Disable Scratchpad (Notes) for your organization
Last updated: October 22, 2026
Available on: Mac and Windows, managed through the web admin portal for Enterprise organizations only (not Team, Pro or individual plans).
Control Scratchpad (Notes) for all members from the admin portal. Use this setting to prevent Scratchpad use rather than delete stored notes.
Turn off Scratchpad
Enabled for everyone is the default. Before organization settings load, this control does not block Scratchpad access.
Warning: Ask members to save needed text before disabling. Unsaved Scratchpad text may be lost when their apps receive the change. Disabling itself does not delete saved notes on devices or in the cloud; this is not a retention guarantee under separate data-retention policies.
Sign in to admin.wisprflow.ai with an organization admin account.
Go to Settings → Organization, then find Scratchpad in the Notetaker section.
Select Disabled for everyone.
Confirm “Turn off Scratchpad for your organization?” by clicking Turn off Scratchpad.
Disabling saves only after confirmation; Cancel leaves the setting unchanged. No separate Save action is needed—the tab's Save changes button applies only to the organization name. If saving fails, the dropdown returns to its previous value and an error appears.
Desktop changes apply when each app next successfully syncs organization settings, including at launch—not only after a restart. Members may retain access until then. If syncing fails, Flow keeps the previous setting and retries.
What changes for members while Scratchpad is disabled
Windows and shortcuts: Open Scratchpad windows close, no Scratchpad window or tab can open, and the Open Scratchpad shortcut stops working.
Navigation: Notes disappears from the sidebar. Members on Notes move to Dictation (Home), and open dialogs close. Back/forward navigation skips Notes. No notification explains that the organization disabled Scratchpad.
Flow Bar: The Scratchpad button disappears even if the member enabled Add to Flow Bar.
Settings: The Scratchpad section in Settings → System, including Scratchpad open behavior, disappears. So do Stacked messages in Experimental and Open Scratchpad in the shortcuts dialog; members cannot reassign it while disabled.
Saved content: Notes and their images are hidden, not shown read-only. Note syncing and image transfers stop.
Recovery and previews: Scratchpad cannot open to recover dictation without a selected text field or after a failed paste. Stacked messages previews are unavailable.
Polish always tries to paste into the text field while Scratchpad is disabled. If pasting fails or Flow cannot confirm it completed, members see “Flow can't paste right now. Text saved to clipboard” and can paste manually. Failed-paste recovery copies polished text to the clipboard whether Scratchpad is enabled or disabled.
When Scratchpad is re-enabled
Select Enabled for everyone in Settings → Organization → Notetaker → Scratchpad.
Enabling saves on selection. It permits use but cannot override other Scratchpad availability restrictions in the app. Once access returns, the notes list refreshes and syncing resumes, including changes held back while disabled. Previously recorded deletions can also apply, so notes are not guaranteed to return unchanged. No window opens automatically.
If a member already has an Open Scratchpad binding, it stays unchanged. Otherwise, saved bindings return only for key combinations still free, even across restarts. Conflicting combinations are skipped individually; freeing them later does not restore them automatically.
Restore a missing keyboard shortcut
Manual reassignment is available only when the Open Scratchpad row is available in the app and the organization allows Scratchpad.
Open the shortcuts dialog in desktop Settings.
Select the empty shortcut selector beside Open Scratchpad.
Press your preferred key combination.
Alternatively, Reset to default can restore Opt + S on Mac or Win + Alt + S on Windows while Scratchpad is enabled.
FAQs
Can individual members override the organization-wide setting?
No—only organization admins can change it. Enterprise members can view the policy in the admin portal, where the Scratchpad dropdown is read-only with the tooltip “Only admins can modify this”. Desktop Settings has no Scratchpad on/off row.
What changes for connected tools?
Disabling blocks Scratchpad search and note lookup through the MCP connector, with requests rejected as “Scratchpad access has been disabled by your organization's administrator.” Changes can take up to about a minute to affect connected tools, independently of desktop syncing. If multiple restrictions apply, organization-wide MCP disable takes priority (“MCP access has been disabled by your organization's administrator”), followed by Scratchpad disable, then HIPAA; re-enabling Scratchpad does not override those other restrictions.
How do HIPAA and Private Cloud Sync affect notes?
Accounts covered by a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement cannot search or look up Scratchpad notes through connected tools (“This feature is not available for HIPAA-covered accounts.”). Neither HIPAA nor turning off Private Cloud Sync blocks Scratchpad note syncing—the organization's Scratchpad setting controls that access—and Cloud Sync does not control connected-tool access to notes.
Still need help?
Contact support if the portal repeatedly rejects the change or Scratchpad remains unavailable after re-enabling and a successful settings sync. Include your platform, device, selected policy, any error and what you tried.