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I found a simple way of writing notes to myself and storing them in the Notes folder of my mail program.
   technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Making your own information manager in your e-mail program


June 21, 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

   Practicing what you preach is hard.
   When I switched from Windows to Linux on my main PC a year ago, I gave up a wonderful personal organizer. I'd been a big fan of Microsoft Outlook 98, and I knew right away I'd miss it when I installed Linux. (Outlook is part of Microsoft Office, which is not yet available for Linux.)
   To me, the best thing about Outlook 98 was the integration of mail, the calendar, notes and contacts. When you got an e-mail letter from Jim telling you the bowling league supper had been moved up to next Tuesday, you could just drag the message out of the message pane and drop it onto the entry for Tuesday in the calendar. That automatically made a calendar entry for that date containing the message about the bowling league supper.
   When you wanted to write yourself a quick note, you could type it quickly store it in the Notes folder. And you could see it and any other notes at any time.
   There was much more to Outlook 98 that I liked. It had drawbacks, too. It took a long time to load and sometimes refused to close. It would drive me crazy sometimes by refusing to send out mail that had certain characters in the address.
   For a few months after I installed Linux I cheated. Every now and then I'd boot back up into Windows -- I have both Windows and Linux on that PC -- and run Outlook 98 to check my notes and my calendar.
   But security blankets can only cover so much. I knew last winter that I had to stop sneaking back into Windows. I had to find a program I could run under Linux that would do what Outlook 98 did under Windows.
   But I didn't find one. No doubt I could have looked harder. I could have tried Corel's WordPerfect Office 2000, maybe. It has a great personal organizer. Corel has a Windows version and a Linux version. Or I could have kept struggling with the personal scheduler in StarOffice, the free alternative office suite for Windows and Linux from Sun Microsystems. The StarOffice scheduler is great if you use the e-mail program built into StarOffice. (It has the same kind of drag-and-drop functions as Outlook 98.)
   But I use Netscape Messenger and love it. So I had to face reality. If I wanted a personal organizer that works with my e-mail software, I'd have to create it myself.
   And I did. You can, too.
   What I ended up doing was simplicity itself. I used my e-mail program to organize my life.
   Since I'd missed the neat little "Notes" folder in Outlook 98, I figured I could make one in Netscape Messenger. I did a right click in the vertical pane that shows my mail folders and created a new folder. I called it "Notes." (If you're using a Macintosh and don't have a right mouse button, just use the File menu and create a new folder from there.)
   I was only halfway there. Netscape doesn't have a note creator the way Outlook 98 does. So I had to imagine one. I thought it over and realized that a note was just a message to myself that never got mailed, more or less. (Stick with the "more" part of this and we'll be OK.) So I found a simple way of writing notes to myself and storing them in the Notes folder of my mail program.
   I know, I know, you're thinking I just created a new message and addressed to myself and mailed if off. When it arrived, I just moved it to the Notes folder.
   And I actually did that at first. But that was silly. Netscape Messenger is just like most other modern mail programs. It lets you save a message you are writing so you can get back to it later. You do that by using the File menu at the top of the message you are writing. Choose "Save as ... Draft." Netscape stores these unfinished messages in the Drafts folder. Other mail software does something similar.
   With me so far? You write a note as if it were going to be an e-mail message but save it as a draft. Then, since it's in the Drafts folder and not in the Notes folder, you drag it from one folder to the other. A bit of a bother, but it works.
   Ah, me of little faith! How could I have missed the REAL solution! All I had to do was fool Netscape Messenger into using my Notes folder in place of its own Drafts folder.
   Here's what you do if you're using Netscape Messenger. (It's the mail program I recommend because it does not have all the security holes of Microsoft's Outlook Express, Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000. )
   Open the Preferences menu and click on "Copies and Folders" under "Mail & Newsgroups." Look for "Storage for Drafts and Templates." To the right of "Keep Drafts in ..." click "Choose Folder," then change "Drafts" to the folder of your choice. ("Notes" is a good name.) You can create a new folder if you want.
   And now the miracle. If you're using Netscape Messenger, changing the Drafts folder to the Notes folder carries an unexpected bonus: The Notes folder takes on a new look and moves up into the small group of Netscape system folders at the top of the list. It even sports a new writing-pad icon.
   Now you can write notes to yourself and store them in a special folder just by saving them as drafts. Open that folder and you can view the notes or delete them when they're not needed any more. Best of all, you don't have to rummage around for another program to do it. If you have your mail software running, as most of us probably do a lot of the time, you have a personal organizer right at hand.