Outlook Sticky Notes

Like electronic yellow stickies, Notes are useful for storing quick reminders and other information you need close at hand.

To create an Outlook note choose File > New > Note.

Type your text into the Note area. You can move the note so it's visible, or hide it by clicking the close button in its top right corner.

To view a note, click the Notes button at the foot of the pane on the left of the Outlook window and click the Note to view it.

To delete a note, right click it and selecting Delete, or categorize it by right-clicking it, choose Categorize and select a category from the list.

You can send a Note to someone via e-mail by right-clicking the Note and select Forward. Outlook opens a New Mail Message window with the Note already in place as an attachment.

Outlook Notes anywhere

Still on the subject of Outlook Notes (on the basis of when you're on a good thing stick to it), did you know Notes can be dragged out of Outlook?

Go ahead, grab a Note adn drag it out of Outlook. Put it anywhere you like - it will sit on the Desktop or your Quick Launch bar. If you close Outlook, you can view the note's contents without having to open Outlook by just double clicking on it.

This feature makes an Outlook Note something of much higher value than before. Need to remember a phone number? Type it into a Note and drag and drop it to your Quick Launch bar and it's there handy for when you need it.

Color Your World - Outlook Notes

Ok, so yellow sticky notes just don't work for me. I'd rather mine were, well, anything but yellow. In Outlook 2007 you can color your Notes by clicking the indicator in the top left corner, choose Categories and then the category to assign the note to - the category color becomes the Note color. In Outlook 2003, click the indicator in the top left corner of the note and choose Color and then a different color for your note.

To change the default color in Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007, choose Tools, Options, Preferences tab and click Note Options. Set the Color value to your chosen color and click Ok twice. There's only a limited color selection available this way but it does make a change from yellow.

Posting to an Outlook folder

Try this scenario: you're working in Outlook and you want to add a note to your inbox - perhaps instead of emailing your work address someone emails your home email address and you want to keep your work emails up to date so you want to note the conversation in your inbox. Here's how to do it, using a Post:

1. Click the folder to post into so you have it open.
   
2. Choose File, New, Post in this folder and type your note - in my scenario it would be details from the email but it could, conceivably, be anything.
   
3. Click the Post button on the toolbar and the note will be saved into the folder – you’ll know it isn’t an email because it has a special icon but it behaves like one so you can open and view it.

I love Posts. They're are a handy way of recording information in an email folder when it's there that you'd expect to find it.