Microsoft OneNote is one of the oldest note-taking apps. It’s packed with features, has apps for all the major platforms, offers handy drawing tools with stylus support, and the recent Copilot integration takes the note-taking experience to the next level. Whether you are a new or an existing OneNote user, check out our top tips for using Microsoft’s note-taking app effectively.
Although OneNote is available on the web, iPhone, iPad, Android, and desktop, this post focuses on the latter.
What is Microsoft OneNote?
Microsoft’s feature-rich digital note-taking app is worth checking out
1 Interlink OneNote pages
OneNote lets you create connections between your related notes. You can link relevant pages and switch between them with a single click.
1. Launch OneNote and go to a note you want to link.
2. Right-click on a note and select Copy Link to Page.
3. Open a note where you want to interlink the previous note. Enter relevant text and select it.
4. Press Ctrl + K (Windows) or Command + K (Mac) to open the insert link menu. Paste the link and press Enter.
From now on, you can click the link and switch to a related note in no time.
2 Learn OneNote keyboard shortcuts
OneNote’s desktop apps have dozens of keyboard shortcuts. Use keyboard shortcuts for popular actions like creating a new page, applying a highlighter, text editing options, using tags, and more. Go to Microsoft’s official page to find all the OneNote keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac.
3 Utilize OneNote tags
By default, OneNote has several tags, such as To-Do, Important, Question, Definition, Idea, Comment, Flag, and more. You can use the top menu bar or explore keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl + 1,2,3… or Cmd + 1,2,3…) to apply a relevant tag to a paragraph. You can even create a custom OneNote tag to fit your needs.
1. Open Tags under the Home menu. Select Customize Tags.
2. Click New Tag.
3. Give it a name and assign a symbol, font color, and highlight color.
4. Check the tag preview at the bottom and click OK.
4 Change paper color and style
OneNote is popular in the education sector. When you want to replicate your physical notebook in OneNote, change the paper color and style to match your class notebook.
1. Launch OneNote and create a new page.
2. Click View at the top and expand Page Color.
3. Select one of the pastel colors. Or, select More Colors and pick a shade for your OneNote page background.
4. Select Rule Lines and pick one of the rule and grid line formats. You can also change the rule line color from the same menu. OneNote offers an option to Always Create Pages with Rules Lines.
5 Explore OneNote templates
Do you often use a specific format on a OneNote page? Instead of creating a page from scratch, use OneNote templates. Microsoft offers templates in different categories, like Academic, Business, Planners, and Decorative. You can also find third-party OneNote templates on the web.
Another neat OneNote trick is the ability to create a custom template. Here’s how.
1. Launch OneNote and create a new page. Make all the relevant changes.
2. If you want to reuse the same format for other OneNote pages, save it as a template. Click Insert at the top and select Page Templates.
3. Select Save current page as a template.
You can also pick a template you want to use for all new pages in the current OneNote section.
6 Clip articles from the web
Microsoft offers a handy OneNote web extension to clip articles for research purposes. It’s a must-have add-on for power OneNote users. Let’s check it in action on Google Chrome.
1. Download the OneNote extension from the Chrome Web Store.
2. The OneNote extension appears in the upper-right corner. Select it and sign in with your Microsoft account details.
3. Visit a web page you want to clip and select OneNote. You can clip a full page, a region, an entire article, or bookmark it.
4. Confirm the notebook location and select Clip.
7 Transcribe audio files
Students will surely appreciate the ability to transcribe audio files in OneNote. Transcribe converts speech to a text transcript where each speaker is individually separated. You can access the option from the Insert > Transcribe menu.
8 Create subsections in OneNote notebooks
By default, you can create a notebook and add relevant sections and pages. However, you may want to add subsections to a primary section. For example, you can create a new notebook called Semester and create a Subject section. Then, you can add Physics, Chemistry, Math, and other subsections.
1. Launch OneNote and find a section.
2. Right-click on it and select New Section Group.
3. Right-click on a newly created section and select New Section.
4. Repeat the same to add other subsections, and you are good to go.
9 Math calculations
OneNote has built-in support for basic math calculations. You can perform addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), percent (%), division (/), and more. You no longer need a separate calculator open in the background.
You can type the equation, type = at the end, and press Enter to check the final answer.
10 Explore Copilot integration
Microsoft’s Copilot AI bot has arrived on Office apps, including OneNote. It can summarize notes, make to-do lists, rewrite content, create pros and cons, develop action plans, and generate ideas for a new project. It’s a part of a Copilot Pro subscription, which starts at $20 per month.
Use OneNote like a pro
OneNote is a feature-rich note-taking solution with all the ingredients to become your ultimate productivity app. OneNote tops our top note-taking apps chart. However, it isn’t perfect and can take some inspiration from new-age tools like Craft and Notion. We would like to see faster sync, a cleaner UI, more built-in templates, and integration with third-party apps to view important files on a OneNote page.
