Stickies content gone and won't save new content

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Level 1

32 points

Stickies content gone and won't save new content

After updating to Catalina I lost all my saved stickies (though luckily I've managed to retrieve the content by locating the StickiesDatabase file) and the app now seems to have been rendered useless.

No matter what I do I can't save new stickies. Every time I reopen the app I just get a single, blank yellow sticky. When I create a second stickie and then close, this prompt appears:

It doesn't matter which of the options I choose; the app just closes and upon reopening I'm met with a single blank sticky, yet again.

Any helpful advice would be great appreciated.

P.S. This is not about the Stickies widget from the new defunct Dashboard, although it very well might have something to do with it.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 6, 2019 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 3, 2019 5:02 PM in response to Sandro88

This post has instructions on how to get it to re-import from the old file:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250728309?answerId=251730141022#251730141022

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,536 points

Nov 6, 2019 9:23 AM in response to Sandro88

Catalina no longer uses the old StickiesDatabase digest type of file. It now stores individual stickies as Rich Text packages (.rtfd) with a TXT.rtf and tiff image file in each package bundle at the following location:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Stickies/Data/Library/Stickies

As soon as I create a new Stickies note, and enter text, a new RTFD folder is created in the above location, with a TXT.rtf file containing the new Stickies note text. I see no dialog as you have presented.

There is another stickies location that suggests that it is the resting place of migrated stickies from upgrades of the operating system:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.StickiesMigration/Data/Library

So far, I have only performed a clean install of Catalina, so I don't know if this "migrated" Stickies location would have its own Stickies folder, or not.

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Answer 3

Sandro88 Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 6, 2019 11:50 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks for your reply.

I checked the folders in these locations and tried making a few new Stickies; no RTFD folder (or any other type of file) is created in either location.

Weirdly enough though, when I changed the colour of one of the notes and closed the app (it took a few seconds to close), it did reopen them with what I typed and the colour change. But after closing and opening again it went to back to a single, blank yellow note. It worked a few more times, but eventually it comes up blank again.

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Answer 4

Sandro88 Author

Level 1

32 points

Dec 4, 2019 8:00 AM in response to Michael C. Reilly

That's it! It worked like a charm.

Thank you so much.

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Stickies content gone and won't save new content

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