Could anyone help me find the location of the Stickies Database on Catalina? I have the file in my backup from Mojave but cannot find the file on Catalina (~/Library/). Thank you in advance.
I have discovered, through an all afternoon troubleshooting effort, that Catalina no longer uses the StickieDatabase file in the way it used to, if at all. The stickies are now found as individual files (for each stickie, with long indecirable names) in ~Library/containers/com.apple.Stickies/Data/Library/Stickies. They don't seem to carry the color or perhaps other formatting information, which are presumably in some other file in this general location. I discovered this because my Stickies app wouldn't open after installing Catalina. Hours on a chat troubleshooting with Apple did not fix the problem and they had me send system info to their engineers (who knows what I'll hear back). But they did lead me to this com.apple.Stickie folder which I explored and experimented with by transfering between users. I replaced the folder from that of a new clean user and then placed the individual stickie files - it now launches and I got my stickies back. Wrong colors but OK
Are you 100% certain you're using the right "old" stickies database file and putting it into the user library file (and not into any other folder or the system library file)?
Yes. I renamed it including the word old; should make a difference?
John
I wouldn't advise renaming.... just drop it in the user library as it was found / rescued!
YES Thanks so much, Duchy777, removing 'old' made it work :)
👍
Thanks Barrygum,
Great news that you got them to come back from the dead. Colors are changeable....lost Stickies not so much.
Work fine Jayson45 - Thx
My previous message may not be clear enough and I am sorry.
I recently did my backup and installed Catalina from scratch. So far, everything works great except my stickies. I cannot get them back because the file "StickiesDatabase" located in ~Library/ that I used to replaced does not exist and when I copy my old database file there nothing happens.
I tried importing my old StickiesDatabase file into the Catalina but I on see a bunch of non readable texts in one sticky.
Has Apple change the stickies database location in Catalina? To where?
Please help.
Ernst.
They don't appear to be part of a database anymore. They are just Rich Text documents stored individually.
They are stored in the Stickies Container in the user Library, com.apple.stickies/Data/Library/Stickies
I don't know how you would extract the stickies from the database. You might try creating ~/Library/Stickies/ and put the database in that folder.
Thank you very much Barney-15E for trying to help.
Unfortunately, I already tried creating the Stickies folder or directly save the database in ~/Library with no success.
Did Apple announce that change somewhere? If I knew, I would have exported my stickies another way.
My StickiesDatabase file resides on its own, outside of any folder, in ~/Library. This is for Mojave 10.14.6. On Mojave, this file is removed, and then recreated any time you add, change, or remove a sticky note. Restoring this file may not reveal all the stickies that you thought might be in it.
Here is a Catalina Stickies User Guide.
On the road right now, so no access to Catalina to further investigate how it handles Stickies.
Yes, it is from Mojave.
Stickies Database file location on Catalina 10.15
