Last Updated on January 24, 2021 by Mathew Diekhake
Sticky Notes has been a desktop note-taking application since it arrived as a gadget in Windows Vista, and it continues to be Windows’ only dedicated note-taking app still in Windows 10. The earlier stages of Sticky Notes for Windows 10 changed from a desktop app to a Windows Platform (UWP) app. This change is only understood by advanced users—it has always been and still remains an app that you use from a desktop computer—but the addition of UWP means Sticky Notes can now be connected to powerful UI and advanced asynchronous features that are ideal for devices that are connected to the internet.
In Windows 10, Sticky Notes is a cross-platform app. That means it can run on other operating systems and not just Windows—including mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS. For most people, note-taking definitely has more value when used on desktop computers, but by being a cross-platform app, it manages to keep up with the strong competition, such as what Google offer for free with Google Keep. To make use of the cross-platform integration with Sticky Notes, though, you must be using Microsoft OneNote. This added complication makes it less appealing than Google Keep for casual users, but still worthwhile for those who already have notes taken on Windows devices that they want to get access to from elsewhere. There is also a web client for editing sticky notes via the Microsoft OneNote website which can be accessed from this web address: onenote.com/stickynotes.
Sticky Notes comes with a list of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to help make your time with the app more efficient. The keyboard shortcuts are comprised with key combination to help you create, edit, and format sticky notes.
The following tutorial reveals the keyboard shortcuts associated with the Sticky Notes application when you are using a version of the Windows 10 operating system.
How to Create and Edit Sticky Notes
| Create a new sticky note. | Ctrl+N |
| Delete the current sticky note. | Ctrl+D |
| Move to the next sticky note. | Ctrl+Tab |
| Move to the previous sticky note. | Ctrl+Shift+Tab |
| Select all text on the sticky note. | Ctrl+A |
| Copy the selected text to the clipboard. | Ctrl+C |
| Cut the selected text to the clipboard. | Ctrl+X |
| Paste the text of the clipboard. | Ctrl+V |
| Undo the last action. | Ctrl+Z |
| Redo the last action. | Ctrl+Y |
| Move one word to the left. | Ctrl+Left arrow |
| Move one word to the right. | Ctrl+Right arrow |
| Move to the beginning of the line. | Home |
| Move to the end of the line. | End |
| Move to the beginning of the sticky note. | Ctrl+Home |
| Move to the end of the note. | Ctrl+End |
| Delete the next word. | Ctrl+Delete |
| Delete the previous word. | Ctrl+Backspace |
| Close Sticky Notes. | Alt+F4 |
How to Format Sticky Notes
| Apply or remove bold formatting from the selected text. | Ctrl+B |
| Apply or remove italic formatting from the selected text. | Ctrl+I |
| Apply or remove the underline from the selected text. | Ctrl+U |
| Apply or remove bulleted list formatting from the selected paragraph. |
Ctrl+Shift+L |
| Apply or remove strikethrough from the selected text. | Ctrl+T |
| Right-align the selected paragraph. | Ctrl+Right Shift |
| Left-align the selected paragraph. | Ctrl+Left Shift |
That’s all.