Stickity Stacks

A frameless, lightweight sticky note application written in Python. Create, stack, and customize multiple sticky notes with persistent storage and seamless desktop integration.

🚀 Quick Start

Windows Users

👉 Download the installer and get started in seconds!

📖 First time? Check out the Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions.

Linux Users

See the Linux installation instructions below.

📸 Screenshots

Clean, frameless sticky note	Multiple notes with dog-ear indicator
Different colors and content	Font and color customization

✨ Features

Frameless Design: Clean, borderless sticky notes that blend seamlessly with your desktop
Cross-Platform: Runs on both Windows (tkinter) and Linux (GTK4)
Note Stacking: Create and manage multiple notes with Ctrl+S (Linux) or Ctrl+N (Windows)
Visual Navigation: Dog-ear indicator shows current note position in stack (e.g., "2/4") (Linux only)
Quick Actions: Delete notes with Ctrl+D or the trash icon
Full Customization: Personalize fonts, text colors, and background colors
Clipboard Editing: Highlight characters and right-click to cut, copy, paste, or select all
Drag to Move: Click and drag the title/header area to reposition a note
Resizable Notes: Drag the bottom-right corner to resize (Windows)
Persistent Storage: All notes and styling preferences are automatically saved
Desktop Integration: Add to your application menu and launcher

🪟 Windows Installation

For End Users (Easiest)

Download the installer from Releases
Run StickityStacks_Setup_v1.0.2.exe
Follow the installation wizard
Launch from Start Menu!

📖 Need help? See the Quick Start Guide

For Developers

Want to build the installer yourself?

Quick build (executable only):
```
packaging\windows\build.bat
```
Complete build (executable + installer):
```
packaging\windows\build_complete.bat
```

📖 Detailed instructions: BUILD_INSTALLER.md

Manual Windows Setup

Don't want to use the installer?

Install Python 3.6+ from python.org
Clone this repository
Run:
```
python stickity_stacks_win.py
```

📖 More details: README_WINDOWS.md

🐧 Installation (Linux)

Prerequisites

Before installing Stickity Stacks, ensure you have the following dependencies:

Python 3.6 or higher
GTK4 development libraries
Python GObject introspection bindings

Installing Dependencies

Fedora/RHEL/CentOS:

sudo dnf install python3-gobject gtk4

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install python3-gi gir1.2-gtk-4.0

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S python-gobject gtk4

Installation Steps

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/T-Chartrand/Stickity_Stacks.git
cd Stickity_Stacks

Make the script executable (optional):
```
chmod +x stickity_stacks.py
```

Run the application:

python3 stickity_stacks.py
# OR
./stickity_stacks.py

🎯 Usage

Keyboard Shortcuts

Platform	New Note	Delete Note
Linux	`Ctrl+S`	`Ctrl+D`
Windows	`Ctrl+N` or `Ctrl+S`	`Ctrl+D`

Mouse Controls

Move note: Click and drag the title/header area
Select text: Click and drag across characters in the note body
Edit selection: Right-click the note body for Cut, Copy, Paste, and Select All
Resize (Windows): Drag the bottom-right corner
Switch notes (Linux): Click the dog-ear corner indicator (shows current position like "2/4")
Settings: Click the gear icon (⚙️) to customize fonts and colors
Delete: Click the trash icon (🗑️) to delete current note

🖥️ Desktop Integration (Linux)

Add Stickity Stacks to your application menu for easy access:

Copy the desktop file:

cp com.stickity.stacks.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

Install the application icon:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/icons
cp stickity_stacks.png ~/.local/share/icons/

Update the desktop file path (if needed):

Edit ~/.local/share/applications/com.stickity.stacks.desktop and ensure the Exec= line points to your script:
```
Exec=/full/path/to/stickity_stacks.py
```

Refresh the application database:

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications

🎨 Customization

Stickity Stacks offers extensive customization options:

Fonts: Choose from any system font with size adjustment
Text Color: Pick any color for your note text
Background Color: Customize note background colors
Persistent Settings: All preferences are saved automatically

Access customization through the gear icon (⚙️) in the top-right corner of any note.

📁 Project Structure

Stickity_Stacks/
├── stickity_stacks.py              # Main application (Linux/GTK4)
├── stickity_stacks_win.py          # Windows version (tkinter)
├── packaging/windows/build.bat     # Windows executable builder
├── packaging/windows/build_complete.bat # Complete installer builder
├── build_installer.spec            # PyInstaller configuration
├── installer.iss                   # Inno Setup installer script
├── com.stickity.stacks.desktop     # Linux desktop integration
├── stickity_stacks.png             # Application icon
├── requirements_windows.txt        # Windows dependencies
├── snap/snapcraft.yaml             # Snap package configuration
├── README.md                       # This file
├── README_WINDOWS.md               # Windows-specific README
├── QUICKSTART.md                   # Beginner's guide
├── BUILD_INSTALLER.md              # Installer build guide
└── LICENSE                         # GNU GPL v3 license

🔧 Development

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature'
Push to the branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
Open a Pull Request

Issues and Bug Reports

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on GitHub.

Development Setup

Linux:

git clone https://github.com/T-Chartrand/Stickity_Stacks.git
cd Stickity_Stacks
sudo dnf install python3-gobject gtk4  # Fedora
python3 stickity_stacks.py

Windows:

git clone https://github.com/T-Chartrand/Stickity_Stacks.git
cd Stickity_Stacks
python stickity_stacks_win.py

📦 Packaging

Windows Installer

See BUILD_INSTALLER.md for complete instructions.

Snap Package (Linux)

snapcraft

AppImage (Linux)

The AppImage bundles Python, PyGObject, and GTK4, so end users do not need to install those dependencies. Building it requires Docker, appimagetool, desktop-file-validate, and appstreamcli:

make linux

The versioned output is written under releases/v<version>/linux/.

Arch Package

Build the stickity-stacks-git package without installing it:

make arch

🔒 Data Storage

Linux:

Notes stored in: stickity_stacks_notes.json

Windows:

Notes stored in: %USERPROFILE%\stickity_stacks_notes_win.json

Files are automatically created and updated. Safe to delete if you want to reset all notes and settings.

📝 License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 — see the LICENSE file for details.

👨‍💻 Author

Tyrrell Chartrand

GitHub: @T-Chartrand
Email: mr0tstihs81@gmail.com

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with GTK4, tkinter, and Python
Inspired by the need for simple, effective desktop note-taking
Thanks to the GTK, tkinter, and Python communities for excellent documentation

🚀 Future Features

📚 Documentation

Quick Start Guide - Perfect for beginners!
Windows README - Windows-specific details
Build Installer Guide - How to build the Windows installer
Main Documentation - You are here!

Happy note stacking! 📝✨

⭐ Star this repo if you find it useful! ⭐

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
msix		msix
packaging		packaging
screenshots		screenshots
scripts		scripts
snap		snap
.gitignore		.gitignore
BUILD_INSTALLER.md		BUILD_INSTALLER.md
IMPLEMENTATION_SUMMARY.md		IMPLEMENTATION_SUMMARY.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
PRIVACY.md		PRIVACY.md
QUICKSTART.md		QUICKSTART.md
README.md		README.md
README_WINDOWS.md		README_WINDOWS.md
RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md		RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md
STORE_SUBMISSION.md		STORE_SUBMISSION.md
SUPPORT.md		SUPPORT.md
VERSION		VERSION
build_installer.spec		build_installer.spec
com.stickity.stacks.desktop		com.stickity.stacks.desktop
installer.iss		installer.iss
requirements_windows.txt		requirements_windows.txt
stickity_stacks.ico		stickity_stacks.ico
stickity_stacks.png		stickity_stacks.png
stickity_stacks.py		stickity_stacks.py
stickity_stacks_win.py		stickity_stacks_win.py

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