Creating Notes

If you've ever used a Post-it note to remind yourself of tasks , ideas, or other brief annotations, Outlook's Notes are for you. Notes are similar to paper sticky notes. You can use Notes to write down reminders, names , phone numbers , directions, or anything else you need to remember. In Outlook, all notes are kept in the Notes folder. You'll have to remember to look at the folder so you can view your notes.

The Long and Short of It You can enter pages and pages of text if you want. As you type, the page scrolls for you; use the arrow keys and the Page Up and Page Down keys to move through the note's text. Keep in mind, however, that the purpose of the note is a quick reminder, or information that you will eventually transfer to one of the other Outlook items, such as an appointment or task.

To create a note, click the Notes button on the Navigation pane and then follow these steps:

1. In the Notes folder, click the New Note button on the Outlook Standard toolbar or double-click an empty spot in the Notes pane. A new note appears, ready for you to type your text.

2. Enter the text for your note (see Figure 16.1).

   Figure 16.1. A note automatically includes the date and time it was created.

   

3. When you finish, click the Close ( X ) button to close the note. You can reopen a note and edit the text as you need to.

If you press Enter after entering text in the note, you create a line break and you create a title, of sorts, at the same time. Only the text before the hard return displays when the note is closed. If you do not add a hard return but enter the note text so that it automatically wraps from line to line, the entire note text appears below the note in Icons view.