Sticky notes per virtual desktop on Windows 11

Virtual desktops are one of the best ways to split work on Windows 11: one desktop for a client project, one for email and admin, one for personal things. Sticky notes usually ignore that split. They pile up on whichever desktop you happened to be on when you wrote them.

The short answer: to keep a separate set of notes on each virtual desktop, you need a notes app that understands virtual desktops. TackNote for Windows lets every desktop note choose. It either follows you to every desktop, or it belongs to one desktop and goes back there, even after you restart the PC.

A quick refresher on virtual desktops in Windows 11

If you have not used them much, these are the shortcuts Microsoft lists for virtual desktops:

• Win + Tab opens Task View, where you can see and rearrange your desktops.
• Win + Ctrl + D adds a new virtual desktop.
• Win + Ctrl + Left or Right switches between the desktops you have created.
• Win + Ctrl + F4 closes the desktop you are on.

Each app window lives on one desktop. Switch away and the windows on the old desktop are hidden until you come back. That is exactly what you want for apps, and it is the behavior a note should be able to follow too.

Two kinds of notes, two ways to follow a desktop

TackNote for Windows has two kinds of notes, and each handles virtual desktops in its own way.

Notes tacked to a window go where the window goes

Press Ctrl + Alt + N and the note is tacked to the window in front: a document, a folder, a browser tab. It shows only while that window is in front. If the window lives on your "Client" desktop, the note does too, because a window on another desktop is not on screen, and TackNote only shows a tacked note when its window is. You do not have to set anything up. Organize your windows across desktops and the notes follow.

Desktop notes can follow you, or stay home

Ctrl + Alt + F makes a desktop note, one that is not tied to any window. These are the notes that need a rule for virtual desktops, and each one has a Show on All Desktops switch in its menu:

• On (the default). The note follows you. Switch to any desktop and it moves along, so today's priorities or a phone number you need all morning are always in view.
• Off. The note stays on the desktop it is on now. Switch away and it waits there. Restart the PC and TackNote puts it back on that same desktop when it starts.

To move a one-desktop note to a different desktop, drag it there in Task View. TackNote notices where it landed and makes that its new home.

Why this works on Windows and not on a Mac

We make TackNote for the Mac too, and this is one of the few places where the Windows version can do more. Windows gives every virtual desktop an id that lasts across restarts, and it offers apps a documented way to ask which desktop a window is on and to move their own windows between desktops. That is what lets a note return to its desktop after a reboot.

macOS does not give apps a lasting id for each Space, the Mac's version of a virtual desktop. An app on the Mac cannot reliably say "this note belongs on the third Space" and have that still be true tomorrow. On the Mac, notes on the wrong Space are one of the most common reasons people think their notes have vanished, which we covered in why Mac sticky notes disappear.

A setup that works well

Here is one way to use this, with three desktops:

1. Desktop 1, everyday. Email, calendar, chat. A desktop note with Show on All Desktops on, holding the three things that matter today, so it is with you everywhere.
2. Desktop 2, a client project. The project's documents and browser tabs, each with notes tacked to them. One desktop note with Show on All Desktops off: the project checklist, which only appears when you are working on that project.
3. Desktop 3, personal. Its own one-desktop note, so a shopping list never shows up during a screen share on the work desktops.

If something is sensitive, make the note private. A private note stays hidden until you unlock it with Windows Hello or your Windows password, whichever desktop it is on.

Above your windows or behind them

Virtual desktops decide which desktop a note is on. Layering decides whether you can see it there. Each desktop note can either stick to the desktop, sitting behind your windows like wallpaper, or float above all windows. Settings has a Desktop note layer option to set the default for new desktop notes, or to ask each time. A floating note that follows you to every desktop is the closest thing to a real sticky note on the edge of your monitor.

Finding a note when you forget where it lives

Per-desktop notes are only useful if you can find them again. Press Ctrl + Alt + B to open TackBoard, which shows every note in one place with search across note text, checklist items and voice transcripts. Double-click a card to jump to the live note.

Using a Mac as well?

One TackNote license covers up to three computers, Mac or Windows, and an encrypted TackNote backup made on one restores on the other. If you are still choosing an app for your Mac, start with our comparison of Mac sticky notes apps. TackNote for Mac is available today.