Sticking notes all around your monitor and desk? Clear the clutter and use Outlook’s Notes feature. Using Outlook’s Notes instead of sticky notes protects your information since it’s stored on your computer instead of out in the open for all to see. You can even categorize, print and organize these electronic notes.

Open the notes from anywhere in Outlook by clicking the yellow sticky note icon at the bottom of the Navigation Pane.

When you have Notes open, you can click New from the Standard toolbar to create a new note like with any other item in Outlook. Use Ctrl+Shift+N shortcut to create a Note from any place in Outlook. Start typing notes and Outlook automatically saves the Note even if it stays open while you do other tasks. Outlook also saves when you click the X to close the Note.

The first line becomes the title for the note for easier finding within the Notes list. But if you don’t want the entire first sentence to appear, hit Enter at the cut off point. Notice the bottom of the note displays the date and time you created the Note. Close the note, wait a few minutes and open it again to see the time has not changed. The date and time reflects the Note’s last edit.

URLs in Notes: Enter a URL as a hyperlink, and notes turns the link into a clickable one. You can just enter “www.address.com” without the “http” and Outlook instantly creates a clickable link.

This tip comes from the recently released Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook.

Tags: outlook 2007, microsoft, meryl k. evans