Copyright: Eskil Software 1995-2002


Active note on popup (alarm)
Activate note on popup

When this is selected the note will be activated when the alarm is triggered.


Alarm On
Alarm Active

The Alarm Active tick box will enable the alarm initially and reset the alarm date and time to the current time.
The tick box will also indicate if the alarm is on or off.


Alarm date

Use this to set when the alarm will trigger.


Alarm display dialog

This dialog is displayed when an alarm is triggered. See Alarms for more information.

Click on any of the buttons to received more information about your options.


Alarm frequency

Select one of these options to make the alarm a reoccurring alarm
that will trigger more than once according to your selection.


Alarm report (Alarm)
Alarm option display

This window will display the options for the current alarm
 and whether the alarm is an reoccurring or not.


Alarm time

Use this to set which time the alarm will trigger


Auto Save

The auto save feature automatically saves your notes when you switch to another application or when you exit Magic Notes.

If this option is switched off you will have to manually save your notes before exiting the program or your notes will be lost. You can still save your notes manually with this feature turned on.

The [image] button on the toolbar will always save your notes.


Command line options

V2.3 contains new command line options to enable you to customize where the notes data and the settings file reside.

Please note that the notes data file cannot be shared and any attempt to do so is at your own risk.

These options are for advanced users so please don't attempt to use these unless you understands its implications.

Option	Description
/i filename	Sets, which file name Magic Notes, will use to store its settings. Note that this has to be an actual file and not just the path to a directory.
/d filename	As above but for the notes data file.


Contacting the Author

Eskil Software can be contacted by email at support@magicnotes.com for technical suggestions or help or info@magicnotes.com for general information.

Other information like updates to the product and general information is available from the Magic Notes web site at http://www.magicnotes.com.

Postal mail can also be addressed to:

Eskil Software

PO Box 983

Eltham, 3095

Victoria

Australia


Contents
	Magic Notes V3.3 Table of contents	Disclaimer What's new
Getting Help

Introducing Magic Notes

Registering Magic Notes

Contacting the Author

Procedures

Tutorial / Step by step guide

Setting alarms

Sending notes over a network

Note Organizer

Accessing WEB pages

Loading and Saving notes

Troubleshooting

Options

Preferences

The Toolbar

The Main menu

The notes menubar

Command line options


Custom alarm action
Execute a program and or sound a custom sound when the alarm is triggered.

To enable, tick the check box of your selection and type in the path to the file you want or use the browse button.

You can also check the behavior with the test button next to each option.

If neither of the two custom actions are selected the alarm will revert back to the sound set in the Preference dialog.


Delete note (Alarm)
Delete note

Deletes the note without displaying it again.


Disclaimer

Magic Notes is distributed as Shareware.  It is NOT public domain or free software.

Non-registered users of this software are given the opportunity to evaluate the complete Magic Notes software package for 45 days with no obligation.  If, after the evaluation period, you find Magic Notes to be suitable for your needs, you must register your copy or discontinue using Magic Notes.

So if you use this program, please pay for your copy. That way I will be able to provide updates, support, and generally stay in business.

When you register Magic Notes you will receive a personal registration number. Your registration number will disable the opening shareware screen and may be used with all future versions of Magic Notes of the same version number. This means any future version revisions to the program will be made available to you for free, e.g. if you register version 2, all updates to version 2 is free.

Your registration number is derived from your name and email address and may not be distributed in any manner.  Magic Notes is LICENSED TO A SINGLE PERSON WHO REGISTERED THE PROGRAM. This does not apply if you have purchased a group license of some kind.

All users are granted a limited license to copy the UNREGISTERED version (this means everything except your registration number) of Magic Notes for the trial use of others as long as all this information is also provided.  Please feel free to give copies of Magic Notes to your friends and associates.  That's what shareware is about.

This license does NOT include distribution or copying of this software:

For any "disk fee" other than a small (generally $2.00 to $5.00) copying

charge.

For distribution in any modified form. The file containing this license information MUST be included along with full documentation and all the files that make up this software package.

Copyright 1994-2001 © by Eskil Software


Display note (Alarm)
Display note

Shows the note and restores it back from where it was last hidden.


Getting Help

Click on the Help buttons in dialogs or the [image] button in the toolbar. You can also look in the read me file README.TXT for information about problems that may occur while using Magic Notes and up to date feature/bug information.


Hide in exit (alarm)
Hide note on Exit

With this selected the active the note will hide itself when you exit the alarm dialog


Import/Exporting
Import/Export

The easiest and quickest way to import and export notes text is to simply copy or cut the text out of your note and use the standard CTRL+C(Copy) or CTRL+X (Cut) quick-keys and then paste them into your favorite word processor using CTRL+V (Paste) or equivalent. You can also use the same technique for importing text.

Another new feature in V2.3 is to select Export as text file from the note menu that will save the text of the note as a normal text file.


Insert current date

Inserts the current date in long format. Will replace the current selection just like if you had typed it. Short key is F9


Insert current time

Inserts the current time in short format. Will replace the current selection just like if you had typed it. Short key is SHIFT+F9


Internet help

	Opening URL's You can access WEB pages or other URLs like email addresses and automatically load them into your favorite browser or email program by double-clicking on URLs you’ve entered into the note.

Simply select the address and right-click your mouse button and if it's a valid URL a new menu option Open URL will display in the menu or you can simply double-click the URL when the cursor changes to a hand.


Introduction Magic Notes
Introducing Magic Notes

Welcome

Tired of losing your notes? Do you get annoyed when you just want to note something down quickly and you don't want to load a big word processor or PIM?

Congratulations, you have just found the most versatile and easy to use note taking utility there is for Windows NT/95/98/ME/2000 and now Windows XP. No more endless searching in the Start menu or tedious wait for an application to load just for that small note you want to make. Magic Notes solves that problem by always being available and never more than a click away from a note you can enter information into.

Magic Notes is also fully Internet capable so you can right click on a URL and launch your browser or Internet mail application right from a note.

Some of the innovative features you'll find in Magic Notes are;

Magic Notes is available for Windows NT/95/98/ME and 2000 in same installer saving you the hassle of having to upgrade when you change operating system. Notes written in one version can be automatically used in any other version.

Magic Notes will allow you to write notes and leave them anywhere on your desktop. To help you save desktop space the notes can also be minimized or resized at your leisure. The actual note will resize itself to the smallest possible size whenever you click outside its borders to make it look more like its paper cousin.

Your notes can be customized with the font of your choice and in one of many colors.

As a default your notes are saved whenever you exit the Magic Notes program or when you change to a different application.

Notes can be sent to other users on a TCP/IP network like a local intranet or even to other users on the Internet.

Magic Notes is a ShareWare program. The unregistered version is identical to the registered version. Some of the benefits you get from registering are;

No reminder to register.

Unlimited mail and email support.

Information about new versions as they're released.

Support continued development of the program.

Please click here for the registration form.


Loading and Saving notes

The saving and loading in Magic Notes is designed to be as automatic as possible to make it as easy for the user. With the default settings there is no need for you to remember to save a note when you change it but leave that to the program to handle.

Below is some more information about this process.

Loading your notes

When Magic Notes starts up all saved notes will be displayed where you left them. This feature cannot be turned off. For problems see the Troubleshooting section.

Saving your notes

Your notes will be automatically saved by default whenever you change to a different application or when you exit the Magic Notes program. You can disable this behavior by via the Auto Save checkbox in the Preference dialog.

You can also manually save your notes by clicking on the Save button [image].

Importing or exporting text into notes

The easiest and quickest way to import and export notes text is to simply copy or cut the text out of your note and use the standard CTRL+C(Copy) or CTRL+X (Cut) quick-keys and then paste them into your favorite word processor using CTRL+V (Paste) or equivalent. You can also use the same technique for importing text.

Another new feature in V2.3 is to select Export as text file from the note menu that will save the text of the note as a normal text file.

Copying notes between computers

To move note data between computers, first make sure that neither instance of Magic Notes is running. Go to the directory where Magic notes was installed and look for a file called NOTES.DAT. Copy this file to the other computer into the install directory will copy all your notes. You also need to copy STICKIES.INI, ALIAS.INI to preserve your user settings.

Make sure Magic Notes is not running on either machine when you do this or you could potentially loose data.


Popup before alarm
Popup note before alarm

Specify an optional pop up time by activating this button
and specifying when you want it to display.


Preferences

Selecting the Preference button [image] from the toolbar or from one of the menus will allow you to define the default behavior of Magic Notes like default color, font and Auto Save turned on or off.

Main

General settings

Auto save Notes

Will turn Auto Save on or off.

Hide all notes on startup

Temporarily hides all your notes on startup. Notes can be retrieved using the 'Show All' command.

Confirm deleting notes

When this is selected a confirmation message will display when you delete a note if the note contains any text.

Always on top

Select this to keep your notes on top of all other windows at all times.

Taskbar action

Select your preferred action when you single click the taskbar icon.

Toolbar settings

Toolbar position

Defines where on the screen the toolbar will be.

Hide toolbar on startup

(Windows95/NT4 only) Minimizes the toolbar to a task bar icon. This checkbox is disabled if you're running the 16bit version.

Visible with ALT+TAB

Allows notes to be visible from the ALT+TAB short cut keys.

Startup Options

Start with Windows

Enable this if you want Magic Notes to start with Windows.

Command line

Use this option to customize the command line Magic Notes will use when starting up using the above option. Note that this is an advanced setting which normally doesn’t need changing. See Command line options for more information.

Notes

Appearance

Default font

The Select font button will allow you to select the default font used when creating a new note. To see how to change the displayed font after you have created a new note, see Customizing your notes.

Default color

Designates which is the default color for new notes. To see how to change the displayed color after you have created a new note, see Customizing your notes.

Random color

Select this to let Magic Notes pick a random color whenever you create a new note.

Adjust Color

Allow you to design your own custom color.

Default title font

Allow you to set which font will be used for the title of all notes.

Size and Position

Default note position:

Decides where on the screen new notes appear when they are created.

Default note size:

Decides the size of new notes. New notes will always come up in the same size regardless of resolutions selected.

Fit note inside desktop

Makes sure the note stays inside the desktop/screen. This feature is fully multi monitor aware.

Automatic size to contents

Automatically resize to optimally fit the text inside the note.

Alarms

Report old alarms

Specifies if an alarm that has expired before you last run Magic Notes will be reported back to you.

Default alarm sound

If your computer supports sound you can pick a default sound or MIDI file for the alarm.

Snooze time

Sets the default time an alarm will snooze when Snooze is selected from the alarm dialog.

Hide note after setting alarm

Turn this on to automatically hide the note after you've set an alarm. You can always override this setting when you define the alarm.

Popup note before alarm

If you use the popup functionality on a regular basis it might be handy to set this option. This will fill in the values you specify into the popup so that you don't have to do that anymore.

Sound

Select event sounds

Select one of the events from the list and pick a sound file to play for that event.

Network

Receive notification when a note arrives

When this checkbox is set you will get notified when a note arrives for you.

Port used for receiving notes

This is the port that Magic Notes will listen to for incoming requests. Note that the default (3023) is registered with IANA as port magicnotes and is the recommended port to use.

Hotkey

Hotkeys

This let’s you change the default hot keys used by Magic Notes for some of the most common commands like creating a new note, displaying the organizer window or showing/hiding all notes on screen.


Registering Magic Notes
Registrering Magic Notes

Registering with credit cards, cash, invoice and others:

Magic Notes now incorporates a unique in-build payment system from eSellerate. All you need to do to purchase a copy of Magic Notes is to select the “Buy Now” option available in a range of locations. This feature is completely secure and will allow you to purchase a copy of Magic Notes without even having to leave the program.

In addition on the Magic Notes web site http://www.magicnotes.com. a range of other online purchasing options are available.

Also check this page for updates to the program and other information.


Select time and date for alarm

The alarm dialog is accessed either through the F6 short key or through the notes menubar.

	This dialog allows you to set an alarm for a note to help you keep track of appointments, meetings or any anything else you need to be reminded of. The Alarm Active tick box will enable the alarm initially and reset the alarm date and time to the current time. The tick box will also indicate if the alarm is turned on or off. Once the alarm is active you can specify an optional pop up time by activating the Pop up note before alarm button and specifying when you want it to display. With Hide on exit active the note will hide itself when you exit the alarm dialog. You can also manually hide the note by selecting Hide note from the note menu or from the Show/Hide dialog (see main menu). Repeating alarms Alarms can be set up to repeat at requested intervals. When the alarm is triggered the alarm will automatically be repeated and will display a dialog giving you the option to display a hidden note or just confirm the alarm and close the dialog.
Custom alarm action

From V2.2 you now also have the option to execute a program or sound a custom sound when the alarm is triggered. To enable, tick the check box of your selection and type in the path to the file you want or use the browse button. You can also check the behavior with the test button next to each option. If neither of the two custom actions are selected the alarm will revert back to the sound set in the Preference dialog.

Alarm confirmation dialog

V2.2 now also contains a new 'Snooze' option when the alarm is triggered which allows you to quickly repeat the alarm at a later time. See Alarm display dialog for more information.


Snooze (Alarm)
Snooze

Select this to 'snooze' the alarm for a selectable amount of minutes.


Step by step

This text will guide you how to create your first note and how to set it to a different font and alignment.

1. Run Magic Notes if its not already running and make sure the toolbar is showing. See Defining default behavior for more information.

2. To create a new note, click on the New Note button (second from the left) or click on the tray icon on the task bar. A note window will appear in your default color and font.

3. Type in some text and maybe move it around or resize it to get the feel of how they work. Remember that clicking outside the window will make Magic Notes display the note without buttons and drag bars to give it a better paper 'look'. To get them back, all you have to do is click inside it again and they will reappear.

4. Find the third button from the left on the top of the note window and click on it. This is the customize menu for this note. Find the menu item Alignment under Appearence and select either Left, Center or Right alignment. If you typed in some text your text should now be aligned according to the option you selected.

5. Now to select a different font, go to the same menu as before but select Select font option instead and you're given the option to select a font.

6. Hopefully you have now learned the basics of using Magic Notes. Feel welcome to explore both this help file and the Magic Notes program.

For more information about the options in the note menu see Customizing your notes.


Stop Sound (Alarm)
Stop sound

Select this (if active) to stop and playing sound.


Text window (Alarm)
Text window

Displays the current text of the note


The Main menu

 Left click (or right click on the task bar icon) on this button to display the main menu.

New Sticky	Creates a new note.
Always on Top	Toggle this to always keep the toolbar and note on top of other windows.
Minimize	Will minimize the toolbar and all the notes.
Note Organizer	Displays the note organizer which helps you organize all your notes..
Hide All / Show All	Temporarily hides or shows all notes. The menu text will change accordingly.
Display all notes	Quick menu to unhide/activate a note. Displays a dynamic list of all notes including hidden notes and will activate and unhide (if hidden) the note.
Preferences	The preference dialog let’s you specify options like the default note size and other useful options. See Preferences for more information.
Hide toolbar / Show toolbar	Will hide the toolbar (but not the notes) and create a shortcut icon on the task bar tray. Left click to unhide or right click to access this menu. The menu text will toggle between Hide and Show.
Save	Does a manual save of your notes. See the Loading and Saving notes topic for more details.
About	Displays contact details and if you're registered, your name and registration number.
Help	This help file
Exit	Quit Magic Notes.


The Notes menu bar

The buttons on a Magic Notes note

By highlighting a note and right clicking anywhere on the window title bar or left clicking on the "Display note menu" button you can customize how you want the note to behave and look by selecting one of the options in the menu..

The options in the menu are:

File submenu

Duplicate note	Duplicates the note, creates an identical copy and adds "Copy of" to the title.
Export to text file	Exports the current note as a text file.
Edit submenu

Cut (CTRL+X)	Cuts selected text from the note.
Copy (CTRL+C)	Copies selected text into the clipboard.
Paste (CTRL+V)	Paste text from the clipboard into the note.
Find (CTRL+F)	Finds text in the note.
Replace (CTRL+R)	As above but also gives the option to replace the found text with a new string.
Appearance submenu

Select Font (F5)	Select the used font. You can also select your preferred text color from here.
Alignment	Sub menu to select alignment of text in the note window.
Color	Select the color used by the note or use Adjust Color to adjust the selected color to your liking. Note, hi color display recommended.
Insert submenu

Insert current date (F9)	Inserts the current date in short format. Will replace the current selection just like if you had typed it.
Insert current time (SHIFT+F9)	As above but inserts the current time.
Print note (CTRL+P)	Print the current note.
Delete Note (CTRL+D)	Removed a note permanently.
E-Mail note	Optional menu item that will be added if you have a MAPI enabled mail application like Microsoft Exchange (Windows Messaging) or Eudora Pro.
Net Send note	Sends the current note to the desktop of another computer running Magic Notes. See the Net Send dialog
Set alarm (F6)	Display the alarm dialog..
Set title (F7)	Sets the title of the selected note.
Hide note (F8)	Hides the note from view. You can get it back by going to Show/hide notes in the main menu.
Lock/Unlock (F11)	This options switches between Locked & Unlocked depending on the state of the note. Locking the note means the text is hidden and is invisible to the user until unlocked by selecting Unlock and typing the password again. Remember the password of the note as it can't be deleted while locked.
Next Note (CTRL+N)	Activates the next visible note.
Previous Note CTRL+SHIFT+N)	Activated the previous visible note.
Quick Snooze (CTRL+Q)	Snooze the note for a user definable time and hides the note.
Preferences	Displays the Preferences dialog.
Help	Displays this help file


The Toolbar

The toolbar is your main instrument to handle Magic Notes. All icons in the toolbar display "tool tips" as you leave the mouse pointer over one of the buttons for more than one second.

The Preferences allows you to set the position to six pre-defined positions on your desktop or you can move it freely by holding down your right mouse button over the toolbar and moving the mouse around.

For a more in depth description of the buttons on the toolbar see one of the topics below.

Main Menu	See Main Menu

New Note	Press this to create a new note.

Preference	See Preferences.

Save	Saves all your notes. See the Loading and Saving notes topic for more details.

Help	Opens this file.


Troubleshooting

1. My notes don’t come back when I exit and restart Magic Notes?
If Auto Save is turned off you have to manually save your notes when you exit.

2. I hide a note and now I can't get it back?
The Show/Hide option in the main-menu will display all notes and will allow you to toggle between showing and hiding a note.

3. I set the alarm on a note and hide it but it comes back straight away even though the alarm is set to a time & date in the future.
Is pop up turned on? If so, the pop up is probably set to a time before the current time, example:
The alarm is set for 12:30 and the pop up is set to an hour before and its now 12:00, which means its time for it to pop up.


URL

A WEB address like http://www.magicnotes.com or mailto:support@magicnotes.com.


What's new

New features in 3.3

Transparency support under Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

New smarter look of notes.

More options in the Note Organizer.

Bug fixes in the net send and a list of other features..

New features in 3.2

New title font option in Preferences for better Windows XP support.

Note organizer bug fixes.

Improved multi user support including new installer option to allow Win NT4/2000/XP users to store their user settings and data on a per user basis.

New Global Search in the Note organizer.

New features in 3.1

Updated Net Send feature with new alias and ignore list to make it simpler to use.

Improved support for international character sets.

Added support for Windows XP including skinning.

New features in 3.0

The interface has been updated.

New net send feature that allows you to send notes via TCP/IP to other users on an intranet on the Internet.

New improved Note Organizer dialog with more options.

New features in 2.7 10170

Small alarm bug fix.

The "Display All Notes" item is sorted alphabetically

New features in 2.7 10117

Fixed the multimonitor support.

Added silent alarm indicator.

Tested under Windows 2000.

New features in 2.7

Additional DBCS support for Win 95/98/NT version if multi byte font are installed.

Reorganized menus for easier access.

Tested under Windows 2000 Beta 3 for correct functionallity.

New features in 2.6

Bug fixes to custom colors.

Execute command now support long file names and additional parameters.

New "SmartSize" option which will resize the note as you type.

Improved SmartFit with multimonitor support under Windows 98.

Various other small thing.

New features in 2.5

Lots of small bugfixes.

New support for custom colors for every note.

Small cosmetic changes to the interface.

New "SmartFit" option which will keep all note inside the desktop window at all times.

Minor interface improvements.

New features in 2.4

Finally removed the horrible preference dialog and replaced it with a user-friendlier tabbed dialog. Unfortunately increased the size of the install by about 300K

New cool sound options like event sounds for standard sounds.

More options in the preference like random color notes and disable the prompt when you delete a note.

New features in 2.3B

Fixed bug in Show/Hide dialog

Now lets you play wave or midi files for alarms.

New features in 2.3

New option to view all visible/hidden notes directly from the menubar.

New simple password Lock/Unlock feature to prevent people from viewing the contents of a note.

Command line option to set where the notes and settings are stored for customized installs.

New Export note to text file.

Find/Replace text inside a note.

The close button no longer deletes the note but just hides it. Replaced it with a "Delete Note" command (CTRL+D) instead.

See the WHATSNEW.TXT file for historical details of previous versions.


Note Organizer

The Note Organizer is used to give you a better picture of all your created notes. The notes can be sorted by clicking on any of the five headers below;

Status	This icon will indicate if your note is visible, hidden and it has got an alarm visible or not.
Title	The title of the note. The title of a note will either be the first line of any text you've entered into the note or you can set it explicitly by right clicking inside the note (or over the item in the organizer) and selecting "Rename Note". You can do the same by pressing F7 on your keyboard.
Alarm	The time of the next alarm or the text <No alarm defined>. If click the Toggle Alarm button you will either reenable an alarm which has already been set (or turn it off) or the alarm definition dialog will display if the selected note does not have an alarm defined.
Creation Date	The time the note was created. Note that if the note was created in a pre V3.0 version of Magic Notes, the creation date will be empty.
Last updated	Last time the text of the note was updated.

1. Show/Hide - Toggle the visibility of a note.

2. If an alarm is active, it will be turned off and the other way around if it's turned off. If no alarm is defined, you will be prompted for one.

3. Delete note will delete one or more notes. Note that once a note is deleted, it cannot be recovered.


Sending Notes over a network

The new note sending facility of Magic Notes allow you to send a note via a network to another computer either inside your intranet or to the internet This feature uses the TCP/IP protocol just like other internet applications. Before you can send a note you need to know the computer name or IP number of the computer you are sending to

This feature can also be used to send notes across the Internet as long as you know the IP address or host name of the computer you're sending to.

Magic Notes has a specially assigned IANA port number (3023) that it uses to both send and receive notes.

Firewalls

If you are using a firewall, port 3023 needs to be open for transmission over the Internet to work. If this is not appropriate, going can change the default port used by Magic Notes to the Preference dialog and selecting network. You need to restart Magic Notes for this to take effect. Note that the program will both send and receive on the same port.

Edit Alias

The alias function can be used to keep short names for commonly used recipients of notes. Click on the Edit Alias button to edit aliases.

Edit Ignore List

The ignore list function is used to stop people you don’t want to receive notes from sending you notes. When a person in the ignore list sends you a note, you will not receive any notification about the event and the note the person tried to send you will be ignored.