I built StackSave — save any Note on Substack

Nine days ago I asked if you'd use @stacksave to keep Notes and threads you'd otherwise lose. You said yes. It's live.

Comment @stacksave before it scrolls away — then search your archive at stacksave.live.

The problem (in case you missed the survey)

Substack’s save button only works on posts. The best stuff is usually somewhere else — a sharp Note, a reply buried in a thread, a one-liner you swore you’d remember. Then you scroll, and it’s gone.

I ran a quick survey on June 10th. 54% of respondents said they lose Notes and threads regularly or constantly. Several described the same fear: “if it becomes a graveyard of saves I’m out.” That line shaped what shipped.

StackSave is a searchable archive for everything Substack won’t let you save. Reply with @stacksave mention on any Note, post, or comment thread. It lands in your private archive at stacksave.live — searchable by keyword, author, and date.

No app to install. If you can mention someone, you can save it.

---

How it works (one step)

1. See something worth keeping on Substack

2. Reply with @stacksave — type it, then pick StackSave from the dropdown so it turns blue (same as tagging a person)

3. Find it later at stacksave.live — search, filter, export CSV

✅ A tagged blue @stacksave mention saves. ❌ Plain grey @stacksave text doesn’t — Substack only notifies us about real mentions.

Once a week, StackSave emails you a personal digest that resurfaces what you saved — so the archive doesn’t become the graveyard people warned me about.

StackSave is free to use at launch. No save caps, no paywall on your archive.

Full comparison to Substack’s native save: stacksave.live/landing

---

What early users are doing with it

A week in, the save stream isn’t growth hacks. It’s writers keeping Notes they’d lose to the scroll — and a few kind enough to say it out loud.

“Finn has done it again”

Denise Wakeman on the tool itself — free, saves real Notes (not screenshots), and the weekly digest.

Bookmark Notes before they disappear

Reads in Motion restacked the welcome post — exactly the kind of Note you’d want in an archive.

Small starts, loud cheers

Three Notes from the first week of saves — writers at the beginning of the journey, and writers lifting others up. (Featured in more detail on stacksave.substack.com.)

Starting from scratch — Stacy Vale, ten days in, three subscribers, honest gratitude.

Saved by Finn Tropy

The culture new writers deserve — Ana invites newcomers to introduce themselves so the community can cheer them on.

Saved by Monica Lundstedt

Lifting someone else up — Roberta tags @stacksave on her own list of travel writers worth following, so she can find it again when someone asks.

Saved by Roberta Hill, Wander After 70

---

Try it in the next 10 minutes

1. Save something — comment with @stacksave mention on any Note, post, or thread you wish you’d kept last week.

2. Subscribe to @stacksave — links your Substack account to your archive (one click).

3. Open your archive — go to stacksave.live, enter your email, use the one-tap sign-in link we send you.

4. Check spam — sign-in links and digests come from stacksave.live, not Substack. Move the first email to your primary inbox if it lands in Promotions or Spam.

Try StackSave →

---

What I need from you

This is early. I’d rather have honest testers than silent subscribers.

• Does @stacksave feel natural the first time?

• Does search actually find what you saved?

• Would the weekly digest bring you back — or would it still become a graveyard?

• Mobile: Substack app or browser — which do you use, and how would you rate @stacksave on each?

Reply to this post, comment on a Note, or write to stacksave@substack.com. Negative feedback is especially useful.

If you took the June 10 survey: thank you — you’re already on the early-access list.

— Finn

P.S. Pick one Note you wish you’d saved last week and @stacksave it now. That’s the whole product.