How to restore the overwritten Sticky Notes using plum.sqlite ?

Question

i wanna ask, i was overwrote my notes at 1 Sticky Note not on purpose

i found that there's some kinda backup data stored at plum.sqlite

but, how to restore the data from that file..?

still can't figure out how to restore it

anyone knows how to do it..?

Answer 1

Welcome Sam to the Q&A forum!

From what you shared, I understand you accidentally overwrote a Sticky Note and are looking for a way to recover it. You found the plum.sqlite file which seems to store backup data, but you’re unsure how to extract the overwritten notes from it.

Please note that the plum.sqlite file is a live database. Every time you edit or overwrite a note in Sticky Notes, the change is immediately saved into that database. That means the database does not keep old versions, it only reflects the current state of your notes.

If you have a backup copy of plum.sqlite from before the overwrite, you can restore your old notes by replacing the current file with that backup. Here's how:

1. Close Sticky Notes completely so it doesn’t lock the database.
2. Win+R > Copy and paste this: %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState
3. Locate the existing plum.sqlite file and rename it (e.g., plum.sqlite.old) to keep a copy of the current notes.
4. Copy your backup plum.sqlite into this folder.
5. Restart Sticky Notes, it should now load the notes from the backup file.

If you don’t have a backup, then the overwritten text is gone. Opening plum.sqlite will only show the latest version of your notes.

Another method you can try is converting the SQLite file into a readable format to check whether the overwritten content is still stored:

• Install DB Browser for SQLite

Note: This is a third‑party site run by SQLite, not by Microsoft. The information appears to be safe. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products).

2. Create a folder (e.g., C:\SQLite...) and move extracted DB Browser files there.
3. Copy plum.sqlite into that folder. Then open it in DB Browser.
4. Go to Browse Data tab > select the Notes table.
5. File > Export > Table(s) as CSV files

Open the CSV in Notepad to read the text.

Hope this could help clarify things. Let me know if you have more questions!

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