Sticky notes with reminders on a Mac, and which app to use

If you want a sticky note on your Mac that also reminds you, the built-in Stickies app cannot do it. Apple's Stickies guide covers colors, fonts, lists, floating on top and export, and it lists no reminders, alarms or notifications. That leaves two real choices: Apple Reminders, which is built for tasks and dates, or a sticky notes app with reminders built into the note, such as TackNote, which we make.

The short answer: use Apple Reminders when the reminder is about a task or a place, like an errand, a bill or picking something up. Use TackNote when the reminder is about something on your screen, like a document, a web page or a project folder, because the reminder opens that work and the note is sitting on it when you get there. TackNote can also remind you without a clock at all, the next time you open the thing the note is stuck to.

Can Apple Stickies remind you?

No. Stickies is a place to put notes on your desktop, and Apple's guide describes it that way: you see your notes whenever the Stickies app is open, and when Stickies is closed, notes do not appear on your desktop. There is no setting for a time, a date or an alert.

What Stickies does have is Float on Top, in the Window menu, which keeps a note in front of every other window. That works as a reminder of sorts, but only while you are looking at the screen, and a note that sits on top of everything tends to become something you stop seeing. If that is the part you want, our post on notes that stay on screen goes into it.

Apple Reminders: best for tasks, dates and places

Apple Reminders is the right tool when the thing you need to remember is a task in your life rather than something in a file. According to Apple's Reminders guide for the Mac, you can:

• Give a reminder a date and a time, or leave the time off for an all-day reminder.
• Repeat it hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, or on a custom schedule.
• Ask for an early reminder before the due date.
• Get an alert when you arrive at or leave a location.
• Keep reminders in lists and share a list with someone else.

What it is not is a sticky note. A reminder is a line in a list in the Reminders app, so it does not sit on the spreadsheet, the web page or the folder it is about. For "pay the electric bill on the 1st", that is fine. For "check the totals in this sheet before sending it", you end up reading the reminder in one place and doing the work in another.

TackNote: the reminder is on the note

TackNote is a sticky notes app whose notes attach to the work they belong to: an app, a window, a browser tab, a document or a Finder folder. A note shows up when that work is in front and steps aside when it is not. Reminders sit on the note itself, behind the bell button on each note. Here is what they do.

A reminder at a set time

The bell menu offers quick picks (in 1 hour, in 3 hours, this evening at 6 PM, tomorrow at 9 AM and next week) or a custom date and time from a small calendar. When the reminder comes due, the notification says where the note lives, such as the app and the page or document title, so you know what it is about before you click. Clicking it brings back the note's work, reopening a saved web page in its browser for example, and the note pulses so you can find it.

Snooze from the notification

When TackNote notifications are on, the notification has snooze choices under Options: 15 minutes, 1 hour, tomorrow at the same time, or next week at the same time. There is also Mark as Done.

Repeating reminders

A reminder can repeat every day, every weekday, every week or every month. A repeating reminder moves on to its next time after it fires. A one-time reminder that fires leaves a red bell on the note and a badge on the TackNote menu bar icon until you deal with it, so a reminder that arrived while you were away is not lost.

A nudge the next time you open it

This is the one you will not find in a list app. In the bell menu, turn on the nudge option instead of picking a time. Nothing happens until the next time that note's document, page or window comes into view. Then the note pulses and keeps a red glow until you click it. It suits notes like "ask about the budget line" on a shared document you open a few times a week: you do not know when you will be back, but you know the note should get your attention when you are.

When TackNote is closed

If you allow notifications for TackNote, reminders reach you even when TackNote is quit or your Mac is asleep. For a reminder that stays on screen until you act on it, set TackNote's notification style to Alerts in System Settings, under Notifications. If notifications are off, TackNote shows its own banner while it is running, and if several reminders came due while you were away, it says so once rather than stacking banners.

Private notes stay private

A notification can show on the lock screen and stays in Notification Center. For a note you have marked private, the notification says only "Private note", never the note's text. Notes are also encrypted on your Mac, and no account is needed.

Where TackNote falls short for reminders

• No location reminders on the Mac. If you want an alert when you get to the shop, use Apple Reminders.
• Fewer repeat choices. Every day, every weekday, every week and every month. There is no yearly or custom schedule.
• No early alert. You set the time of the reminder itself. There is no separate alert a set time before it.
• It is not a task manager. A note can hold a checklist, but there are no shared lists of dated tasks. Apple Reminders does that well.
• It costs money. Stickies comes with macOS, and Reminders is Apple's own app on your Mac. TackNote is $24.99 once after the 7-day trial, and one license covers up to 3 computers, Mac or PC.

Plenty of people use both: Apple Reminders for life admin, and TackNote for reminders that belong to a particular piece of work. For a wider look at Mac sticky notes apps beyond reminders, see the best sticky notes app for Mac, and how to pick one.

Which one fits you

• A note you just want to keep seeing, no alert: Apple Stickies with Float on Top. It comes with macOS.
• A note you want to keep seeing, plus an alert at a time: TackNote. A desktop note can float on top and carry a reminder.
• A task, errand or bill with a date: Apple Reminders. It has dates, repeats, early reminders and lists.
• A task tied to a place: Apple Reminders, which can alert you when you arrive at or leave a location.
• Something about a document, page or window, at a set time: TackNote. The reminder opens the work and the note is on it.
• Something about a document, page or window, on a schedule: TackNote, with a daily, weekday, weekly or monthly repeat.
• Something about a document, page or window, whenever you next open it: TackNote's nudge. No time needed.

If the problem is less about alerts and more about notes you forget exist, notes that show up where you need them covers that side of it.

Questions

Can Mac Stickies set a reminder?

No. Apple's Stickies guide covers colors, fonts, lists, floating on top, import and export, and it lists no reminders, alarms or notifications. A note only shows while the Stickies app is open.

What is the best sticky notes app for Mac with reminders?

It depends on what the reminder is about. For errands, bills and places, Apple's own Reminders app can alert you at a time or when you arrive at or leave a location. For a reminder about something on your screen, such as a document, a web page or a folder, TackNote puts the reminder on a sticky note attached to that work and opens it when the reminder fires.

Can a sticky note remind you when you open a file on a Mac?

Yes, in TackNote. Choose the nudge option in a note's bell menu, and the next time that note's document, page or window comes into view, the note pulses and glows red until you click it. There is no clock involved.

Do TackNote reminders work when the app is closed?

Yes, if you turn on notifications for TackNote. Reminders then reach you even when TackNote is quit or your Mac is asleep. Without notifications, TackNote shows its own banner while it is running.