Microsoft changed Sticky Notes in Windows 10 with the arrival of the Anniversary Update. Among the innovations that we incorporate we can highlight the reminders and the Insights, thanks to the integration with Cortana. It is a lightweight alternative to OneNote that allows you to take notes quickly.

In this article we are going to give you some tricks to get more out of this alternative to OneNote, so that you always have a quick way to write notes to keep up with your tasks or to remember important events.

To launch it just write the name of the application in the Start Menu and clicking on the shortcut. Once you’ve opened it, you can right-click on the Sticky Notes icon and select “Anchor to taskbar” if you’re going to use it frequently.

Some basics

As an application, Sticky Notes is very easy to use . By default will appear a yellow, in which you can write what you want. Winodws will save it so you can consult it at any time.

Apart from the one that will appear on the screen when you open the program, you can create new notes with the “+” button. To delete it, just click on the icon in the trash can. To change the color you have to click on the menu button, which is marked as “…”, and choose one of those that will appear in a few circles.

Otherwise, they behave like any window . You can move them around the desktop by clicking and dragging or resizing them with a mouse click in a corner.

Insights, an interesting functionality

Sticky Notes works together with Cortana to provide more information to the user. This feature is known as Insights , and is enabled by default. In any case, it is worth checking. Click the menu button, go to the settings gear and make sure the “Enable information” option is enabled.

This way, when you type something like a flight number, the text will turn blue. If you click on it you will receive more information about it. This works the same way for reminders, which are another type of insight in broad strokes. If you write a date or an hour it will be the same as in the previous example.

You can also get these reminders to your mobile phone by installing the Cortana app on iOS and Android, and entering the same Microsoft account with which you have set up Windows 10.

More Insights Functions

Sticky Notes has its own Insights. It will automatically detect any of the following things you type:

• Phone numbers: If you type any number you will be able to make a call using Skype.
• Email addresses: you can use them as a shortcut to send an email.
• Web addresses: they function like direct access to any web, that will open in the navigator that you have determined by default.

Some of these functions still do not work in all territories, but with the arrival of Creators Update is expected to be solved. Microsoft will continue to add Insights and expand those that are already available in the future.

Sync and backup

For now Sticky Notes are not synchronized between your Windows 10 devices. They are stored in a local database on your computer. What you can do is save a backup and restore it on a different computer, but you’ll have to do it yourself.

This application is ideal for taking quick notes, which you do not need to keep for a long time. If you want to use synchronization functions, you have no choice but to use OneNote or similar.