Windows 7 Sticky Notes

Millions of people write themselves reminders on Post-it(TM) Notes created by 3M. Unfortunately these notes have a tendency to 'disappear'. For those people that use a computer on a daily basis the ideal situation would be to store the note on the computer.  Storing the note on the computer does not mean sticking the Post-it to the frame of your computer monitor. Rather, you want ot metaphorically stick the note to your Windows desktop.

If you were to Google 'sticky note programs' you would find several such programs, both for free and for a cost. These programs have a variety of features such as the ability to format the note or to even send the note to another computer on your company's local area network (LAN).

Windows has included a free sticky note program starting with Windows Vista. [Note: Vista's stick note program was a 'gadget' that had to be installed on the Vista sidebar.] The program is very limited in its capabilities. You are basically limited to typing a note and changing its color. Obviously, if you have more sophisticated needs, you will have to look elsewhere. This blog post will cover the procedure to begin using the rudimentary Windows 7 sticky note program.

Click on the Start orb, type 'sticky notes' (without the quotes) into the search box and then press the enter key.

A plain yellow rectangle should be displayed somewhere on your desktop.

You can immediately start typing a note as shown below. The note will grow if you type a detailed note. The font is not changeable and was probably selected to resemble a hand-written note.

Right clicking on the note will bring up the context menu allowing you to change the color of the note or the usual cut/copy/paste commands. The 'select all' option allows you to apply a color change to all of the notes on your desktop rather than just the currently selected note.

The sticky note will display two icons whenever your mouse hovers over the upper area of the note. The '+' will add another note while the 'x' will delete the current note. Once you have at least one note on your desktop, the '+' is a quicker way to add a note than using the search box. A semi-interesting feature is that if you change the color of a note and then click the '+', a note will be added with the same color, not the default yellow.

The following confirmation screen will be displayed whenever you choose to delete a sticky note.