Eric: Many thanks for your contribution to helping Notes users become more comfortable and hopefully productive. I very much look forward to eproductivity.net - perhaps you will consider offering a membership service to those not in a position to become a personal client but at the same time wanting to 'pick your brains'. Your knowledge is much appreciated!

Todd: I have spent the last month trying to convert Notes to the same level of productivity I was used to with Outlook (2003 plus gtd add in). At first I was dismayed because I was unable to persuade my office IT department to change the to do form to the elegant example offered by Eric. I have however been able to make some minor changes which have helped a little. I use the welcome screen to bring up just my calendar and in box. I agree that it is frustrating that you cannot access the to do's by category in the welcome page but I have managed to get the default TO DO view changed to 'by category, collapsed' so when I hit the 'to do' bookmark I do at least get nice tidy lists similar to Outlook. I dont think this was a major change - it was done in a few minutes. Another improvement granted when I asked for it was the ability to sort by 'document type' in the all docs view. This is great for when I am doing housekeeping/filing/etc. Previously it was only possible to sort by date, size or sender.

I use the launch pad and populate it with documents/databases and sites etc that I need to access during the day. I also have put into the start up folder all the windows I want open when I start Notes. I REALLY like this feature and am surprised that so few people use it where I am working. I also make use of the bookmark bar combined with the alt+B keyboard command.

I think these features save me quite a few minutes a day and I am starting to truly enjoy discovering the potential of Notes. Overall it feels more integrated, more like a personal portal. Now when I return to Outlook in the evening my system feels a little 'disjointed'.

Russell: there are good references to the uses of a tickler in David's first book and also quite a lot of discussion on this forum if you do a quick search. This post may be helpful. http://www.davidco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=684

cheers
Helen