You can store miscellaneous information such as reminders, passwords, account numbers, and processes by recording them as electronic notes. Because your notes are available to you from wherever you access Outlook, this can be a very convenient way of retaining information you might need later. And because you're less likely to accidentally delete a note than a message, it is safer than sending information to yourself in an e-mail message.
Although notes are a type of Outlook item, they don't appear in the same type of windows as messages, appointments, contact records, and tasks. Instead, they appear in the form of "sticky notes" resembling the popular 3M-brand Post-It notes. You can view, sort, and organize notes in the same way you do other Outlook items. The standard views include:
Icons
Notes List
Last Seven Days
By Category
Outlook Data Files
By Color
You switch the view by selecting the option you want in the Current View list in the Navigation Pane, or by pointing to Current View on the View menu and then clicking the View you want. If you're looking for a specific piece of information in a note, you can quickly locate it by typing a search word or phrase in the Search Notes box above the content pane.
By default, the Reading Pane is hidden in the Notes pane, but if you prefer, you can display the Reading Pane and view the content of notes without opening them. To do so, point to Reading Pane on the View menu, and then click Right or Bottom to display the Reading Pane in that location.
To help you organize your notes, previous versions of Outlook supported five note colors, as well as named categories. The Color Category function in Outlook 2007 serves a similar purpose. You can still create notes in five different colors (blue, green, pink, yellow, and white) but only by changing the default note color.
You can change the default note color, size, or font by clicking Options on the Tools menu, and then clicking Note Options. You can then adjust the settings and click OK to close the open dialog boxes.
In this exercise, you will create two notes. There are no practice files for this exercise.
BE SURE TO start Outlook before beginning this exercise.
In the Navigation Pane, click the Notes button.
Outlook displays the Notes pane.
On the Standard toolbar, click the New Note button.
Outlook displays a new note. The current date and time appear at the bottom.
Type SBS Program Logon Info, and then press the key twice.
The first line of the note appears as its subject or title.
Type User name: Administrator, press , and then type Password: Tru$tNo1.
To save and close the note, click the Close button in the upper-right corner.
The note appears in the Notes pane. Notice that only the subject is visible. You can access the note's information by opening the note (or by displaying the Reading Pane).
On the Standard toolbar, click the New Note button.
Type SBS Office Online: http://www.microsoft.com/office/, and then press .
Outlook formats the URL as a hyperlink. You can click a hyperlink in a note to open the specified site in your default Internet browser.
Close the note.
The note appears in the Notes pane. Because the URL is part of the first line of the note, it appears as part of the subject. After you close the note, the hyperlink is available directly from the Notes pane.
BE SURE TO retain the notes for use in other exercises later in this chapter.