Floating notes
Every note gets its own window and picks up right where you left it: same text, same size, same spot.
Sticky notes for your Mac. Native, open source and free.
Notely keeps your ideas in view, floating right on your desktop. Jot it down, pick a color and get back to work.
v0.1.0 · macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon and Intel
Screenshot coming soon
What Notely is for
Notely isn't meant to replace your notes app. It's for the quick stuff: the idea, list or reminder you want in front of you while you work, right there on your desktop until you're done with it.
Features
Color-coded notes
Give each note its own color and tell your topics apart at a glance.
To-do lists
Give each list a title and check things off as you go.
Markdown descriptions
Items linked to an issue can have a description with basic formatting: headings, lists, checkboxes and code.
Link previews
Type a URL and Notely turns it into a card with the page's title, description and image.
GitHub sync
Keep your notes in sync with GitHub issues. Your token is stored in the macOS Keychain.
Install Notely
Download Notely
Grab the latest Notely.dmg.
Drag it to Applications
Open the .dmg and drag Notely into your Applications folder.
Open it
Launch Notely from Applications. The first time you do, macOS will ask you to approve it.
Is macOS blocking Notely?
This is normal and easy to fix. Notely is free and open source, but it isn't notarized by Apple, so macOS shows a warning the first time you open it. It only takes a few seconds to approve, and all the code is on GitHub if you'd like to look it over.
macOS 14
- Find Notely in your Applications folder.
- Control-click → Open (right-click works too).
- When the warning appears, click Open again.
macOS 15 or later
- Try opening Notely once. macOS will block it.
- Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.
- Look for the button next to the message about Notely.
Still blocked? For advanced users
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Notely.appThis Terminal command removes the quarantine flag macOS puts on downloaded apps, so it'll stop blocking Notely.
Open source
Notely is MIT-licensed, and all the code is on GitHub. See how it works, suggest improvements or build it yourself.