best.
  • Really? I feel it's an improvement from before. It's still very simple
  • Wish One note would work fluidly with stick Notes. Like write them out and drag them into one note where they can remain.
  • I'd love it to synergize with one note and to do
  • My take. They're going to find a way to somehow add Fluent Design to Sticky Notes.
  • how about they improve the tablet experience....
  • I believe Paul Thurrott recently used a version that had cross platform syncing and corresponding apps on Android and iPhone. The programmer had presumed the app had already been released into the wild. What I would love to see is Todo and One Note integration as sometimes you just need a sticky note.
  • Looks good. BTW, I was starting to think I was on Game Central now.
  • Just a confluence of us ramping up our gaming coverage and Gamescom currently going on in Germany. I promise things will be a little less lopsided after this week!