If you have been reading my tutorials for a while, you know that I love Sticky Notes.  I have them everywhere.  It’s so much easier than trying to remember everything!  Sticky notes do lose their “sticky” though, if you move them around too much.  Turn on the fan on a hot day, and Sticky Notes have been known to blow away.  And, as strange as it might sound, my little dog, Riley, actually likes to eat Sticky Notes.  I haven’t yet figured out exactly why.

I used to keep my favorite Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts on Sticky Notes, until I created a printed Cheat Sheet for them.  You can read Quick Tips #7 – Keyboard Shortcuts in just a minute or two, and find the download of my favorite Shortcuts to print for yourself.

When I want to attach notes to a particular design or layout that I am creating in Photoshop, Sticky Notes won’t work.  So I use Photoshop’s Notes feature.  You can read Quick Tip #9: Creating Notes  to learn how to use this nifty tool, if you are unfamiliar with it (and even download another gift there).

There are times, though, when I just need to leave myself a note… and it’s not associated with a Photoshop file, and I don’t want it blowing off my desk.  In those instances, I use the Sticky Note gadget, built into Windows 7.  This is a revamped version of the Notes gadget in other Windows versions.  I am using Windows 7, so will demonstrate that version today.

To find Sticky Notes click on the Windows logo in the lower left corner of your screen. sd-sticky-notes-1

Click on All Programs, then select Accessories to find Sticky Notes.  When you click on Sticky Notes, a yellow Sticky Note Pad will open on your monitor.

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You can easily resize the Stick Note, delete the Note (by clicking on the X in the upper right corner), or even create additional Sticky Notes (by clicking on the + sign in the upper left corner).  If you right click on a Sticky Note you can even change the color of the note itself.  This is a nice way to label notes with varying degrees of importance.

Here’s a tip:  If you right click on Sticky Notes in the Accessories Folder, you can choose to pin Sticky Notes to your Task Bar or Start Up Menu.  I keep Sticky Notes right there on my Task Bar so I can quickly access it when I need it.

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 Now…. I just need to guard against this……….

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 But can you REALLY have too many Sticky Notes?