How do I change the default font of Sticky Notes?

124

45

How can the default font be changed for the Windows 7 Sticky Notes application? I can't stand that faux handwriting font it uses.

Steve Crane

Posted 2009-09-04T07:50:55.193

Reputation: 2 249

Answers

35

Here's a .reg file you can just double-click that will change the Segoe fonts to the Consolas within the registry. Created and tested working on Windows 8.1 Preview

stickynote_font_fix.reg

Linked code:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]
"Segoe Print (TrueType)"="consola.ttf"
"Segoe Print Bold (TrueType)"="consolab.ttf"

Log out and the font used by the Sticky Notes app should be legible.

keyvan

Posted 2009-09-04T07:50:55.193

Reputation: 510

Very useful and harmless solution! My own choice of fonts is "segoeui.ttf" and "segoeuib.ttf" for a modern and clean look. – jv42 – 2015-01-19T09:13:27.020

Link appears to be broken. – bpcookson – 2016-01-11T12:04:56.307

What about font colour? – RogUE – 2016-04-24T15:10:45.973

You sir @keyvan are awesome. – Phill – 2016-08-11T02:43:33.360

For some reason, this does not seem to work on Windows 10 Enterprise. I tried both consola.ttf and calibri.ttf, none worked. – fluidguid – 2016-08-17T14:14:29.310

9Probably a better option than deleting the font files but will of course render the Segoe Print font unusable system wide, which may be a problem for some. – Steve Crane – 2013-09-03T12:43:30.690

3I'm disturbed that you tried this on Windows 8.1. I guess that means that after 4 major releases of Windows (Sticky Notes appeared in Vista I think) Microsoft still haven't seen fit to allow font choice in the Sticky Notes app. – Steve Crane – 2013-09-03T12:45:46.733

1You could add mappings to that registry file that map the real Segoe Print files to different names allowing you to choose to use them elsewhere if you like. – Steve Crane – 2013-09-03T12:54:09.900

78

There are workarounds.

If you cut-and-paste text from another program, let's say Word, to a Sticky Note, that note will take on the original fonts the text was in.

To change size, luckily there are keyboard shortcuts...

Ctrl + Shift + > makes the font bigger

Ctrl + Shift + < makes the font smaller

There is a complete list of keyboard shortcuts available here.

caliban

Posted 2009-09-04T07:50:55.193

Reputation: 18 979

Strange, after closing sticky notes it will only retain it's font size if you're using the keyboard shortcuts and not the mouse scroll. – VitaminYes – 2014-06-19T19:45:16.847

2@VitaminYes Because mouse scroll isn't font size; it's (temporary) zoom. – Schism – 2014-07-07T18:54:50.403

1

How come this has more votes that the answer that actually answers and shows how to change default font for sticky notes? Plus that answer is super user while this is not.

– Sнаđошƒаӽ – 2017-01-26T04:52:36.173

-1, doesn't even attempt to answer the question. How did this get so many votes? – James – 2018-09-28T15:18:08.810

25ctrl+mousewheel also works for this – Jeff Atwood – 2011-01-28T07:36:47.173

3@Jeff: Yes it does, but that seems to work globally, while the keyboard method can be used to make text of different sizes, by selecting and modifying, which is a really nice thing to have found out. – paradroid – 2011-07-18T00:32:56.073

3Nice find! – alex – 2009-09-04T08:26:22.623

1I knew about this but it's changing the default font that I'm really interested in. – Steve Crane – 2009-09-04T10:21:50.037

Ctrl + Mousewheel for font size ;) – emzero – 2014-06-06T15:27:24.253

38

I know this is an old question, but I have an answer that might be better than deleting the font, but will still render the Segoe Print font useless. In the registry, you can change the font that Windows thinks is Segoe Print and Segoe Print Bold

  1. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts
  2. First, export that key so you have a backup.
  3. Find Segoe Print (TrueType)
  4. Change the value to the file name of any other font that you wish to use that is already installed (navigate that registry key to find others).
  5. Do the same for the "Segoe Print Bold (TrueType)" and match it to the Bold version of this font.
  6. Then, log out and back on.

Aaron

Posted 2009-09-04T07:50:55.193

Reputation: 389

4The benefit of this over just deleting Segoe Print should be the ability to select the specific font that you want to use instead of Segoe Print. – Steve Crane – 2010-03-08T11:40:53.127

1

Maybe there is some trick on registry to set a default font? http://www.thewindowsclub.com/tips-to-use-format-sticky-notes-in-windows-7

– Junior M – 2012-01-23T17:17:12.010

21

There is a workaround for the default font in sticky notes.

The default typeface for notes is Segoe Print and if you don't use this font for anything else you can delete it from your system, after which sticky notes will use MS Sans Serif as the default font.

Steve Crane

Posted 2009-09-04T07:50:55.193

Reputation: 2 249

Oooo haa.. Have come across the 'restart the machine' kind of solutions, but deleting is not the right way ... :) – mtk – 2015-05-02T09:21:56.770

This is still better than caliban's answer. – Sнаđошƒаӽ – 2017-01-26T04:54:11.783

10You risk breaking apps with that that rely on that font - do not recommend you do this. – Robert MacLean – 2011-04-15T13:02:58.103

2Deleting system components (even if they are just fonts) is a bad idea. – Umar Farooq Khawaja – 2012-12-05T18:04:37.467

The above commenters are right. While deleting a font file is less risky than deleting other files, there is always the chance of causing problems and in general system files should not be tampered with. – Steve Crane – 2012-12-06T09:51:15.260

is it possible to choose the font you'd like to use, rename it to "Segoe Print" by editing the name, buried in the font file, using a text editor, and then install that font? should work. – Redandwhite – 2009-12-22T13:38:29.213

16@Redandwhite: Please don't say that. "should work" is a forbidden expression. – bobobobo – 2009-12-28T00:03:03.267

19

Answer by NudeRaider


You can download a .MUI editor and modify the sticky notes mui file and change the font to whatever you want.

"C:\Windows\System32\en-US\StikyNot.exe.mui"

First of all thanks for the tip with the MUI file. With it I could successfully change the default font the sticky notes are using. Btw. plain notepad works fine for editing.

To solve the access denied problem you have to be administrator, and take control of the file first and then add full access permissions for your user name.

Step by step:
- right click the file -> properties
- Security tab -> advanced
- Owner tab -> edit
- click your user name -> OK
- Permissions tab -> change permissions
- add...
- enter your user name (or click advanced to search for it) -> OK
- click the top left check box (allow > full access) -> OK
- OK -> OK -> OK that's it, now you can access the file.

Then you can remove the write protection but you still can't overwrite the file because notepad doesn't let you save in that folder. So save the edited MUI file elsewhere and copy it into the en-us folder. Then restart your computer or it won't take effect.

Also note that the en-us folder depends on your system language (e.g. de-de for german), but the filename itself always stays StikyNot.exe.mui.

Sathyajith Bhat

Posted 2009-09-04T07:50:55.193

Reputation: 58 436

apologies for the typo in user name @NudeRaider – Sathyajith Bhat – 2011-02-09T03:34:18.480

I had to use notepad++ to edit the mui file because notepad corrupted the files I edited! – Thinker – 2011-01-18T16:29:23.857

3

IMHO, switching to something like http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/ would be your best bet.

Bob

Posted 2009-09-04T07:50:55.193

Reputation: 168

4People always use Notepad++ instead of Notepad; I don't see how this is any different. – ArtOfWarfare – 2014-09-26T13:19:33.157

Once thing to remember is that many folks do not have the ability to install software on employer's machines due to "policy" so must make do with built in applications. – N West – 2019-01-10T19:58:16.040

1There are many alternative apps for notes but why should I be forced to use another app just because the developers/designers of the built-in one made a poor choice? – Steve Crane – 2013-09-03T12:48:18.183

2

You can copy the text into a Notepad window and change the font there to whatever you like and then copy the text back into the note, and the font will stick.

I also found a nice freeware tool named StickyTool that expands the functionality of the Windows 7 Sticky Notes. The current version, however, is not able to change the default font of the Sticky Notes application, but I know from one of the developers that they want to integrate that in a future version.

xiskio

Posted 2009-09-04T07:50:55.193

Reputation:

Some might find StickyTool useful. Personally the standard sticky notes app is perfect for me, other than the horrid font. I'm looking for a similar app I can use on my new laptop, which has Windows 7 Home Basic and therefore no Sticky Notes app. – Steve Crane – 2010-03-30T10:29:20.520

@Deqing you are right. It is not supposed to work, actually. – Sнаđошƒаӽ – 2017-01-26T04:55:41.787

Virus Scan reports file to be virus free http://virscan.org/report/62538dbf51fe1adaa2111b76c4aeaa89.html

– Sathyajith Bhat – 2011-04-28T15:08:45.790

1Copy text into Notepad and change font there and copy back is not working – Deqing – 2013-07-04T02:24:55.223