Customize notes

By default, a note appears as a yellow square. You can change the appearance of notes, including the font, color or size, to help you organize and manage them.

What do you want to do?

Change the default color, font, and size of new notes

Change the size of existing notes

Change the color of existing notes

Show or hide the time and date on notes

Change the default color, font, and size of new notes

1. Click the File tab.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Notes and Journal.

4. Under Notes options, select the options that you want.

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Change the size of existing notes

You can adjust the size of an existing note permanently by doing one of the following:

• Drag the lower-right corner of the note until the note is the size that you want.

• To maximize the note to fill the screen, double-click the bar across the top of the note.

• To restore a maximized note to its previous size, double-click the bar at the top of the note.

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Change the color of existing notes

To change the color of a note, assign it a color category. Multiple color categories can be assigned to a note, but the note will appear in the color of the last category applied.

Assign a color category to an open note

• Click the note icon , click Categorize, and then do one of the following:

  • Click a color category.

  • Click All Categories to open the Color Categories dialog box, and then select the check box next to the color category that you want to assign.

Assign a color category to a closed note

You can assign a color category to a note that is not open. In Notes, use either the List or Icon view.

1. Click the note to which you want to assign a color category.

2. On the Home tab, in the Tags group, click Categorize, and then do one of the following:

   • Click a color category.

   • Click All Categories to open the Color Categories dialog box, and then select the check box next to the color category that you want to assign.

Note:  To assign a category or color in Notes List view, you can right-click in the Categories column of the note to which you want to assign a color category. Clicking in the Categories column removes the last color assigned to the note.

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Show or hide the time and date on notes

1. Click the File tab.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Notes and Journal.

4. Under Notes Options, select or clear the Show date and time that the Note was last modified check box.

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