How to use Stay Notes

Open your notes

Click the yellow “S” note in Chrome’s toolbar. Your notes open in a small pinned tab at the left end of your tabs. Click the icon again any time to come back to it.

Don’t see the icon? Click the puzzle-piece icon (Extensions) at the top right of Chrome, then the pin next to Stay Notes.

Keyboard shortcuts: press Option+Shift+S on a Mac (Alt+Shift+S on Windows) to open your notes from anywhere in Chrome, or Option+Shift+N (Alt+Shift+N) to start a new note straight away. To change it, or if another extension already uses it, type chrome://extensions/shortcuts in Chrome’s address bar and set your own.

Can I use Stay Notes on my phone?

No. Chrome on phones and on iPad and Android tablets doesn’t run extensions, and Stay Notes is built around browsing on a computer, where the floating note stays on top while you work. Chromebooks, including the ones that fold into a tablet, work fine.

Need a list when you’re out, like groceries? Use Send a copy to email it to yourself.

Keyboard shortcuts

Can’t remember them? Click Help at the top of your notes for the full list, with the keys actually set on your computer.

• Option+Shift+S: open Stay Notes.
• Option+Shift+N: start a new note. On a web page, the note remembers that page.
• Option+Shift+C: capture an area of a web page PRO.

On Windows, use Alt instead of Option. To change them, click Change shortcuts in the Help panel.

Make a note

Click New note, type a title, then your note. Everything is saved as you type; there’s no Save button.

Your notes are listed on the left. Click one to open it. The arrow next to a note folds it down to its title; Collapse all folds them all.

Copy a note: click the copy button (two overlapping squares) under a note to make an exact copy, handy for lists you reuse, like a packing list.

Labels: click + Label under a note’s title and type a word like “Work” or “Urgent”, then press Return. Labels show in your list; click one above the list to show only those notes. Click × on a label to remove it. Click a label’s name to give it a color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple); every note with that label shows the same colored dot.

Find a note: type in Search notes above the list. Use Important, On a site or a color dot to show only those notes. Press Esc in the search box to show everything again.

Colors and important notes

Click Color under a note and pick one of 25 colors, or choose your own with Custom color…. On dark colors the text turns white so it stays easy to read.

Click Important to add a red flag and a red strip across the top of the note. Important notes stay at the top of your list. Click it again to remove the flag.

Formatting

The bar above the note has bold, italic, strikethrough, highlight (click the arrow to pick a highlight color), checklists, bullet lists, and buttons to move list items in and out.

• Cmd+B and Cmd+I make text bold or italic (Ctrl on Windows).
• Tab makes a sub-bullet; Shift+Tab moves it back.
• At the start of a line, type [ ] and a space to start a checklist, or - and a space to start a bullet list.
• Click a checkbox to tick it, or press Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter on Windows) on that line. Ticked items are crossed out.
• Untick all appears in the bar when a checklist has ticked items. Click it to untick everything, ready to use the list again.
• Cmd+Z undoes your last typing.

Dark mode, fonts and text size

Click Appearance at the top of your notes to choose:

• Mode: Light, Dark, or Match my computer (follows your Mac or Windows setting).
• Note font: Clean, Classic, or Easy to read. Easy to read is Atkinson Hyperlegible, a font designed by the Braille Institute for readers with low vision.
• Text size: Small, Medium, Large or Extra large. It applies to the floating note too.
• Background: Paper, Cork board or Dot grid.
• In dark mode: soften note colors so they’re easier on the eyes, or keep them bright.

To make everything bigger, use Chrome’s zoom: Cmd and + (Ctrl and + on Windows).

Pictures

Paste a screenshot into a note, or drag a picture file onto it. Click a picture to make it Small, Medium, Large or Full width, or drag its round corner handle to any size. Left and Right let text flow beside it. Drag a picture to move it within the note.

Pictures stay on your computer. They’re shrunk a little so your notes stay fast.

Emoji and stickers PRO

Click Stickers at the end of the formatting bar to add emoji or 3D stickers. They sit in your text and move with it.

Float a note on top of everything

Open a note and click Float this note. It opens in a small window that stays on top of your other windows, even other apps, so you can keep a list or reminder in view while you work.

• Move it by dragging its dark top bar.
• Resize it by dragging a corner or edge. Stay Notes remembers the size for next time.
• Edit it right there, title included: everything you type is saved, just like on the notes page.
• Close it with the close button on its top bar.

Keep the notes tab open

The floating note belongs to the Stay Notes tab, so closing that tab closes the floating note. You can switch to other tabs freely. The tab is pinned, so it stays small at the left end of your tabs.

One note at a time

Chrome allows one floating window at a time. If a note is already floating, open another and click Float this note instead to switch.

Chrome says the Stay Notes tab is “playing video”

That’s normal. Chrome treats the floating note like a picture-in-picture video window, so it labels the Stay Notes tab that way while a note floats. Nothing is playing.

The floating note won’t move, or closed by itself

Drag from the dark top bar, not from the note itself. If it still won’t move, close it and float it again. If it closes right away, make sure you clicked Float this note in the notes tab, and that Chrome is up to date.

Where your notes are kept

Your notes are saved in Chrome, on your computer, as you type. They are never sent to us or to anyone else.

Turn on a backup folder. Removing the extension, or clearing Chrome’s data, can erase notes kept in Chrome. A backup folder keeps a copy outside Chrome, so you can always get them back.

Turn on a backup folder (recommended)

1. Click Backups at the top of your notes, then Choose backup folder.
2. Pick a folder. Any folder on your computer works, such as Documents. Safest: a folder that Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive or Google Drive syncs, so your notes are also safe if your computer is lost or breaks.
3. When Chrome asks whether to let Stay Notes edit files in that folder, allow it.

From then on, a backup file is saved there automatically a few seconds after you make changes, one file per day, named like sticky-notes-backup-2026-11-01.json. Files older than 30 days are tidied away. Stay Notes never touches other files in the folder.

The green dot on the Backups button means backups are working; orange means they need your attention.

Chrome asks to “Allow” the folder again

For your safety, Chrome sometimes asks again after it restarts. Click Allow in the banner, then choose “Allow on every visit”, and Chrome will stop asking.

Download a backup file

On the Backups page, Download backup file saves all your notes (including Trash, history and pictures) as one file. Keep it somewhere safe, or use it to move your notes to another computer. If you haven’t backed up for a week, a reminder appears at the top of your notes.

Export your notes as text files PRO

On the Backups page, Export all notes… saves each note as a plain text file that any computer can open, in a new folder inside the one you choose. Use it to read your notes in any other app. Pictures show as “[image]”. To move or restore notes in Stay Notes, use a backup file instead.

The Chrome sync copy

If you’re signed in to Chrome with sync turned on, Chrome also keeps a copy of your note text in your Google account. It’s a handy extra, but not a backup: it doesn’t include pictures or notes in Trash, very long notes may not fit, and Chrome erases it if the extension is removed.

I deleted a note by mistake

Click Undo in the bar that appears at the bottom. Missed it? Click Trash under your notes list and click Restore. Deleted notes stay in Trash for 30 days.

I changed a note and want the old version

Open the note and click History. Earlier versions are saved when you come back to change a note after a pause, and every 10 minutes during long typing. Click a version to see it, then Restore this version. Your current text is saved as a version first, so a restore can be undone. The last 10 versions of each note are kept, for up to 7 days; with Pro, up to 100 versions for a year.

All my notes are gone

This can happen after removing and reinstalling the extension, or clearing Chrome’s data. Open Stay Notes: when there are no notes, it offers to bring them back:

• Restore from backup folder: choose the folder you backed up to. The newest backup in it is restored and backups to that folder start again.
• Restore from backup file: choose a backup file you downloaded.
• Restore from Chrome sync copy: shown only if Chrome still has one.

Restoring only adds notes; it never deletes any. If a note exists in more than one place, the most recently changed copy is kept.

With a synced backup folder (easiest)

1. On your old computer, make sure backups go to a folder that Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive or Google Drive syncs.
2. On the new computer, install Stay Notes and click its icon.
3. Click Restore from backup folder and choose the same synced folder.

With a backup file

1. On your old computer, open Backups and click Download backup file.
2. Copy the file to the new computer (by email, a USB stick or cloud storage).
3. Install Stay Notes there, click its icon, and click Restore from backup file.

Notes you already have on the new computer are kept; the file only adds and updates.

Set a reminder

Open a note and click Remind me in its top corner. Pick Later today, Tomorrow or Next week, or choose a date and time and click Set reminder. Choose Daily, Weekly or Monthly first to make it repeat.

The first time, Chrome asks to let Stay Notes show notifications. Allow it, so reminders can pop up even when you’re in another app.

When it’s time

Your computer shows a notification with the note’s title. Click Open note to see it, or In 10 minutes to be reminded again shortly. The note shows a red Due label (on the floating note too) until you click Done. A repeating reminder then waits for its next time.

To see every note with a reminder, soonest first, click Reminders above your notes list.

I didn’t get a notification

• Chrome needs to be running. If Chrome was closed at the reminder time, the reminder shows as soon as you open Chrome again.
• On a Mac, open System Settings, then Notifications, then Google Chrome, and make sure notifications are allowed. On Windows, check Settings, then System, then Notifications.
• If you said no when Chrome asked about notifications, reminders still show inside Stay Notes. To turn notifications on, set a reminder again and choose Allow.

Save a screenshot of a page in a note

Capture just part of a page: press Option+Shift+C (Alt+Shift+C on Windows). The page dims; drag a box around what you want, or click once for everything on screen. Press Esc to cancel. The screenshot goes into the note you have open in Stay Notes (or a new note if none is open), and it’s copied too, ready to paste anywhere.

Capture the whole page into a new note: on any web page, right-click and choose Stay Notes, then Capture this page into a new note.

A new note opens with the page’s title, a screenshot of what’s on your screen, the date, and a link back to the page. Type your thoughts underneath. The screenshot is a normal picture: click it to make it bigger or smaller.

To add a screenshot to an existing note instead, open that note in Stay Notes first, then on the web page choose Add a screenshot to the end of “…” in the same menu (it names the note). Stay Notes switches to that note and shows the new screenshot at the end. On a site with pinned notes, the Stay Notes pop-up also has a Capture this page button.

Nothing happened, or the icon shows “×”

If a note is floating, click once on the web page first, so it’s the window in front, then press the shortcut. Chrome doesn’t let extensions capture its own pages (like Settings) or the Chrome Web Store. Everywhere else, make sure you start the capture from the page itself: the right-click menu, the keyboard shortcut or the pop-up. On some pages, like PDFs, Stay Notes can’t draw the box, so the shortcut captures everything on screen instead.

Stay Notes can only capture web pages in Chrome, not other apps or your desktop. For those, use your computer’s own screenshot keys; on a Mac, Cmd+Ctrl+Shift+4 lets you drag a box and copies the picture, then click in a note and press Cmd+V.

Pin a note to a website

Open a note and click Pin to a site. Pick one of the sites open in your tabs, or type one, such as amazon.com. The note then shows up on that whole site.

On a site with pinned notes, the Stay Notes icon shows a blue number. Click it to see that site’s notes, and click Keep open beside the page to keep them in Chrome’s side panel while you browse.

Why does Chrome say “Read your browsing history”?

The first time you pin a note, Chrome asks for permission to see which site you’re on, and that’s how Chrome words it. Stay Notes only compares the site you’re on with your pinned notes, so it can show the number. It doesn’t record your browsing or send it anywhere. If you never pin a note, it never asks.

Unpin a note

Open the note, click the site’s name under it (where Pin to a site was), then Unpin.

Hide a note

Open a note and click Hide. The first time, choose a PIN of 4 to 12 digits. Hidden notes leave your list until someone enters the PIN: click Show hidden notes to see them, and Hide hidden notes again when you’re done.

Hidden notes are a curtain, not a safe. They’re kept out of sight, not encrypted, and they’re still in your backup files and the Chrome sync copy, where anyone who opens those could read them. Don’t keep passwords in notes.

I forgot my PIN

Click Forgot your PIN?. You can set a new PIN, but this erases every hidden note in this browser, so nobody can use it to read them. If your backups contain them, you can restore them from there.

Someone else uses my computer

The best way to keep notes private is to give each person their own Chrome profile: click your picture at the top right of Chrome, then Add. Each profile has its own Stay Notes.

Copy, email or download a note

Open a note and click Send a copy:

• Copy puts the note, with its formatting and pictures, on your clipboard to paste anywhere.
• Email copies the note and opens a new email. Click into the message and press Cmd+V (Ctrl+V on Windows) to paste it in with its formatting.
• Download as a file saves the note as a web page anyone can open.
• Share… uses your computer’s own Share menu, where available.

A copy goes out; nothing stays linked, and nothing passes through anyone’s servers.

What Pro adds

Features marked PRO: reminders, capturing a page, hidden notes, sending a copy, exporting notes as text files, 3D stickers, and a year of version history (free notes keep 7 days). Everything else is free, with no time limit.

Prices, trial and refunds

Pro is $24.99 a year or $2.99 a month (US dollars). Try it free for 14 days first. If you’re not happy, email us within 30 days of a payment for a full refund, no questions asked.

Cancel any time

Click Manage or cancel subscription inside Stay Notes. Pro stays on until the end of the time you’ve paid for. When Pro ends you keep everything you made: hidden notes still open with your PIN, stickers stay, and reminders you already set still go off; you just can’t add new Pro items.

Your notes stay on your computer. Stay Notes has no account, no ads and no tracking, and never collects your notes. The only copies are the ones you choose: your backup folder, files you download, Chrome’s own sync copy if you use Chrome sync, and copies you send.

If you start a free trial or buy Pro, your email address and payment go to our payment providers, ExtensionPay and Stripe. Stay Notes then checks with ExtensionPay whether you have Pro; your notes are never part of that. The full details are in our privacy policy.

Get help

Email staynotesapp@gmail.com. We read every message and reply in batches, usually within a few days. Please don’t include your notes or anything private.

Credits

Stickers: Microsoft Fluent Emoji, © Microsoft Corporation, used under the MIT license.

“Easy to read” font: Atkinson Hyperlegible, © Braille Institute of America, used under the SIL Open Font License.