In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M in the United States, developed a "low-tack", reusable pressure sensitive adhesive. For five years, Silver promoted his invention within 3M, both informally and through seminars, but without much success.

In 1974, a colleague of his, Art Fry, in a church choir in North St. Paul, Minnesota, was frustrated that his bookmarks kept falling out of his hymnal. He had attended one of Silver's seminars, and, while listening to a sermon in church, he came up with the idea of using the adhesive to anchor his bookmarks.

Fry then developed the idea by taking advantage of 3M's officially sanctioned "permitted bootlegging" policy. 3M launched the product in 1977 but it failed as consumers had not tried the product. A year later 3M issued free samples to residents of Boise, Idaho, United States. 90% of people who tried them said that they would buy the product.

By 1980 the product was being sold nationwide in the US; a year later Post-its were launched in Canada and Europe.. Post-It Notes are produced exclusively at the 3M plant in Cynthiana, KY. In 2003, the company came out with Post-it Super Sticky notes, with a stronger glue that adheres better to vertical and non-smooth surfaces.

Standard post-it notes have only partial adhesive coating on the back, along one edge. Similar products are used for specialized purposes with full adhesive coating; the US Post Office uses such yellow address labels to forward mail.