Overview
ATnotes Version 8.1, Copyright © 1996-2001 Thomas Ascher

Introduction

Menu
Main
Note

Window
Note
Hide
Alarm
Send To
Settings
Search
Note List

Miscellaneous
Version History
Known Problems
Frequently Asked Questions
Credits
Contacting Me


Introduction

ATnotes is a FREEWARE program which creates Post-it like notes on the Windows desktop. The user interface is provided through an icon in the taskbar and supports english and german language, which is set automatically according to the system default language.

You are allowed to use and distribute ATnotes for free, but you are NOT allowed to sell ATnotes for profit. You are using ATnotes at your own risk, no responsibility is taken for damages to your computer system. However i've not heard of any problems yet. :-)

By default the notes are stored in a file called ATnotes.dat located in the same directory as the program file ATnotes.exe. You can change this behaviour by starting ATnotes with a command line parameter specifying the desired file name and location. The target field in the shortcut properties would be for example: "C:\Programs\ATnotes\ATnotes.exe" C:\MyDirectory\MyDataFile.xyz. If you want to backup your notes, simply backup the above mentioned data file.

Right click on the ATnotes icon in the taskbar to open the Main Menu and on a note to open the Note Menu.

Each note is displayed in a Note Window.


Main
Main Menu

To open the Main Menu right click on the ATnotes icon in the right area of the Taskbar.

New Note	Creates a new note with the selected layout. Also through hotkey defined in Settings or left double click on Taskbar icon.
Paste Note	Pastes a new note from the clipboard with the selected layout. Also through hotkey defined in Settings.
Undo	Undoes the last Edit, Paste, Delete or Format Lines command from the Note Menu.
Note List	Opens the Note List with all notes.
Search	Searches for notes containing a specified text.
Send To	Sends a note to another computer in the local network.
Show Notes	Toggles the option to show all notes (independent from hiding individual notes).
Always on Top	Toggles the option to keep all notes always on top. If active all notes are always on top, if not active the Always on Top option in the Note Menu of the individual note is used.
Settings	Defines various program Settings.
Help	Shows the program help.
About	Shows the about window.
Exit	Exits the program.


Note
Note Menu

To open the Note Menu right click on a note.

Edit	Edits the note. Also available through left double click on the note.
Copy	Copies the note to the clipboard in the following formats: plain text, bitmap and layout, which is only pasteable by ATnotes.
Paste	Pastes text and/or layout from the clipboard into the note.
Delete	Deletes the note.
Print	Prints the note.
Minimize	Minimizes the note to the first line of text.
Restore	Restores the note size to fit the whole text.
Format Lines	Breaks long lines into new lines to fit the note size ratio specified in the Settings.
Open	Opens URLs (http://www.sample.com), e-mail addresses (name@sample.com) or file shortcuts (c:\sample.txt) contained in the note using the associated program. If the path of a file shortcut contains blanks, you must put it between double quotation marks.
Layout New Note	Creates a new note with the layout of this note.
Layout Paste Note	Pastes a new note from the clipboard with the layout of this note.
Layout List	Assigns a saved layout to this note.
Hide	Hides the note. A checkmark is displayed if the note is hidden.
Alarm	Sets an Alarm for the note. A checkmark is displayed if an alarm is set.
Send To	Sends the note to another computer in the local network.
Always on Top	Toggles the option to keep the note always on top.
Settings	Defines the layout of the note.
Received From	Computer name, name of sender and date/time if the note has been received from another computer.


Note
Note Window

To move a note to a different location left click inside the note and drag the note while holding down the left mouse button. Releasing the left mouse button finishes moving the note.

Notes can be resized in the same way as moving them except that the left click must occur at the note border.

You can select multiple notes by holding down the CTRL key while left clicking on the notes. Selected notes have a dotted border. It is possible to move but not to resize multiple notes at once.

Right clicking on a note displays the Note Menu. Not all commands are available if multiple notes are selected.

To edit the text of a note left double click on the note or select Edit from the Note Menu. During editing press the ENTER key to open a new line, CTRL+ENTER to save the note and ESC to cancel editing. Notes are saved automatically if they loose input focus (for example when you click outside the note). A right click during editing displays a context menu with the following commands: undo, cut, copy, paste, delete, select all, insert current date/time and insert file shortcut.

The following keys can be used if the note window has input focus (to set the input focus to a note left click on it):

ENTER	Edits the current note.
DEL	Deletes the selected notes.
SUBTRACT (-)	Minimizes the selected notes.
ADD (+)	Restores the selected notes.
SPACE	Opens the alarm window for the current note.


Hide
Hide Window

The Hide Window is opened through the Hide command in the Note Menu and allows to hide or show a note.

•	Don't hide the note.

•	Hide the note until manually activated in the Note List.

•	Hide the note until a specified date/time after which it becomes visible automatically.

•	Hide the note for a specified period of time after which it becomes visible automatically.


Alarm
Alarm Window

The Alarm Window is opened through the Alarm command in the Note Menu and allows to set an alarm for a note.

Alarm Type

Keep note	Keeps the note after alarm with alarm deactivated.
Delete note	Deletes the note automatically after alarm.
Repeat every	Repeats the alarm every specified number of minutes / hours / days / weeks / months / years.
Repeat daily	Repeats the alarm on the specified weekdays at the specified time.

Alarm Action

Message box	Displays a message box containing the note text which must be confirmed. This message box also includes options to remind again in a specified number of minutes and to change the alarm settings.
Bring to top	Brings the note to the top of all other windows and flashes the note. Click on the note to stop flashing.
Run	Runs the specified file. This can be a program file (*.exe, *.com, *.bat) or any other file which has an associated program.

Alarm Audio Signal

None	No audio signal.
Standard	Windows NT/2000 only: Standard signal with computer speaker. No sound card required.
Sound file	Plays the specified Wave File (*.wav). Sound card required.


Send To
Send To Window

The Send To Window is opened through the Send To command in the Main Menu or Note Menu and allows to send a note to another computer in a local TCP/IP network with static IP addresses.

You only can send notes to a computer where ATnotes is currently running. It is also necessary that this other computer accepts incoming notes and that it has the same port number, which can be defined in the Network section of the Settings.

Before you send a note you should enter your name in the Network section of the Settings into the field Name of sender. This makes it easier for the recipient to recognize the sender. Otherwise the recipient only gets the name of the sender's computer.

Computer name or IP address
This area contains the recipients of the note. You can enter the computer name or IP address of the recipient into the edit field at the top. It is possible to append an alias name to the right of the computer name or IP address by separating the alias name with a blank character (everything to the right of the FIRST blank character in the recipient is ignored). Separate multiple recipients with commas.

The Browse command opens a window to browse the network neighborhood for available computers.

You can save often used recipients in the list below with the Add button. The currently selected (not checked) list item can be deleted with the Delete button. Reorder list items with Move Up and Move Down. The Refresh command checks the online availability of the computers in the list: green means online, red means offline. In other words: the delivery of the note will only succeed for green marked computers.

Text
This field contains the note text to be sent to the recipients.

Pressing the OK button sends the text to the specified recipients. If a note cannot be delivered to a recipient an error message will be displayed. Any recipients which haven't received the note are still active in the Computer name or IP address area. This allows to retry sending by pressing the OK button once again. Recipients which successfully received the note are deleted from this area to prevent a second delivery of the note.


Settings
Settings Window

The Settings Window is opened through the Settings command in the Main Menu or Note Menu and allows to define several program settings. If the Settings Window has been opened from the Main Menu the settings apply to new notes, if it has been opened from the Note Menu they apply to this particular note.

Layout

Font	Defines the font of the note.
Text Color	Defines the text color of the note.
Background Color	Defines the background color of the note.
Border Color	Defines the border color of the note.
Alignment	Sets the alignment of the note text to left, centered or right.
Desktop Colors	The colors of the note are automatically adjusted to match the desktop colors.
Random Colors	Each new note is created with different random colors.
Transparent Color	Windows 2000 only: Makes the selected note color completely transparent. The resulting transparent area of the note is also "transparent" for mouse actions (the mouse actions are passed through to the underlying window). To access the note with the mouse you must click on a non transparent area.
Note Transparency	Windows 2000 only: Sets the transparency of the whole note infinitely variable from fully invisible to fully visible. This setting cannot be previewed.
Layout List	This list contains all saved layouts. To restore the settings of a saved layout select the desired item from the list.
Save	Saves the current layout settings as a new layout. You will be asked for the name under which to save the new layout.
Delete	Deletes the selected layout from the layout list. It is not possible to delete the standard layout.

New Notes

Position	Specifies the left/top position where new notes are created.
Cascading	Specifies how much multiple new notes are indented to the right and bottom so that they don't overlap.
Minimize	Minimizes a new note automatically after editing.
Alarm Window	Opens the Alarm Window for the new note automatically after editing.
Initial text	Defines the initial text for new notes. You can enter the desired text in the edit box. Special options for the current date/time and the desired cursor position can be inserted by pressing the Insert button and selecting the desired item.

Keyboard
Defines hotkeys for various commands. These hotkeys are systemwide, which means that they are active even if you are working with other programs than ATnotes. To assign a hotkey set the cursor into the field of the desired hotkey and press the key combination you want to use. The field now displays the keys you have pressed. If you want to include the WINDOWS key in the hotkey you must activate the option on the right side (the WINDOWS key cannot be assigned in the field on the left side).

Network
Defines settings for sending notes to other computers in the local network.

Accept	Accept or don't accept incoming notes from other computers.
Always on top	Sets incoming notes "always on top" or not.
Layout	Specifies the layout for incoming notes. The layouts can be defined in the layout section of the Settings window.
Port number	Sets the port number. Only computers with the same port number can receive/send notes from/to each other.
Name of sender	Defines the name of the note sender which helps the recipient to identify the sender (if not defined the recipient only gets the computer name of the sender).
Audio signal	Defines the audio signal to occur when a note from another computer comes in.

Various

Display	The first two settings affect notes which are too small to display the whole text. This state can be indicated with a ">>" sign and the note can temporary be displayed in full size while the mouse cursor is over the note. The third setting allows to define the tab width in characters for notes.
Edit	Defines the initial cursor position when editing: select the whole text or position cursor at top/bottom
Delete	Display a message box to confirm the deletion of single notes (the deletion of multiple notes must be confirmed always).
Print	Print automatically to the default printer, in color if supported by printer and with or without note border.
Paste	Always format the lines when pasting new notes. If not active lines are only formatted when the width of the pasted note would exceed the screen width.
Format lines	Defines the ratio between the note width and height which is used to break long lines into new lines.
Alarm	Defines the flash interval in millisec. for alarms with flashing notes and the time for repeated reminding for alarms with confirmation message boxes. Also allows to set the time to announce an alarm in the taskbar icon before it actually goes off and the number of times to flash the taskbar icon on announcement.
Calendar	Specifies the appearance of the date selection calendar used in Hide and Alarm window.
Separator line	Specifies the separator line to use when exporting multiple notes to a text file or copying multiple notes to the clipboard.
Double click action	Defines the action for double clicks on the ATnotes icon in the task bar.

Translation
This section allows the translation of the user interface to other languages. To edit an item left double click on it, to save entered text press the ENTER key. Don't delete or change formatting sequences starting with a percent sign (%) in the text. The translation is saved in the file ATnotes.ini located in the same directory as the program file ATnotes.exe. Delete the file ATnotes.ini if you want ATnotes to use the built in languages english or german.
If you have translated ATnotes to other languages than english and german, you can email me the file ATnotes.ini and i will put it on the download page of the ATnotes homepage for other users. Please don't email files for languages which are already available at my homepage.


Search
Search Window

The Search Window is opened through the Search command in the Main Menu and allows to search for notes containing a specified text.

Enter the text to search for into the edit field (the last 16 searches are remembered). The option below specifies whether to search case sensitive or not.

After pressing the OK button the matching notes are displayed in the Note List. If there are no matching notes a corresponding message box is displayed.


Note List
Note List Window

The Note List Window is opened through the Note List command in the Main Menu.

Mouse Usage
Left click on a column header to sort the notes. Left click on the same column header again to toggle between ascending and descending sort order. Select a single note by clicking on it. Select multiple notes by holding down the SHIFT or CTRL key while clicking on the notes (like multiple file selection in Windows Explorer). Right click to get the Note Menu for the selected note(s). Left double click on a note to edit the note.

Keyboard Usage

ARROW UP/DOWN	Goes to the previous/next note.
PAGE UP/DOWN	Goes to the previous/next page.
HOME/END	Goes to the first/last note.
ENTER	Edits the current note.
DEL	Deletes the selected notes.
SUBTRACT (-)	Minimizes the selected notes.
ADD (+)	Restores the selected notes.
SPACE	Opens the alarm window for the current note.

File Menu

Export	Exports the selected notes to an ATnotes file (*.atn) or to a text file (*.txt).
Import	Imports (appends) new notes from an ATnotes file (*.atn).
Close	Closes the Note List Window.

View Menu

All Notes	Shows all notes.
Visible Notes	Shows only visible notes.
Hidden Notes	Shows only hidden notes.
Notes with Alarm	Shows only notes with an active alarm.
Received Notes	Shows only notes received from other computers.
Search Notes	Shows notes containing the specified text.
Normal	Shows notes in their current size.
Minimized	Shows notes minimized.
Restored	Shows notes restored.

Edit Menu

Select All	Selects all notes.
Reverse Selection	Reverses the current selection.

Note Menu
This is the same Note Menu as shown when right clicking on a note.

Options Menu

Toolbar	Shows/hides the toolbar.
Statusbar	Shows/hides the statusbar.
Columns	Activates/deactivates specific columns.
Row Color	Sets the color for alternating rows of notes.


Version History

Version	Date	Description
8.1	29-Aug-2001	• enhanced color selection in layout section of settings • added support for WINDOWS key in keyboard section of settings • note window and note list now support the following keys: ENTER = edit note DEL = delete note SUBTRACT (-) = minimize note ADD (+) = restore note SPACE = open alarm window • fixed wrong sort order in note list after changing view
8.01	20-Jul-2001	• when trying to paste more than 2000 characters of text, a warning message is displayed that the text will be truncated • improved standard audio signal with computer speaker for Windows NT/2000 (disabled for Windows 95/98/ME) • fixed multiple sending of notes if the recipient has been specified both in the edit box and the recipient list
8.0	01-Jun-2001	• save and restore layouts in the layout settings • quickly assign saved layouts to notes from the note menu • create and paste new notes with saved layouts from the main menu • specify a saved layout for incoming notes from other computers in the network settings • new network setting to make incoming notes "always on top" • browse the network neighborhood for computers in the "Send To" window • check the online availability of computers in the "Send To" window • new setup
7.4	13-Apr-2001	• a taskbar button is now displayed for open ATnotes windows • new settings for new notes: automatically open alarm window after editing and specify the cursor position for initial text • new various settings define the time to announce an alarm in the taskbar icon before it actually goes off and the number of times to flash the taskbar icon on announcement • the next upcoming alarm is displayed when moving the mouse cursor over the ATnotes icon in the taskbar • fixed a program crash when using the select all/reverse selection commands in the note list window with no notes displayed
7.3	01-Mar-2001	• new layout settings for Windows 2000: make a certain note color completely transparent and set the transparency of the whole note • fixed a note display problem caused by certain languages on Windows 2000 • if ATnotes fails to add its icon to the taskbar at startup, ATnotes keeps on trying until success or until the user cancels in the displayed window • changed font used in Atnotes windows to Windows 2000 standard font "Tahoma"
7.2	25-Jan-2001	• new setting to minimize new notes automatically after editing • "remind again in X min." in alarm confirmation message box is now available for all alarm types • incoming notes from other computers are now displayed even if the "show notes" option is not activated • in Windows NT/2000 task manager there is no longer an entry displayed for each note
7.1	01-Dec-2000	• the alarm confirmation message box now allows to change the alarm or to remind again in a specified number of minutes • new various setting to define the tab width for notes • new various setting to define the action for double clicks on taskbar icon • optional audio signal for incoming notes from other computers
7.01	18-Oct-2000	• fixed a bug where incoming notes from other computers not always appeared in foreground • an error message is displayed if the Run alarm action and the Open command from the note menu fails
7.0	22-Sep-2000	• send notes to other computers in a network • optional translation of user interface to other languages • new hotkeys for the Search and Send To commands • new layout setting to use random colors for new notes • added help support • added icons to menus
6.81	25-Aug-2000	• fixed a bug where Atnotes used wrong times if the daylight saving flag was active in certain time zones • fixed a bug in the settings window where sometimes settings in the "various" section were lost when the OK button was pressed
6.8	11-Jul-2000	• "copy" and "layout copy" in note menu are combined to a single command which copies the note as text, layout and bitmap • "paste" in note menu allows to choose the type of data to paste: text + layout, text only or layout only • extended "undo" command in main menu: undo edit, paste, delete and format lines on single or multiple notes • minimized notes automatically are reminimized after modification • new various setting to print notes without note border • view settings in the note list are saved and restored • notes cannot be modified if data file is set to readonly
6.71	13-Jun-2000	• all hotkey combinations are now available in the keyboard section of the settings window • fixed failure of "select all" and "reverse selection" in the note list
6.7	26-May-2000	• new alarm type: repeat alarm daily • new columns for alarm action and audio signal in note list • columns in note list can be activated and deactivated (menu options/columns) • new command line parameter for definition of data file (instead of default data file ATnotes.dat, e.g. "ATnotes.exe C:\MyDirectory\MyDataFile.xyz") • new various setting for flash interval in millisec. for alarms with flashing notes
6.63	09-May-2000	• notes can be exported to a text file in the note list • new setting for separator line between notes when exporting to text file and copying to clipboard • insert file shortcuts while editing notes through the right click context menu • when turning off "always on top" from the main menu all notes are back on the desktop • remembers last time set in alarm and hide window • fixed a bug where program windows were covered by always on top notes • fixed a bug when opening file shortcuts with blanks in file path: put path between double quotation marks (")
6.62	11-Apr-2000	• fixed a crash when trying to paste a new note longer than 2048 characters • new layout setting for use of desktop colors
6.61	07-Apr-2000	• alarm action "bring to top" now hides a note which was hidden before the alarm correctly after flashing • if alarm type "delete note after alarm" and alarm action "bring to top" are specified at the same time the note now is deleted correctly after flashing
6.6	06-Apr-2000	• new layout setting for left/centered/right alignment • various new settings for initial cursor position when editing and appearance of date selection calendar • alarm action "bring to top" now flashes the note (click on note to stop flashing) • every file type is now available for alarm action "run" (like the note command "open") • reorganized note hiding: all options are set in one window, new option to hide notes for a period of time • fixed a bug where auto expanding notes sometimes were covered by other windows • lines are broken only at spaces when formatting lines
6.5	24-Mar-2000	• new option to display notes in full size while mouse cursor is over the note • user defined initial text for new notes • insert date/time during note editing through the right click context menu • notes with long lines of text can be formatted to fit a user defined note size ratio • new option to automatically format lines when pasting text from the clipboard • dotted selection rectangle is displayed only if a note has input focus • fixed a bug where sometimes unintentional new notes were created
6.0	02-Mar-2000	• select multiple notes on the desktop by holding down CTRL key while left clicking on the notes • custom alarm action for each note: message box, bring note to top or run a program • different audio alarm signals for each note • export/import notes to/from a file in the note list • new options to view notes in the note list normal, minimized or restored • note list now has an optional toolbar
5.51	16-Feb-2000	• new option to search notes case sensitive or not case sensitive • new search history contains the last 16 searches • new option to hide the note from alarm window • fixed a bug in repeated alarms, where multiple alarm message boxes appeared if the next repeated alarm was before the current time
5.5	20-Jan-2000	• search for notes containing a specified text • show/don't show all notes (independet from hiding individual notes) • new option to ask before deleting single notes • undo last deletion of a single note • alarm can be set to a specified period of time from now on • new option to indicate if not the whole note text fits in the current note size
5.4	05-Jan-2000	• notes can be minimized to the first line of text • note size can be restored to fit the whole text • show all / visible / hidden / alarm notes in note list • select all notes and reverse note selection in note list • note list now has menus and a statusbar • new settings for printing: automatically use default printer, print in color
5.33	27-Dec-1999	• multiple notes can be selected in note list for copying, deleting, printing and settings • improved printing: multiple notes, note border, color if supported by printer • tab stops are now inserted correctly when pressing the TAB key
5.32	17-Dec-1999	• new hotkey for opening note list • pressing ENTER key in note list edits the selected note • fixed a bug where always on top notes covered new notes during editing
5.31	13-Dec-1999	• increased time field width to fit times with AM/PM • made all fonts available for selection
5.3	10-Dec-1999	• clicking outside the note during editing saves the note • notes remain visible when other ATnotes windows are opened • new option to make each note always on top separately • paste text from clipboard to an already existing note • copy/paste note layout to/from clipboard • create or paste new notes with the layout of an already existing note • open URLs, e-mail addresses and file shortcuts in notes with the associated program • additional settings define how much space to leave between cascading new notes • test audio signal in alarm settings • increased maximum text size from 1024 to 2048 characters • notes are also editable in the note list
5.2	30-Nov-1999	• note list window displays all current notes • fixed a problem with aligning in languages with right-to-left reading order
5.1	17-Nov-1999	• copy/paste note text to/from clipboard • always on top option • notes can be hidden • repeatable alarms • option for automatic deletion of note after alarm • additional option to signal alarm with computer speaker • new system-wide hotkeys to paste new notes and toggle always on top
5.0	05-Nov-1999	• changed name from DeskNotes to ATnotes • custom layout for each note • custom system-wide hotkey to create new notes • custom wavesound playable at alarm • notes are stored in file instead of registry
4.6	28-Oct-1999	• first public release


Known Problems

Show Desktop
Notes which are not "Always on Top" will disappear from the desktop if the "Show Desktop" command provided by Active Desktop is used either through the taskbar button or the hotkey WindowsKey+D.

Workaround: Use the command "Minimize All" (WindowsKey+M) instead of "Show Desktop". If the notes already have disappeared because of the "Show Desktop" command, use "Always on Top" from the Main Menu twice to bring them back.


Frequently Asked Questions

Why the name ATnotes?
AT stands for my name Ascher Thomas.

How to upgrade to a newer version?
Do not uninstall to upgrade to a newer version, you would lose all your notes and settings. Just install the new version into the same directory as the old version.

Why do i receive messages from my personal firewall?
If you are using a personal firewall like ZoneAlarm, you may get a message like "ATnotes is trying to act as a server". This happens because ATnotes is by default configured to "listen" for incoming notes sended by ATnotes users from other computers. You can turn this feature off by unchecking the option "Accept incoming notes" in the Network section of the Settings.

Why can't i send/receive notes to/from other computers?
Sending/receiving notes to/from other computers works only in a local TCP/IP network with static IP addresses. In addition sender and recipient both must use the same port number and the recipient must accept incoming notes. These settings can be defined in the Network section of the Settings.


Credits

•	Maarten Hoeben (maarten.hoeben@nwn.com) for the report control used in Note List window

•	PJ Naughter (http://www.naughter.com) for the treeoptions control used in Settings window

•	Thales P. Carvalho (thalesc@uol.com.br) for the extended message box used in alarm confirmation

•	Brent Corkum (http://www.rocscience.com/~corkum) for the menus with icons

•	Giancarlo Iovino (giancarlo@saria.com) for the hyperlink control used in About window

•	Jordan Russell (http://www.jrsoftware.org) for Inno Setup used to create the Setup atnsetup.exe

•	James White and Chris Maunder for the color selection control used in Settings window


Contacting Me

Name:	Thomas Ascher
E-Mail:	tom1971@hotmail.com
Homepage:	http://atnotes.kpayne.net