Frequently Asked Questions

It's a small Windows app that lets you attach a styled note to any folder. A note can hold text, a status, a 5-star importance, a due date, and pinned files. FolderNotes also shows the file you edited last and can hide a folder behind a privacy curtain. It runs quietly in your system tray.

That's by design, and it's good for your privacy. The note is docked to its folder's File Explorer window, so it shows only while that window is in front. When you switch to another app, click the desktop, or open a different folder, the note tucks away, and it comes right back the moment you return to its folder. This keeps your private note out of sight while you work elsewhere or share your screen, so it isn't left on display for anyone nearby to read. Nothing is lost: your text is saved automatically. (For a folder you want fully hidden, use the privacy curtain with a passphrase.)

Yes, if you prefer that. By default the note hides when the folder loses focus, which keeps it private. If you'd rather it stayed, open Settings and turn on Keep note shown until another folder. With it on, the note stays on its folder window even while you work in another app, and only switches or hides when you open a different folder (or close, minimize, or curtain that one). Because the note belongs to its folder window, any app that covers the folder also covers the note.

By default the note sits in the top corner of the folder's window and follows it as you move, resize, or minimize that window. If you'd rather it sat somewhere else, just drag it by its title bar to any spot. FolderNotes remembers that position per folder, and the note keeps that placement relative to the window from then on. Double-click the title bar to snap it back to the default corner.

Yes. Click the ✕ in a note's corner to minimize it to a small note-shaped badge. The badge stays put when you return to the folder, so the note does not pop open every time, and you can still tell at a glance that the folder has a note (the badge looks like a little note, different from the empty folder's + button). Click the badge to open the note again. By default it then stays open until you minimize it once more. If you prefer, turn on Settings > Minimized notes stay minimized (peek mode), and a click will only peek at the note, returning to the badge when you come back.

Yes. Every folder keeps its own separate note, saved inside that folder. In a File Explorer window with several tabs, the note follows the active tab, so you always see the note for the folder you're actually looking at, and it switches the instant you change tabs.

It's the most recently edited file in that folder, with how long ago it changed, so you can pick up right where you left off. Click it to open the file. It looks at the folder's top level only, not inside subfolders.

Press Ctrl+Alt+F anywhere, or click the tray icon, to pop up a small launcher that lists the folders you marked important. Click one to open it. The pop-up stays open until you close it, so you can open several in a row, and you can drag it wherever you like. You can turn the shortcut off in Settings.

Yes. Open the Important Folders list from the tray. Each row has small up and down arrows on the right, use them to move a folder higher or lower, so the ones that matter most sit right at the top. By default the list is sorted by star rating and then by name, and the moment you move a folder by hand it stays exactly where you put it. Your order is remembered, and the folders you haven't moved keep the automatic order.

Yes. The Important Folders window has a Tasks panel on the left. Add a quick task there, or click the 📋 button on any folder's note to add a task tied to that folder. The list gently scrolls on its own and pauses the moment you hover over it, so you can read or click. Use the 🐢 and 🐇 buttons to set the scroll speed. Click the pencil to edit a task, and the checkbox to finish it, which moves it to the Archive. In the Archive you can restore a task or delete it for good (deleting is only available there).

Yes. If you give a folder a due date, FolderNotes shows a tray reminder when one or more folders are due today or overdue, at most once a day so it never nags. Click the reminder to jump straight to those folders. You can turn reminders off in Settings.

You can write notes in any language. Notes automatically switch to right-to-left for Hebrew, Arabic, and similar scripts, and back to left-to-right for others. The app's own interface is fully translated into nine languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Polish, and Japanese. Choose one in Settings, or leave it on Automatic to follow your Windows display language.

Open the note and click the trash icon. It clears the text, stars, status, due date, and pinned files, and removes the note file from that folder.

On almost any. A note is saved as a small file inside its folder, so it works wherever Windows lets an app write a file, which is virtually all of your own folders. A few system-protected places are the exception, because Windows blocks every app from writing there: the root of a drive (like C:\ or a mapped network drive shown as Z:\), the top-level C:\Users folder, and Windows system folders such as C:\Windows and Program Files. In those, FolderNotes simply doesn't show a note rather than trying and failing to save. Your own folders inside them, like C:\Users\YourName\Documents, work completely normally.

Everything stays on your computer. Each folder's note is saved in a hidden file named .foldernote.json inside that folder. App settings live in %APPDATA%\FolderNotes. There are no accounts, no servers, and no tracking, we never see your data. See the Privacy Policy.

To show the right note for the folder you're viewing and to display the most recently edited file, FolderNotes reads file names and dates on your device. It never copies, uploads, or shares anything, everything stays local.

Open the folder's note and click the eye icon (you'll set a shared passphrase the first time). To reveal a hidden folder later, open it and enter the passphrase, revealing it un-hides it for good. To hide it again, click the eye once more.

No. It's a visual privacy screen that works only while FolderNotes is running. It keeps a folder's contents away from casual, over-the-shoulder viewing, but anyone who closes the app or opens the folder with another program can still see the files. Don't use it to protect truly sensitive data, use real encryption for that.

Windows keeps its own list of recently opened files and shows it in File Explorer's Quick access. This list is controlled by Windows, not by FolderNotes, so it can include files from a folder you've hidden. As a Microsoft Store app, FolderNotes runs in a protected sandbox and cannot change this Windows list on your behalf. You can turn it off yourself in a few seconds, and it's a standard Windows setting:

1. Open File Explorer (Windows key + E).
2. Click the ... (See more) button at the top, then Options.
3. On the General tab, under Privacy, uncheck Show recently used files in Quick access.
4. Click Clear next to "Clear File Explorer history", then OK.

This removes the files already listed and stops Windows from listing recent files going forward. You can reach the same screen from FolderNotes: open Settings and click Open Folder Options.

For your security the passphrase is stored only as a one-way hash, so it cannot be recovered. You can reset it by deleting the file %APPDATA%\FolderNotes\config.json. This clears the passphrase for all folders and makes hidden folders accessible again. Your notes and files are never affected, only the passphrase is reset.

To protect your hidden folders. If anyone could open Settings and switch the privacy curtain off, or simply quit FolderNotes, they'd see your hidden folders without ever knowing the passphrase. So while a passphrase is set, opening Settings and exiting the app both require it. If you haven't set a passphrase, neither asks.

Yes, if your PC has Windows Hello set up. When you reveal a hidden folder (or open Settings or exit the app), a Use Windows Hello button lets you confirm with your face, fingerprint, or PIN. It's fast, and nothing leaves your device. The passphrase still works as a fallback, and you can turn Hello off in Settings.

Make sure FolderNotes is installed and running (its icon is in the tray). On Windows 11 the command appears in the main right-click menu for folders. If you just installed it, try restarting File Explorer or signing out and back in.

Right-click the FolderNotes tray icon, open Settings, and turn on Start with Windows.

Right-click FolderNotes in the Start menu and choose Uninstall, or open Settings > Apps > Installed apps and remove it there. Store apps don't appear in the old "Programs and Features" Control Panel, which is normal.

The notes themselves stay exactly where they are, as hidden .foldernote.json files inside your folders. Only the app's settings, time stats, and saved passphrase are removed. If you want, you can delete the leftover note files manually.

Yes. FolderNotes runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11 (64-bit).

No. It uses almost no CPU while sitting in the tray and only a modest amount of memory. You won't notice it running.

Not at the moment, FolderNotes is fully local by design. Because notes live inside the folders, they travel with the folder if you copy it, back it up, or sync it through a service like OneDrive.

Yes. In Settings, use Export all notes to save everything to a single file, then Import notes on the other computer. Your list of folders is also kept outside the app, so it survives reinstalling, and you can rebuild it any time with Find notes on this PC.

Yes. In Settings, the red Danger zone has a Delete all notes button. It permanently removes every note from every folder on this PC (text, stars, status, due dates, pinned files, and hidden flags). Your folders and files are not touched. It asks you to confirm first, and if you set a privacy passphrase it asks for that too. This cannot be undone, so export a backup first if you might want them back.