Most notes apps want to be a workspace — folders, tabs, a Dock icon, a launch screen. That's exactly why the quick thought you wanted to jot never makes it in. A menu-bar notes app removes all of that: the note is one click (or one shortcut) away, always, and otherwise invisible.
How the menu-bar approach works
- Lives in the menu bar. A small note icon sits up top. No Dock icon, no window in your way.
- Summon with ⌥⌘N. The note appears front and center from any app; press it again or Esc to tuck it away.
- Autosaves as you type to a plain .txt file. Window position, size and pin state are remembered across launches.
- Featherweight. A single-file native AppKit app with zero dependencies. Launches instantly, uses almost nothing.
One note on purpose
FloatyNote keeps a single note — no multiple notes, no markdown, no tags. If you need a full notes database, this isn't it, and that's the point. One note you actually read beats a hundred you don't. It pairs that focus with a trick most menu-bar apps skip: it stays on top and pops up when your screen wakes.
Private by default
No account, no cloud, no analytics, no network at all. The note is a .txt on your own disk — yours to grep, back up, or put in a git repo.
Put one note in your menu bar — free for 14 days
Download FloatyNote and summon your note with ⌥⌘N.
macOS 12+ · one-time $9 · no account, no cloud
Questions
What is a menu-bar notes app?
A notes app that lives in the macOS menu bar instead of the Dock, so it stays out of the way until you click its icon or press a shortcut. FloatyNote shows a single note this way, with no Dock icon.
Does FloatyNote put an icon in the Dock?
No. It runs as a menu-bar (LSUIElement) app with no Dock icon. Look for the note icon in the menu bar, or press ⌥⌘N to summon it.
Where is my note stored?
In a plain .txt file in your Application Support folder. It autosaves as you type, and you can grep, back up, or version-control it like any text file.
Can it do multiple notes, markdown or tags?
No, by design. FloatyNote is one plain-text note with one job. That focus is the feature — it never becomes another place where notes go to be ignored.