Getting Started with Notepad Installation: Notepad has many files associated with it. There is no way around this. Please use the installers whenever possible and you won't have to worry about where files go. Refer to the Notepad.txt file for information about the installers to determine which one to use. In trying to make Notepad easier to understand for first time users, this file is organized in sections that teach the concepts of Notepad one section at a time, rather than just throwing the whole program in your lap. The best way to learn how to use Notepad is to read this document. Most of us computer users don't like reading documentation, but I guarantee that it will save you time. Quick Start Notepad allows you to jot down notes, ideas, todo lists, and much more. However, it's real power lies in it's ability to link (or associate) notes with other notes or files in other applications. For example, suppose you create a note reminding you of an important sales meeting. An alarm rings to remind you of the meeting. You tap the right arrow key to go to an expanded note with details of topics to be covered. Then you hit Psion-L to launch a spreadsheet file and see all of your sales data for the previous quarter. During the meeting, you realize you'll have to contact the district sales manager later that day. You create a note to remind yourself to make the contact, then link it to the sales manager's record in your database file. Now when you read the note telling you to contact the district manager, Notepad can open the database and automatically find the specific record with the manager's contact information. Notepad can relate data from different applications in meaningful ways so that you can quickly use your data and spend less time searching for it. Part 1: Creating your first note Notepad is very easy to use and lets you create a note quickly. When you've got it up and running... 1. Press Psion to start creating a new note. 2. Type in your note 3. Press Psion to save the note, or Escape to cancel. You will be prompted to set a priority, style, due date, start date, title, or alarm. If you choose to set an alarm, an alarm icon will appear in the "Alm" column beside your new note. You can change any of these details later by pressing Psion. Part 2: Linking notes to other notes Notepad of course can go way beyond just creating notes. It does this by letting you link notes to other notes. This means that if you have a note called Grocery List, you can link this note to a new notepad (list of notes) that has your actual grocery list. This is fairly simple. It looks like this: |- Main Notepad -| 1. Grocery List ---> 2. |- Grocery List Notepad -| 3. 1. Lettuce 4. 2. Chicken 5. 3. Butter If you are thinking that this looks like an outline, you're right. That's what Notepad does when you link a note to a new note - it creates the next lower level of a heirarchy just like an outline. Due to the limited screen size, you won't see the entire outline at once, but pressing the right arrow key will open the next lower level of the outline. Pressing the left arrow key will move you back to the previous note (that is, go up one level in the heirarchy). Notice that when you create a new level, you have "expanded" the note, and an arrow icon will appear in the "Exp" column next to the note. Part 3: Linking notes to other applications Notepad doesn't stop at just linking notes to other notes. Notepad can also link notes to application files. This is just like linking to a note, except instead of using the right arrow key, press Psion-L (or just L when the top button bar is present along the top of the screen). What applications can Notepad Link to? 1. Word 2. Data Database alternatives supported: . Data . Dataview . Dataview Pro . Act 3. Sheet After pressing Psion-L, choose which application you want to link to. You will be asked which file to link to. Type in a file name to create a new one or press to select from the list of existing files. If you are linking to either the Word or Spreadsheet application, that application will now be launched and you will be in the file you specified. If you're linking to the Data application, a Datalink dialog box will appear first. Type the text you want to search for (such as the name of a contact) and you will be linked directly to that record in your database. If you assign a hotkey, from the system screen (using Psion-A), to Notepad, it's easy to go back to your notes directly from the linked application. Next to your note, you will now see an icon in the "App" column indicating that this note is linked to an external application. Part 4: Setting alarms and due dates What else can Notepad do? So far we have notes that can link to other notes, and application files. All we need now is the ability to set an alarm based on a note, and attach a Due Date to a note in case it is part of a project that must be finished on a certain date. Notepad lets you edit all aspects of a note in the "Note details" dialog. Press Psion. Note that none of the above options need be applied to a note when it is created. Any note can be updated to link to another note. You can add a Due Date or alarm to a note at any time. Part 5: Handling Alarms and Due Dates Notepad has it's own way of handling alarms. It's done by a separate program that comes with Notepad, called Server.opa. This is a program that is installed on the system screen by pressing Psion. Notepad sends all of it's alarms through the Pelican Server. Our Server is different from the built-in alarm server (Time) in that Notepad doesn't need to be open for it's alarms to be sounded. Notepad handles Due Dates through a separate view in Notepad called the Project Viewer. Press the diamond key to see the Project Viewer. The view is like a calendar. It shows your notes that have due dates for the current month. Of course you can view any month. More notes on Linking: The concept of linking should be an easy one to understand, although sometimes it is not. Notepad is a type of an outline. There is a top level, or parent notepad. There are lower level parts of the outline, or children notepads. To move between the various parts of the outline, just use the right and left arrows. The right arrow opens the outline downward. The left arrow key goes in reverse back to the last open notepad. Of course you must first create lower levels before you will have any to go to. Pressing the right arrow on a note will expand it. Notepad asks you for a name. It can't be more than 8 characters. (No special characters. a-z) Give it a name and press Enter. You are now in the 2nd level down. Add notes as needed in this level, and press the left arrow key to go back to the top level. Or, press the right arrow on any note to expand it further down. Any note can be expanded, (linked) to any other notepad. There is no limit to how deep the notepads can go. (Only by available memory) I hope this helps to get started. Mark Esposito Pelican Software Inc.