Stickies: Impossible

[redMstudio]

I have been having a lot of Stickies problems and cannot seem to get a fix. My build is Mac OSX 10.3.9 and apparently all the problems I am having were supposedly fixed... and they are not.

Problems: New stickies disappear when I click them, and I cannot see any text on them; when I close then reopen Stickies it appears (still with no text and unable to open) in the bottom left of the main window.

Please help if you can, I have uninstalled and still have the same problem. I just want to do my work in the most efficient manner-but I am addicted to stickies now! (And hanging on this website, although friendly and enjoyable... doesn't help me work).

[bobw]

Trash this file - 'com.apple.Stickies.plist' - located in user/library/preferences

Trash this file - 'StickiesDatabase' - located in user/library

Then try Stickies.

[redMstudio]

Thank you Bob! I had erased the database, but not the plist! Thank you so much, I will be sure to come to you guys with any future questions!

[garyvdh]

Darn - I thought the stickies were useless so I just didn't use them - all this because of exactly the same problem. However I have not had this problem in Tiger. (which I just installed a few days ago)

I am using the stickies in dashboard - I find it works well there.

Gary

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by garyvdh

Darn - I thought the stickies were useless so I just didn't use them - all this because of exactly the same problem. However I have not had this problem in Tiger. (which I just installed a few days ago)

I am using the stickies in dashboard - I find it works well there.

Gary

Stickies in Dashboard were a nice addition, and I like using them, but they are not resizeable. They only work well for certain things. Stickies on the Desktop work really well though, but I had to write a little script that backs them up every time I login, so I can keep rolling backups just in case the database goes south (which has happened to me more than once before). The script fixes it nicely, though.

[garyvdh]

Thanks Dennis,

Hey - did you honestly think make a post like that and be left alone. 'ping' - wrong!

You wet my almost insatiable (sp?) appitite for learning.

OK - would you mind sharing that gem of info with me - I can find my way around unix - enough to get me into trouble but also enough to know not to mess around in various areas.

I just recently started to do a few (very minor) things in unix and see the benefits in Mac OS.

I would really appreciate it if you could either post or send me the info.

Thanks

Gary.

[dmetzcher]

I've attached an AppleScript file (saved as an application) to this post. You can extract the file (zip format - double-click to extract), and just drag the "StickieSaver.app" file inside of it into your Applications folder. I "borrowed" the code for this little script from a tip I found on the MacOSXHints Web site.

You need to do two things. Both involve your account's Login Items. Open System Preferences and click the "Accounts" icon to bring up that preference panel. Once there, click on the "Login Items" (Startup Items, in Panther) tab at the top.

1. Remove the Stickies application from the list of login items by clicking it, and then clicking the minus (-) button below the list. Obviously, if you don't have the Stickies app in the list, you don't have to worry about this step.

2. Add the StickieSaver app that you added to your Applications folder by clicking the plus button (+) below the list of Login Items. Browse for StickieSaver, click it, and then click the Add button.

Every time you log in, going forward, the script will run. It will create rolling backups (3 of them) so that, if something happens to your Stickies database, you will have two good copies to work from. Once the script is finished running, it will launch the Stickies app (which is why you want to remove Stickies from your Login Items, if it's already there - the script will launch it for you).

========================================
What the script actually does:

The first time the script runs, it will create a folder in your Home directory, called "StickiesDB Backup". This is where the backups will be saved. I changed this from the original script, which had them saving to the Library folder. I think they should be saved to the Home folder for easier access.

After the folder is created, and every time thereafter, the following will happen.

Save backup #2 as backup #3, if backup #2 exists. If it does not already exist, nothing will be done.

Save backup #1 as backup #2, if backup #1 exists. If it does not already exist, nothing will be done.

Copy the Stickies database to the backup folder and name it as backup #1.

Launch the Stickies app
========================================

Basically, this means that backup #1 is the most-recent copy of the Stickies database. #2 is the second most-recent, and #3 is the third most-recent. If your Stickies app opens and you see that your stickies are blank, or gone, or some are gone - whatever - you can go grab backup #2 or #3 and load it into the Stickies app by first quitting Stickies and then copying the backup to the following location and naming it "StickiesDatabase". (Be sure to delete the existing "StickiesDatabase" file first.)

~/Library
(That's the Library folder inside your Home folder.)

The funny thing is that my Stickies database died on me twice in the past, and has not done so yet since I added this app to the mix, so I've never had to use one of the backups yet. Still, it's nice to know that they are there. The key is to make sure that you restore from one of the backups (#2 or #3) immediately when you login and notice that the Stickies are gone. If you log out and back in again, you should be fine - once - and then you are going to overwrite the good backups with bad ones. Also, remember not to restore from backup #1, because it might be garbage (it might not be, but stay safe and avoid it, if you can).

Hope this has helped!

[garyvdh]

Hey Dennis,

Thanks a lot -

I am going to do it all right now and will give you feedback.

Have yourself a great day/evening/night further (I don't know were you are in the world ;-) )

Yours
Gary