If you’re using OneNote 2016 and you’re trying to take notes from another screen, say a web site or a spreadsheet, press Ctrl-Alt-D to dock OneNote to the right side of your screen. This makes it easy to take notes while you continue to work with the notes automatically saved as you go.
Bonus – Click on the chain icon in the upper right to enable Linked Note Taking tied to the browser if you are taking notes from the web.
Rather than having to click through drop downs and display screens to access your favorite notebooks in OneNote 2016, you can streamline the entire process with just a few clicks.
Open OneNote 2016 and then right click on the tab in your task bar. Your most recently opened notebooks will be listed in the pop-up menu. Click on the push-pin to the right of the notebook name and you now have access to that notebook with only two clicks while you’re running OneNote.
Bonus tip – You can pin multiple notebooks to the taskbar tab if you have a few you use frequently.
OneNote has an inherent management issue when it comes to keeping organized…notebooks. It’s not that I’m saying notebooks are a bad way to keep things together. Quite the contrary. The problem comes in with what do you with the crabgrass-like growth of the number of notebooks you have as your time with OneNote grows. Here are the five steps I recommend when you’re ready to get rid of a notebook. (Please note these steps require OneNote 2016 to execute completely.)
Before you delete an old notebook make sure you’ve gone through and transferred any content you need to retain to a new notebook. You could go through and move things item by item but to save time I recommend creating a section for all the pages you plan to move in the notebook, moving the pages to that section, copying the section to the new notebook, then deleting the section. That extra copy may seem counter-intuitive, but it gives you an extra bit of security in the move in case something goes wrong.
You can export an entire notebook to a PDF file for easy storage. I recommend this over creating a OneNote package since at this time you’ve already decided to delete the notebook so you won’t need to have the content in an editable format. Exporting it as a PDF file gives you the reassurance of having access to the information in the smallest and most portable format possible.
Sometimes we need to keep the content in OneNote format but we don’t need the content in separate notebooks. In these cases I’ll use an Archive notebook. I create a section in the Archive Notebook for the content I am archiving from the old notebook and then move that content over. Once I’m done I have an organized Archive notebook, access to the content I need, and one less extraneous notebook file to keep track of.
One of the tricks with OneNote is you can create links to notebooks, sections, pages, and even content on a page. By creating a master index notebook you can create links to all the content you may need access in a rarely used notebook, clicking on the links to access the information, while reducing your sync load and storage needs. I recommend this highly for content you may need access to while on mobile but can live without if you’re offline.
If you’re using a system such as OneDrive to store your OneNote files, it might be best to not delete notebooks unless you absolutely need to. You can move them to other out-of-the-way folders, but by keeping the files you can leverage the OneDrive search capability without having to open the notebooks every time.
In OneNote for 2016 you not only have the option to export a PDF as mentioned before, but you can also create a OneNote package file (*.onepkg) by using the Export: Notebook: OneNote Package option. This is a great way to pack up a notebook used for archived content and still retain the structures within the notebook. Keep in mind that you will have to use OneNote to re-open this file, but that may not be a non-starter for you.
If you want to archive a single section, say from a completed project, you can use the Export: Section: OneNote Section format to create a file similar to the OneNote Package. Again, you will need OneNote to open the file but you will be able to retain the organizational structure you’ve created within the section.
Notebooks are one of those things in OneNote that can be extremely powerful…with some planning. Without a plan as to how best to put them to use, be prepared to become your own librarian.
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One of the ways I use OneNote is to manage my recording scripts for podcasts. While it’s not particularly complicated to type up a script or notes and then reference them during the recording process, there is a particular feature I fall back on for keeping things clean and distraction-free.
Before I get ready to record, I compress my OneNote 2016 window down to about 1/3 of my screen and then use the Full Page View arrows to hide all the sections, pages, and ribbons. This allows me to focus on my content and not wander off because of navigation errors or other unplanned clicks.
It’s a simple enough step but it has become almost second nature as part of my recording workflow. OneNote is loaded with these types of little features that, when explored, can make a significant improvement in your productivity no matter what you’re doing.
Mike Tholfsen put together a good video on the different ways you can embed content into OneNote. Another way to add to the power of this tool / platform.
In this period of remote schooling, remote working, and remote living we’ve come to count on video conferencing solutions more than ever before by an order of magnitude. Unfortunately, most of these platforms aren’t ready to work at these levels and collapse under the strain. What can you do when the lights go out and you’re unable to deliver content the same ways you have in the past?
If you’re teaching a class and know some of the content will be delivered virtually but aren’t sure everyone will be able to access the content equally (for various reasons) try creating a “safe space” for your students to go to in case things break. If they’re dropped from a session they should know the session will be recorded and posted for them to review afterwards rather than wasting their time and yours trying to get back into a virtual session. Posting content, reference links, materials, videos, and audio recordings to a tool not dependent on a video connection is an excellent plan B for keeping people engaged.
If you have access to tools such as OneNote, you can use it’s offline sync capability to create the “safe space” I mentioned earlier. Creating a notebook for each student and then posting content in that notebook for them means they can connect to the notebook when they have connectivity restored and the content will sync down to them to work on offline. As they work, their updates can be automatically synced back to you for review and evaluation. Leveraging tools designed to work when connectivity is spotty is a great way to keep things moving along.
If connectivity is an issue go for bite-sized chunks rather than full meals when it comes to your content. Recording an hour-long class can be tough to get through without technical issues, but if that class covers six major topics breaking it down into six 10-minute recordings is technically easier as well as more reliable. Think about it this way: people have gotten good about binge viewing content on Netflix and Disney, so why not put some of those skills to use for you and your content?
We’re in a period where there are few good practices and even fewer best ones. Take time to save time where you can and simplify whenever possible. There’s nothing more difficult than keeping a distracted student engaged and one operating from the comforts of home is that much more distracted.
To paraphrase a line from Frank Herbert’s DUNE, “I see plans within plans…”. This is what you have to do to make your way in this new world.
If you create a task list as a note in OneNote for a given day, you can use the Move or Copy command to copy the list to the same section. Next clear out the completed items, update the date, and add your new tasks for the day you can roll over the incomplete items from the previous day and never lose track of anything. Don’t set a template to do this because you won’t get the benefit of the roll over items. This works on the web, Windows 10, and OneNote 2016.
This quarantine thing has caused me to switch from coffee to tea (for no real reason aside from a change) but it has also resulted in a new hobby…trying various teas and keeping track of their information for my own reference. As such I wanted to see if I could come up with an effective, efficient solution using OneNote to track this information and sure enough I found an answer that works for me. Before I get started though one caveat…this solution requires OneNote 2016 and won’t work on other versions because of requiring a specific feature in 2016. Sorry in advance for that. Let’s dive in.
The main issue I had when coming up with this solution was how best to organize the information. This is what I was working with:
My first instinct was to go with the old standby the outline layout:
But before I even got part way through that design I knew I could come up with something better. I wanted to avoid typing so much information so I needed a way to provide and select options. Checkboxes are what came to mind:
Now if you’re of a sharp eye you’ll notice my checkboxes are yellow, not the normal black and white boxes you get with the To Do tag. What I did was create a custom tag in 2016 called “Toggle”, assigned it to position 4 in the list (so I can use Ctrl+4 to assign it to a line) and chose the yellow checkbox as the symbol for the tag.
Why do this instead of using the normal To Do tag? I want to avoid confusing these selections with things to do (for which I use the To Do tag frequently). By creating a custom tag I can have the same functionality while letting the To Do tag do it’s thing.
After defining the custom tag I decided to try a different, table based layout for the information:
This format works very well on the desktop application: it takes a minimum of space while still providing all the information I need. Unfortunately it isn’t mobile friendly so a little tweak and that problem was fixed:
Now I can update the information on mobile as easily as I can on desktop and still have access to everything I need. I keep a blank copy of one of these pages in the section with my tea notes and I can make a copy of it on mobile to the same section and have it act like a template for new entries.
You may also have noticed I didn’t include the name of the tea in the table. I name the page using the name of the tea to make it easy to locate and reference.
There are any number of ways to adapt this structure:
The flexibility always surprises me when it comes down to what you can do with OneNote. While it may not have the embedded databases that other tools have there’s no question in my mind you can make it work in almost any situation with a little creative thinking.
One of the ways to get more out of OneNote is to use it to focus on the work at hand. A quick method of getting the other stuff out of the way and concentrating on the page you’re working on is to use full page view. By clicking on the double arrow in the upper right, you can hide all the unnecessary OneNote buttons and bars until you need them again. I use this option all the time in meetings and when writing to help me stay on task.
Follow up article – Living with OneNote on a Chromebook
I’ve been an avid Chromebook user since they were released. I carry with me an Asus Chromebook every day and use it more frequently than even my full Windows laptop. As a OneNote user it was important to find out how well I could take advantage of OneNote on the Chromebook and what features I’d lose in the limited online version.
When using OneNote on a Chromebook you’re limited to using the OneNote Online version of the application. This means right away many of the features you may be used to on the desktop version (such as custom tags) are not available. However, if you use OneNote with these limitations in mind you will find it to be a useful note taking and personal information management tool.
I use the screen clipping tool on OneNote often, more often than any other on my computers. However, since you do not have the desktop capability for screen clipping with OneNote Online, you need to take other steps. One of the best things is to install the extension Clip to OneNote in your Chrome browser. This extension allows for capturing entire pages, sections, articles, and even products directly to OneNote notebooks.
Unlike the desktop, when you’re using the Online version you can only have one notebook open at a given time. However, you can get around this limitation by two-finger clicking (press the left and right mouse buttons at the same time) on the name of a notebook and then tell Chrome to open the notebook in a new tab. You can do the same thing by holding down the CTRL key while left-clicking on a notebook name.
If you use the search box on the Notebooks page it is limited to the names of the notebooks, not the content of the notebooks as you find on the desktop version. If you use the search box in OneNote it will default to searching the page you are currently viewing. However, if you press Ctrl-E you can tell OneNote to search the entire section you are in. When OneNote Online is your primary tool, you’ll want to set up your notebooks and sections in such a way so you can leverage search in the most effective manners possible.
Another workaround for searching across notebooks is to click on Manage and Delete at the notebook page and then use the search in OneDrive to search all the contents of your notebooks. This needs to be integrated into the OneNote Online tool by Microsoft, but for now it at least gives you a chance to find your content.
For now, OneNote Online is a feature limited version of it’s big brother. Whether we’ll see more of the desktop capabilities migrate to the online version only time will tell. All in all OneNote Online is an excellent addition to the collection of tools you can use to take advantage of the power and flexibility of your Chromebook.
Follow up article – Living with OneNote on a Chromebook
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