Highlights
- Tabs down the side. A slim rail keeps every tab visible; hover it to see full titles. Each tab gets a coloured initials badge.
- Tab groups. Name a group, drag tabs into it, fold it away.
- Never lose a note. Every tab is kept between sessions, even ones you never saved. Saving is crash-safe.
- One-click window sizes. 4:5, 16:9, or Freeform (remembers your size and position).
- Proper find and replace with a live "3 of 12" count, match case and whole word.
- Keeps your files as they were: original line endings (CRLF/LF) and encoding (UTF-8, UTF-16, ANSI).
- Light and dark themes, word count, zoom, word wrap, print.
- Updates itself, and that update check is its only connection to the internet.
- Free and open source. No account, no ads, no telemetry, no AI.
Download and install
Windows users: get StackPad from the Microsoft Store. It's certified and signed by Microsoft, installs without any warning, and the Store keeps it updated.
The installers are on the website and the Releases page.
| System | Get it | Updates |
|---|
| Windows 10 / 11 | Microsoft Store (recommended) | Automatic, through the Store |
| Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) | StackPad.v<version>.exe | Automatic |
| Linux, any distribution | StackPad.v<version>.AppImage | Automatic |
| Ubuntu, Debian, Mint | StackPad.v<version>.deb | StackPad tells you when one is out |
Windows
The easiest way is the Microsoft Store: click Get and you're done. To use the installer instead:
- Run the downloaded
.exe and follow the setup wizard. You can install for just you or for everyone on the PC.
- StackPad appears in the Start menu, on the desktop, and under Open with for
.txt files.
"Windows protected your PC"? That's expected. Windows shows this warning for any app that isn't code-signed, and signing certificates cost money each year, so this free project doesn't have one. To continue, click More info → Run anyway. You only see this once. Or install from the Microsoft Store instead, which has no warning. Every installer is built in public by GitHub Actions from the source code in this repository.
To uninstall, open Settings → Apps → Installed apps → StackPad → Uninstall.
Linux
AppImage: make it executable, then run it:
chmod +x StackPad.v*.AppImage
./StackPad.v*.AppImage
If it doesn't start, install FUSE first: sudo apt install libfuse2 (Ubuntu/Debian).
.deb:
sudo apt install ./StackPad.v*.deb
Getting started
| To... | Do this |
|---|
| See full tab titles | Hover the tab rail on the left |
| Rename a tab | Double-click it, or the title above the editor |
| Reorder tabs | Drag them up or down |
| Make a group | Ctrl+Shift+N, then drag tabs under its header |
| Change the window size | Screen menu → 4:5, 16:9 or Freeform |
| Change theme, font or zoom | View menu, or Ctrl + mouse wheel to zoom |
| Open files | Ctrl+O, drag them onto the window, or Open with → StackPad |
| Check for updates | Help → Check for Updates |
Closing a tab with unsaved changes asks Save / Don't Save / Cancel. If another program changes a file you have open, StackPad reloads it, or asks first if you have unsaved edits.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|
| New tab / new group | Ctrl+N / Ctrl+Shift+N |
| Open / Save / Save As | Ctrl+O / Ctrl+S / Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Close tab | Ctrl+W |
| Next / previous tab | Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab |
| Find / Replace | Ctrl+F / Ctrl+H |
| Find next / previous | F3 / Shift+F3 |
| Replace current / all (in the Replace box) | Enter / Ctrl+Enter |
| Go to line | Ctrl+G |
| Insert time and date | F5 |
| Undo / Redo | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y |
| Zoom in / out / reset | Ctrl + / Ctrl - / Ctrl+0 |
| Print | Ctrl+P |
Updates
New versions download in the background and install when you close StackPad, or straight away if you choose Restart now. To turn this off, untick Help → Check for Updates Automatically. The .deb version tells you when an update is out instead of installing it.
Your notes and privacy
StackPad keeps your open tabs and settings on your computer:
- Windows:
%APPDATA%\stackpad
- Linux:
~/.config/stackpad
To back up your notes, copy that folder. Uninstalling StackPad leaves it in place. Files you save with Save / Save As stay wherever you put them. StackPad has no accounts or analytics, and it never uploads your text. Details: PRIVACY.md.
Troubleshooting
- Windows warns that the app is unrecognised: see the note under Windows.
- The AppImage won't start: install FUSE (
sudo apt install libfuse2).
- Still on version 2.1.0: that version can't update itself. Install the latest version once over it; your notes are kept.
- Something else: use Help → Report a Problem, which fills in your version, or open an issue.
For developers
You need Node.js 20 or newer.
npm install # install dependencies
npm start # run StackPad
npm test # run the tests
npm run dist # build the installer for your system
- The app lives in
main.js, preload.js and src/. Saving and encodings are in lib/textfile.js, auto-update in lib/updater.js, and the website in website/.
- Pushing a version tag (for example
v2.3.0) makes GitHub Actions test everything, build the Windows and Linux installers, publish the release and submit the Microsoft Store update.
- Release steps are in CONTRIBUTING.md. The optional Microsoft Store setup is in docs/MICROSOFT-STORE.md.
Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome. Please report security problems privately, as described in SECURITY.md.
License
MIT © 2026 Arafat Anam Chowdhury
