Stickies Sync... Why not?

Question

Stickies Sync... Why not?

Ok, I've searched high and low for an alternative to my situation.

Let me explain... no let me paraphrase:

I use stickies on my Lion at work (they won't let me upgrade to ML for 'security reasons'). I love the ability to have a translucent sticky note that lets me jot down notes from phone messages, quick address/telephone #'s/directions/names/etc... for use or action in a short timeframe. You know... kind'a like what paper stickies are used for.

I have a personal MBP, MA (Mountain Lion), and iPhone 5. I use the notes app for longer term notes that may require action or simply might be needed in the near future. I love having the ability to sync these via icloud. The sync is effortless and the convenience is wonderful. I do realize you can now rip off individual notes and put them on the desktop; they just can't sit there translucent and without the line clutter (cough skeumorphism) like a sticky.

I would LOVE to have the option to sync stickies too! especially on the iPhone. Imagine a little yellow stickies app that resembled a real sticky note pad. Swipe up to flip between notes, no menu, no clutter, just simple yellow/blue/green squares that have you notes. I would think the skeuomorphic people at Apple would be salivating over the possibilities.

At present, there are NO reasonably SIMPLE apps that sync stickies. Yes, there are some apps that try (memo, Notational Velocity, Evernote) but they seem to (1) not work, or (2) are way more complicated than a simple sticky needs. I've found other potential workarounds as well (i.e. sync to dropbox, or third party sync options like syncmate), then there's the abomination that is StickiesSync (seriously, what a great idea, and what a let down, will it work? does it work? was it ever meant to work? is anyone still working on it?), but none of them offer a SIMPLE sync AND a way to be portable with the stickies.

So, community, does anyone else use stickies (desktop version, mind you, not sure why the Dashboard version doesn't sync with desktop version, but that's a different rant)? Does anyone have a sync option? Does anyone know if there may be something down the pipe for the good old Sticky from Apple?

I find it interesting that the Sticky has been around since the early Mac OS and yet it seems to be the forgotten child.

Posted on Oct 20, 2012 4:04 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,257 points

Feb 19, 2017 7:58 AM in response to Cyril Dos

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem or a suggestion for change. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem/suggested change solved sooner.

Feedback

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Answer 2

Feb 19, 2017 12:47 AM in response to Semper Accipio

Hi Semper,

Just wanna thank you for making that demand I totally agree with you that Notes & Stickies haven't at all the same purpose. I am a graphic designer and I love the way to be able to organize stickies notes on my desk and be able to constantly edit them whenever, however I want and very quickly. Notes is an actual window where we have very limited edit options and moreover where we can open only one note at the same time. To my mind Stickies is more "visual" & instinctive and I am really disconcerted that apple doesn't include a cloud synchronisation. It's one of my main concern in my everyday workflow, I havent THE ideal "memo app" which allow to be constantly present on every apple plateform and be freely editable.

Hope they'll hear you 🙂
Cyril

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Answer 3

Sep 5, 2013 10:13 AM in response to Semper Accipio

Sounds like a resonable question to me, I actually have the same requirement.

Having been on Mac for a looong time, MacOS first and then OSX, I have created a number of notes over the years that are still hanging around on my desktop. It would be nice to import them into Notes.app and get them synced to my iOS devices.

Can't believe nobody has came accross this issue before us and hasn't found a solution.

Moreover, I found very little documentation relevant to Notes.app and Notes for iOS.

The online user manual says almost nothing more than the obvious.

Is there anywhere these simple but useful packages are explained in full?

Thanks and regards

PJ

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Answer 4

Sep 5, 2013 10:27 AM in response to Semper Accipio

The Notes app largely replaces stickies. There are OS X and iOS versions.

In Lion you don't have a separate Notes app, but notes you create in Mail will sync with your iPhone.

Given that Notes largely takes over for Stickies, I see that as more likely the way forward than a new Stickies app. With Notes, you can double click a note in the Notes app and leave it on the desktop like a sticky.

Moving a Sticky note to a Notes note is pretty easy, just copy all the text in a Sticky note and paste it into a new Note. Should take a few seconds per note. Surely you don't have hundreds of sticky notes on the desktop?

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Answer 5

Sep 5, 2013 11:07 AM in response to William Lloyd

Hi William, I agree in principle with you although I really can't understand Apple's reasoning behind creating Notes.app basically as a fork from Memo.app instead of creating a Memo.app for iOS and adding iCloud support.

Having said that, I still would like to find a more practical way to move my notes from Memo.app to Notes.app than using copy and paste. I was at least expecting to find some support in Automator to create a workflow but, alas, Automator is one other of those OSX gems that never really took off..

P

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Answer 6

Sep 5, 2013 3:11 PM in response to William Lloyd

The problem I have with just 'notes.app' is the actual function. The notes.app, in my opinion, is for just that... Notes. Sometimes you have longer notes; you'll be in a meeting and typing away and suddenly you'll notice the scroll bar is tiny and you've basically paraphrased the entire discussion. I did discover the folder option, which is nice, but the need to open the mail app, and THEN jot a note is less of an attraction.

The 'stickies.app', on the other hand (and, again, in my opinion) is for those quick little moments when you jot down a phone number, or a little reminder that you'll refer back to later to either file away in your address book or act upon.

So, it's the function of the apps that has me wanting the sync and mobile counterpart.

I started this post almost a year ago, and have still not seen any progress on the 'stickies' front. It's really a shame, since it would seem that the app is ignored, yet has such potential.

This being said, I've tried a few other alternatives from third party developers. The ones I've tried seem to be either too bulky and cumbersome or too involved.

For example, I purchased both the iPhone and Mac version of 'Notes tab Pro' (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notestab-pro/id506772307?mt=12). While a polished and reliable piece of software, it seemed to cumbersome and heavy. Notes would sync quickly, and could be moved around, but there was little in the way of organization, and the interface was crayon-like. I did like the menu bar accessibility, but the GUI seemed slow to respond because of it's design (i.e. bulky)

On the flip side, I installed nvALT (http://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/) on my mac and DRAFTS (http://agiletortoise.com/drafts/) on my iPhone. I automated a link to my DropBox (https://www.dropbox.com) folder in both and was able to sync notes. The up side of nvALT is its very quick response time, and light feel. DRAFTS is also very well made and easily modified to be a 'goto' app on the iPhone for lots of different functions. Both apps are excellent. That being said, there are several tweaks that you need to do, and several actions to take, just to jot down a note (i.e. cumbersome).

So, now I've gone ahead and bit the bullet with Evernote (https://evernote.com). I'm not big on having a third party store my notes, but it got me thinking WHAT exactly am I writing. Nothing I jot down has any trade secrets, or overly personal information. So, my paranoia aside, I started working with it more and more. I've begun to use the integrated screen capture Skitch (also by Evernote), and have suddenly felt myself to be right at home with the work flow. I've even gone as far as transferring all my Notes.app data to Evernote, and created a folder that is specifically called 'stickies'. The iPone counterpart is pretty slick, and you have the option to pay a small yearly fee for even more options ($44 per year or $4 per month, or some such). Basically, I think the solution for me is Evernote.

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Answer 7

Sep 5, 2013 3:30 PM in response to Gran Maestro

I assume by "Memo.app" you mean Stickies?

Stickies is VERY OLD. It dates back from OS 9 (probably more like System 7 or something). It does not have an AppleScript dictionary, so no automated functionality is available.

Again, if you bite the bullet and just copy and paste, how long would it take? Less time than complaining about it in a forum post?

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Answer 8

Sep 5, 2013 4:11 PM in response to Semper Accipio

Thank you for your extensive reply Semper Accipio.

I will certainly look into the details and check further the information you passed on.

It seems like some people think different however, I too believe it's a pity seeing how little interest goes to an app that has been around almost as long as the mac has. New features could have been added whereas the choice of creating a new app with similar functions has been confusing to me. That is, naturally, IMHO.

P

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Answer 9

Zarquon42

Level 1

111 points

Mar 11, 2017 7:49 AM in response to Semper Accipio

Have you looked into ABCnotes?

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