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

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protected by Jeff Atwood♦ Jan 28 '11 at 7:26

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7 Answers

up vote 20 down vote

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.

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Nice find! – alex Sep 4 '09 at 8:26
I knew about this but it's changing the default font that I'm really interested in. – Steve Crane Sep 4 '09 at 10:21
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ctrl+mousewheel also works for this – Jeff Atwood♦ Jan 28 '11 at 7:36
@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 Jul 18 '11 at 0:32
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up vote 15 down vote

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.

  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. Then, restart the computer.
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The 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 Mar 8 '10 at 11:40
Maybe there is some trick on registry to set a default font? thewindowsclub.com/tips-to-use-format-sticky-notes-in-windows-7 – Junior Mayhé Jan 23 at 17:17
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up vote 11 down vote accepted

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.

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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 Dec 22 '09 at 13:38
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@Redandwhite: Please don't say that. "should work" is a forbidden expression. – bobobobo Dec 28 '09 at 0:03
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You risk breaking apps with that that rely on that font - do not recommend you do this. – Robert MacLean Apr 15 '11 at 13:02
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up vote 5 down vote

I had to use notepad++ to edit the mui file because notepad corrupted the files i edited!

You can download a .MUI editor (or use Notepad as Administrator) and modify the sticky notes mui file and change the font to whatever you want.

"C:\Windows\System32\en-US\StikyNot.exe.mui"
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This sounds promising but any attempt to modify the MUI file results in Access Denied. How do you get around that? – Steve Crane Jan 19 '11 at 7:22
Well it might be that the file is set on read only or some other program is accessing the file such as windows itself, making you unable to modify the file. – Thinker Jan 19 '11 at 14:15
I copied the actual "stikynot.exe" from C:\Windows\System32 as well as the mui file and put it in a new directory elsewhere, also named "en-US". As long as the .exe file in one directory up from "en-US directory where I put the mui file, it still read as though it was in system32. Also forgive my grammer if it's confusing, english isn't my strong point but I think I do fairly well. – Thinker Jan 19 '11 at 14:20
Ah thanks, I'll try that. Quite a lot of effort for less sophisticated users so while this may work, we should keep on the lookout for a simpler solution. – Steve Crane Feb 7 '11 at 8:19
@SteveCrane: I was able to edit the file by giving my administrator account "Full Control" of the file. But before I could do that, I had to make myself the owner of the file. – Encoderer Jun 14 '11 at 10:53
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up vote 3 down vote

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.

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apologies for the typo in user name @NudeRaider – Sathya♦ Feb 9 '11 at 3:34
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up vote 2 down vote

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.

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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 Mar 30 '10 at 10:29
Virus Scan reports file to be virus free virscan.org/report/62538dbf51fe1adaa2111b76c4aeaa89.html – Sathya♦ Apr 28 '11 at 15:08
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up vote 1 down vote

Deleting Segoe Print works well, but you can also change the size ctrl + MouseWheeling

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