CluePadEverything CluePad does
A short list, because it is a small app that does one thing properly.
Privacy
Excluded from screen capture
Notes are removed from the capture pipeline itself, so screen shares, recordings and screenshots do not contain them.
Panic hide
One keystroke removes every note from the screen. It writes nothing, so it can never lose your material.
Per-note control
Turn protection off for a note you do want to show — a diagram you are walking someone through, for instance.
Encrypted at rest
Your notes are stored encrypted on your own Mac. Nothing is uploaded, ever.
On screen
Never steals focus
A non-activating panel: clicking a note leaves Keynote, Zoom or your browser frontmost and still taking the keyboard.
Click-through
Clicks pass to the app underneath while the note stays readable. The top strip stays live so you can always turn it off.
Follows you across Spaces
Notes travel with you between Spaces and stay visible over full-screen apps.
Pin or unpin
Keep a note above everything, or let other windows cover it.
Opacity, size, colour
Six card colours, eight text colours, adjustable opacity and font size, monospaced when you need it.
Organising
Workspaces
Separate sets for a sales pitch, an interview and a standup. Switch, and the screen changes with you.
Hide without deleting
The close button hides a note. Deleting is always deliberate.
Display rescue
Unplug a monitor and stranded notes are pulled back somewhere you can reach, instead of being left at coordinates that no longer exist.
Per-display memory
Notes remember where they belong on each screen.
Getting around
⌥⌘N — new note
From any app, without switching to CluePad first.
⌥⌘H — hide everything
The panic key.
⌥⌘G — clear click-through
Makes every note clickable again.
Menu bar
Every note listed, with show, hide, pin, click-through and delete.
Dock icon, optional
Show it or live entirely in the menu bar.