The Best Outlook Feature Ever

Here's an Outlook party trick suitable for cruise ships, family reunions, and kids birthday parties.

Up until now this secret trick has been known only to Outlook insiders--a kind of "secret handshake" passed through the generations of Outlook team members.  Every few years ago someone files a bug on it and it is quickly closed by an elder.

Today, I pass it along to you to enjoy.  I believe it works in all versions of Outlook.  Do all of these steps in a row; don't ever click away from the sticky note once you do the first step or it won't work.

  • Create a new sticky note (File | New | Note or Ctrl+Shift+N will do the trick.)
     
  • Type some text in the note (anything will do, it doesn't have to be long.)
     
  • Drag the note around the screen for a while (you can move it via the title bar just like a normal window.)
     
  • Now, for the big trick: Press CTRL+Z.
     
  • Sit back and enjoy the show.
     
  • You can keep pressing CTRL+Z again and again to reverse the process.

For extra bonus points, along with moving the window around, try resizing it and (in Outlook 2003 and earlier) changing its color via the icon in the upper-left hand corner.

(The good news is that all the memory used is reclaimed when you close the sticky note.)

Thanks be to that ancient developer who, in his wisdom, persisted every change of position, size, and color in the undo stack.  Many hours of fun have resulted from his work.

Super extra bonus points: Write your name on the screen using the sticky note.  Hint: you need to drag it over the Outlook window.