ClickNote

One right-click. One sticky note. Forever on your desktop.

A lightweight, persistent sticky-note system for Windows 10/11. Right-click anywhere on the desktop, hit Add Note, and a draggable note appears — exactly where you left it after every reboot.

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Why

The friction between "I need to write this down" and "it's written down" should be zero clicks beyond the right mouse button.

ClickNote is a faithful digital version of the paper Post-it pad your grandparents kept on the fridge — except it never falls off, never runs out of pages, and is always exactly where you left it.

No Notepad. No browser tab. No Notion login. No tray app to hunt for. Right-click, type, done.

Features

Right-click → Add Note	First entry of the desktop context menu
Truly persistent	Notes survive logoff, reboot, sleep, even hard crashes
Auto-starts with Windows	Runs silently in the background from login
Single instance	One process hosts unlimited notes
Six executive themes	Cycle with one click — taupe, graphite, slate, blue, charcoal
Auto-save in 600 ms	Every keystroke, every move, every resize
Drag & resize	Header to move, bottom-right grip to resize
System tray menu	New note · Show all · Quit
Zero dependencies	Pure PowerShell + WPF. No .NET runtime to download. No installer.
100% local	Your notes never leave %APPDATA%\DesktopNotes\notes.json
Tiny footprint	~85 MB RAM, idle CPU 0%

Install

1. Clone or download this repository.

2. Open a regular non-admin PowerShell window in the project folder.

3. Run:

   .\Install.ps1

That's it. Right-click the desktop and click Add Note.

Heads up: by default, the installer also restores the Windows 11 classic context menu so the Add Note entry appears at the top of the default right-click — no more hunting for "Show more options". If you'd rather keep the new compact Win11 menu, run .\Install.ps1 -KeepWin11Menu and the entry will appear under Show more options instead.

Use

Action	Result
Right-click desktop → Add Note	New sticky note appears under your cursor
Click the title	Edit the note title (e.g. "Friday review", "Shopping")
Type	Auto-saves 600 ms after you stop typing
Type a URL + Space/Enter	Becomes a clickable blue link — click opens in your browser
Drag the header (outside the title)	Move the note anywhere
Bottom-right grip	Resize
◐ button	Cycle through the 6 color themes
+ button	Spawn another note next to your cursor
✕ button	Delete the note (one click, no confirmation)
Tray icon (right-click)	New note · Show all · Quit

Markdown shortcuts

ClickNote understands Notion-style shortcuts as you type — the trigger characters disappear and the formatting takes their place.

Block-level (type at the start of a line, then press Space)

Type	You get
-  or  *	• Bullet list
1.	1. Numbered list
[]	☐ Checklist (click the box to toggle ☑)
#	Heading 1 (large, semi-bold)
##	Heading 2 (medium, semi-bold)

Press Enter inside a heading to drop back to normal text on the next line.

Inline (type the closing marker to apply)

Type	You get
!important!	important (bold)
/cancelled/	cancelled (strikethrough)

The / shortcut is smart: it skips paths like src/file.ts and URLs like https://example.com so you can still type those normally.

Links

Type or paste a URL (anything starting with http:// or https://) and press Space or Enter. The URL turns blue and becomes a real hyperlink — one click opens it in your default browser. The link is preserved when you reload the note.

Editable title

Each note has its own title in the header bar (it shows Note by default). Click it once to edit — type whatever the note is for: Friday review, Shopping, Q4 ideas. The title is saved with the note and persists between sessions, so you can tell your stickies apart at a glance.

Color palette

The default theme is a warm taupe — quiet, executive, low-distraction. Tap the ◐ button on any note to cycle:

#	Background	Header	Vibe
1	#D6D3D1	#44403C	Taupe / sepia (default)
2	#E5E7EB	#374151	Light graphite
3	#D1D5DB	#1F2937	Medium graphite
4	#CBD5E1	#334155	Slate blue
5	#DBEAFE	#1E3A8A	Corporate blue
6	#E5E5E5	#262626	Charcoal

Want a different default? Edit the first entry of the $Colors array in DesktopNotes.ps1 and the Background attributes of OuterBorder and Header in the embedded XAML.

How it works

User right-clicks the desktop
        │
        ▼
  Registry shell verb runs:
  wscript Hidden.vbs DesktopNotes.ps1 -AddNote
        │
        ▼
  Mutex check — is a background instance already running?
        │
        ├── YES → write trigger file → existing instance pops a new note
        └── NO  → spawn background instance with -InitialNote flag

• Hidden.vbs — launches PowerShell with -WindowStyle Hidden so no console window flashes during boot or right-click.
• DesktopNotes.ps1 — single-script app. Loads notes from JSON, renders WPF windows, runs the tray icon, polls a trigger file for new-note requests.
• Install.ps1 — registers the shell verb, the autostart entry, and (optionally) restores the Win11 classic context menu. Restarts Explorer to apply.
• Uninstall.ps1 — reverses everything cleanly. Keeps your notes by default.

Notes are stored as plain JSON at %APPDATA%\DesktopNotes\notes.json. Back them up however you back up anything else.

File layout

clicknote/
├── DesktopNotes.ps1   # the app (WPF + tray icon + persistence)
├── Hidden.vbs         # silent launcher (no console flash)
├── Install.ps1        # registers context menu + autostart
├── Uninstall.ps1      # clean removal
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
└── preview.png

Uninstall

.\Uninstall.ps1

Flag	Effect
(none)	Removes context menu, autostart, restores Win11 menu. Notes are preserved.
-AlsoDeleteNotes	Also wipes %APPDATA%\DesktopNotes\
-RestoreWin11Menu:$false	Leaves the Win11 classic-menu tweak in place

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• Built-in PowerShell 5.1 (or newer)
• No admin rights needed — everything is per-user (HKCU)

Roadmap

ClickNote is intentionally minimal. Pull requests welcome for:

• Pin-to-top toggle per note
• Markdown rendering inside notes
• Search across all notes (Ctrl+Shift+F)
• Global keyboard shortcut to spawn a new note
• Export to clipboard / Markdown
• Optional sync via OneDrive / Dropbox folder
• Custom color picker
• Reminder timestamps

Contributing

Bug reports, ideas, and PRs are welcome. Keep PRs focused — one feature at a time, no scope creep.

1. Fork → branch → commit → PR.
2. Test on a clean Windows 10 and Windows 11 user account before opening a PR.
3. The project deliberately uses only PowerShell 5.1 + WPF. Please don't introduce dependencies on .NET SDK, Node, Python, or external installers.

License

MIT — do whatever you want, just don't blame me.

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_{Built with PowerShell, WPF, and a healthy dislike of using Notepad as a TODO list.}