Dec 12, 2014

If you don’t have a pad of post-it notes on your desk but you need to make a quick note, you can create an onscreen reminder in a couple of ways. 1. Use Windows 7’s Sticky Note Accessory You have to be running Windows 7 to have this feature. To create a sticky note:

1. Click on Start and go to "All Programs."
2. In "Accessories," click on "Sticky Notes."

Windows creates a new blank note on the desktop, with the cursor (the flashing line) at the beginning of the note ready for you to start typing. You can change the colour of the note by right clicking on it and choosing from the available colours. You can also do some basic formatting (Ctrl+B for bold, Ctrl+I for italics, and Ctrl+U for underline).

Note, that Windows automatically expands the note to accommodate your text. You can also click and drag on the bottom right-hand corner of the note to resize it yourself. To move a sticky note, click and drag on the darker bar at the top of the note. To make more notes, simply click on plus (+) button in the top left corner of the note. To delete a note, click on the the X button in the top right corner of the note. Windows will ask you to confirm that you want to delete it. If you don’t want to see this again, tick the "Don’t Display This Message Again" check box before clicking Yes.

To minimise any notes you have, simply click on the sticky notes button in the task bar. To bring them back (or to bring them to the front) click on the sticky notes button again. Note: These sticky notes ARE DELETED if you shut down your PC.

2. Use an Outlook Note To create an Outlook note, open Outlook and click on the Note button on the navigation bar. Similarly to the Windows 7 sticky note, you can resize the note by dragging on its bottom right corner.

If you click on the top left corner of the note there is a menu where you can do various options, including using the "Categorise" option to change the colour of the note. If you have an Outlook note opened, you can minimise Outlook so it sits on your desktop. You can minimise the note by clicking on it in the task bar, in a similar way to Windows 7 sticky motes.

Outlook has to remain opened in the background for the note to be visible like this. If you close Outlook, the note will close (but won't be deleted). Unlike a Windows 7 note, when you click on the X in the top right corner to close it, it is saved in the notes area of Outlook (a bit like how you can save a draft of an email before sending it).

You can go back to the Notes area of Outlook and double click on the note to reopen it. To delete an Outlook note, click on it to choose it and then click on the black X button on the Outlook ribbon. So there you have it - two ways to have a ‘Post-It’ note on your computer’s desktop that won’t fall off and get lost under your desk!