If you’re a Mac user, you are probably quite familiar with the Stickies widget. PC users – I’m betting you’ve not heard of the PC program by the same name. Let me introduce you. Stickies are essentially digital Post-it® Notes and I’m starting to think that no properly dressed PC should be without them.
Stickies automates the manual Post-it management method. “Management method?” you say. Yes, some people manage by Post-its. (You know who you are.) It’s not really a method I subscribe to, but I do agree that Post-its come in handy at times. Getting that morning phone call about something that needs to happen at 2pm can be a perfect Post-it application. The problem is, Post-it Notes don’t stick to my monitor very well. And when they do stick, they’re always obstructing something I want to see. Putting them anywhere else, however, risks me not seeing them at the appropriate time. I’ve found that computer alarms aren’t effective and my smart phone may not be near me when the alarm is scheduled to go off.
Enter Stickies – a free software package developed by Tom Revel of Zhorn Software. Stickies has a ton of features, outshining the physical Post-its by a mile. Once downloaded and installed, it puts a small yellow icon in your system tray (the bottom right area of your screen, just to the left of the clock). When you click on the icon, a yellow Stickie appears on your screen. You can type any kind of note into the Stickie, create checkbox lists or bulleted lists, label the Stickie, change the color of the Stickie, or add images. After creating the Stickie, you can move them anywhere on your screen, have them appear on top of any program you have open or simply sit on your desktop under your open programs. You can put your Stickies to sleep for a period of time (it’s like hitting the snooze button on your alarm – it gets them out of your way while they’re sleeping, but they pop up on top of your open documents when they wake up) or schedule them to pop up at recurring intervals.
The image at the right shows some examples of Stickies. The top one has a graphic in it. The Stickie automatically expands to the size required to hold the image. Below the graphic are two Stickies titled “Tuesday 6-Things.” That’s my “6-Things” to do list for the day. They are copies of the same Stickie, because I wanted to show you the capability of rolling up a Stickie (i.e., the top one) or unrolling it (i.e., the bottom one). Notice in the bottom Stickie that you can create checkboxes and check items off as completed. The Stickie at the right has a link to the Stickies website where you can download the program (or click here).
Don’t like the look of these generic Stickies? You can create your own Stickie skins or download skins that other people have created. Here are some of the skins available:
Like I said, a ton of versatility is built into this free download. Most capabilities are available from right-click context sensitive menus. There’s even a Stickie management window that allows you to see all your Stickies by category. And should you run into any problems, there’s a Stickie forum. Check out this useful program. You may never buy Post-its again! OK, you probably will because Stickies can’t be slapped on the folder you’re taking to your next meeting. There’s room in this world for both Post-its and Stickies.
[Post-it® is a registered trademark of 3M, St. Paul, MN.]
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