Sticky Notes is one of the most straightforward and useful tools in Windows. It is the digital equivalent of the paper post-it notes we all know, that help us be more productive in our daily schedule. If you also use them frequently, it’s obvious that sticky notes are helpful reminders only if you permanently keep them in your field of view.🙂 Unfortunately, the Sticky Notes app from Windows 10 and Windows 11 may not be sticky enough, as it doesn’t start automatically each time you log in. If you want to learn how to start Sticky Notes on startup, read this guide:
IMPORTANT: Before setting Sticky Notes to open automatically on the Windows startup, it is a good idea to open the app, configure it, and update it (if necessary) to the latest version. Here are all the ways to start Sticky Notes, and here’s how to update apps and games from the Microsoft Store.
Drag Sticky Notes from the Windows 10 Start Menu to the desktop
If you’re using Windows 11, the procedure takes some additional steps. First, open the Start Menu, and go to All apps. Next, scroll down the list of installed programs until you find Sticky Notes. Then, drag and drop its shortcut to the desktop. You should see the Link text, similar to the screenshot below. That’s Windows 11 signaling that dropping the shortcut to the desktop will create a link to the app.
Drag Sticky Notes from the Windows 11 Start Menu to the desktop
You now have the Sticky Notes shortcut on your desktop.
Sticky Notes is now on your desktop
Then, open File Explorer (Windows + E) and, in the address bar at the top, copy and paste or type the following:
In File Explorer, go to shell:startup
This takes you to a folder path similar to:
Drag Sticky Notes to the Startup folder in File Explorer
You should see the Sticky Notes shortcut in your Startup folder, like this:
Sticky Notes is now added to the Startup folder
The next time you turn on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer and sign in, Sticky Notes should be automatically loaded and displayed on your screen.
Sticky Notes now opens on startup
TIP: Here are six ways to sign in to Windows 10 and five methods to sign in to Windows 11.
How to make Sticky Notes open on startup in Windows 10 or Windows 11
After you have opened and configured Sticky Notes, it’s time to set it to autostart each time you log into Windows. If you’re using Windows 10, open the Start Menu (press the Windows key or click/tap the Windows icon on the taskbar), scroll down the list of programs until you see the Sticky Notes shortcut, and then drag it to the desktop with the mouse (or your finger, on a touchscreen). When you see the Link text show up, drop the Sticky Notes shortcut to the desktop.


shell:startup
After typing the command, don’t forget to press Enter on your keyboard to run it.

C:\Users\Your User Account\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
NOTE: You can also manually browse to this location for the same result.
Next, drag the Sticky Notes icon from your desktop to the location you’ve just opened. When you see the “Move to Startup” message in File Explorer, as shown in the screenshot below, it’s time to drop the shortcut (release the mouse button or lift your finger).




Discussion (21)
Tip number one is wrong and does not work. I din’t bother wit hthe others.
The guide was created 5 years ago. Things might have changed since. However, some of those methods will continue to work. While I understand your frustration, trying more than one method might be worthwhile. We will also work on this article and update it in the coming weeks. Thanks for the feedback.
You put a physical sticky note somewhere you can see it, to remind you of something. Why would you not do the same with the digital variety? If you can remember to open the programme, you will likely remember what you had written on it anyway.
If you have the sticky notes tierd can you get them to open in the same order? I always have to rearrange them every morning
Thanks for the tip. I used the shortcut on startup
I can’t find the path of sticky note. What should I do?
Awesome!! Thank you!
Thank you! This has been an issue for me since the latest Windows 10 update.
Glad to help. 😉
Very knowledgeable and helpful tips. Very useful to start my session with activities ready, saving my time, efforts and memory.
Since I use Stickies to remind me of future tasks, it’s important that they open automatically … what good it a reminder that doesn’t show!?!
From which film an who is this beautiful girl on your desktop?
Wonderwoman. You should watch the movie. 😉
I want sticky notes NOT to open when I boot up.
I only want to see notes when I click on the sticky notes icon in my taskbar.
Win10
Lol that’s default behaviour anyway
There is no Sticky Notes shortcut automatically created in Windows 10, unless you manually create one, and know how to do it.
THNX WILL TRY RIGHT AWAY.
I am trying to set a CSGO Practice Routine so thnx man.
i have Sticky Notes app, but cannot see the StikyNot.exe in the directory
This information is outdated. StikyNot.exe is no longer in the System32 folder. As of the Windows 10 Anniversary Editing, it is now in the heavily protected C:Program FilesWindowsApps folder.
%windir%system32stikynot.exe isn’t where the sticky notes app runs from in Win 10 (maybe this change was from a recent update). MS now class it as a ‘Windows App’ which sits in C:Program FilesWindowsApps, a folder which is hidden by default and takes a fair amount of hoop-jumping to gain any degree of read/write access to. Microsoft.StickyNotes.exe runs from a subfolder in there, creating shortcuts to this fail with a message about needing to be run from an App folder. Not worth the effort.
i don’t have sticky notes in my system32 folder