Using the Permanent Pen and Highlighter

The permanent pen enables you to add text in a different color, typeface and type style, or font than the default font settings so that it stands out from the rest of the document. This is especially useful for collaborative projects because each user can work in a different color permanent pen; everyone can see who contributed to the document by the color of the text. This feature is easier to use when you want to apply the same text formatting to noncontiguous text that you've already typed, or when you are inserting new text into existing text such as comments. Permanent pen only works in a rich text field such as the body of a message. The default permanent pen is bold red text.

When a message or document is forwarded to you from another person, you can edit your copy of the original message. However, because it is not appropriate to modify the sender's text without her knowledge, use permanent pen to add your own comments before forwarding it on to anyone else.

To turn on the permanent pen, choose Text, Permanent Pen, Use Permanent Pen or click the Permanent Pen icon. "Permanent Pen enabled" displays in the status bar at the bottom of your screen. Then, type the text you want to appear in the permanent pen style. To stop using the permanent pen and begin using normal text again, click the Permanent Pen Icon again, or remove the check mark next to Use Permanent Pen in the menu.

Strikethrough text is used to mark text that you want to edit out (for example: Outlook Notes). To accomplish this with the permanent pen, first select the words you want to strike through. Then use the hotkey combination Shift+Backspace to mark the text.

To change the look of the permanent pen from the default bold red text, type some text and apply the formatting to that text. Then, select the text and choose Text, Permanent Pen, Set Permanent Pen Style. In setting the permanent pen formatting, you can set the font, the font color, and the size and style.

Another useful tool for collaborating or bringing someone's attention to text is the highlighter. It looks just like you used a highlighting marker on your text. Choose Text, Highlighter from the menu and then select your color: yellow, blue, or pink. As you drag your mouse cursor over text, the background color of the text changes.

You can also highlight selected text. After you select the text, turn on the highlighter and Notes will apply the highlighting to the selected text.

Don't forget to turn the highlighter off when you are done by choosing Text, Highlighter and deselecting the highlighter color.