Mac OS X Power Hound, Second Edition

Stickies

Stickies lets you create virtual Post-it notes that you can stick anywhere on your screen—a triumphant software answer to the thousands of people who stick notes on the edges of their monitor.

You can use Stickies to type quick notes and to-do items, paste in Web addresses or phone numbers you need to remember, or store any little scraps of text or graphics you come across. Your electronic Post-its appear whenever the Stickies program is running.

Tip

If you use Stickies frequently, make sure to add the program to System Preferences → Accounts → Startup Items so it automatically launches when you log in.

Creating Sticky Notes from Within Other Programs

You’re surfing the Web, and unearth a site that lists Eleanor Roosevelt monuments in the mid-Atlantic states that you may want to visit next summer. Soon after, you receive an email from your spouse with a reminder to polish the silverware before your tax-resistors league comes for dinner tonight. What do you do?

The 20th-century answer: write down the stuff you want to remember on a slip of paper, and promptly forget where you put it. As a result, you wind up vacationing at Lake Mosquitoville for the fifth year in a row, and your spouse seethes about serving veal medallions with plastic cutlery.

The 21st-century answer: create a Stickies note, which hangs around your monitor until you delete it, reminding you to buy a map of New Jersey, and to get out the silver polish already.

To create a Stickies note without opening Stickies first, ...