11 Best OneNote Tips and Tricks for Power Users
Here are some of the most interesting and productive OneNote tips and tricks for experienced users who want to improve their productivity. Plus, if you're just getting started, these tips will certainly help you too.
Let's start.
1. Keyboard shortcuts
Let's start the guide with some quick and convenient keyboard shortcuts.
- Press Windows + Alt + N to open a small note window without opening the entire application.
- Press F7 to check the spelling and Shift + F7 to open the thesaurus for the selected word.
- Press Shift + F10 to open the context menu.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + H to highlight the selected text.
- Press Ctrl + / to apply / delete the list of numbers
- Press Ctrl +. (it's a moment) to use / delete the bulleted list
- Press Ctrl + 1 to create, delete, or mark an item in the task list.
Are you looking for more shortcuts? Fortunately, Microsoft has compiled a long list of OneNote shortcuts. Mark the page for future reference.
2. Enter text from images
OneNote supports optical character recognition (OCR), which means that you can now enter the text of your images into the clipboard directly without typing it.
Add the image to note and right-click to select the Copy Image Text option. The results are not very precise in the case of handwritten notes, but otherwise, it works perfectly.
3. Mark individual parts of notes
Tags are a great way to rank notes, especially if they are linked but saved in different notebooks or sections. But what many users do not realize is that you can also mark individual parts of notes.
You can start writing anywhere in a OneNote note. You just have to right-click on the header of the part you want to tag and choose one from the drop-down menu. This will give you a lot of freedom to work between sections and notebooks. You can also create custom tags if you wish.
4. Integration with Outlook tasks
Do you use Outlook? If this is the case, you will find this feature useful. You can create to-do lists in OneNote, and then mark it to link to Outlook. The same task list will also appear in the Microsoft To-Do application, if you use one.
Right-click the to-do list item and use one of the indicators to mark it. The one that says Outlook tasks when you hover over it. You can also assign a date and a time. On the other hand, it only works on the desktop, and there are rumors about his retirement from here to 2025. So enjoy it while it lasts.
5. Mathematical calculations
I like this feature. You can perform fairly complex mathematical calculations directly in OneNote. Just type the formula followed by the = symbol and the Space key to get the answer. Again, it works anywhere and even with handwritten formulas.
Microsoft has recently updated OneNote with a new feature in which it reads aloud mathematical solutions. As far as I know, no other note-taking app offers this feature.
6. Edit embedded files
You can attach any file to OneNote, including any formats that Office 365 supports, such as Word, Excel, and PDF files. Once the file is attached, you can open it and edit it directly in OneNote. It is not necessary to open the location of the folder in which the file is saved, then open it, edit it, and then associate it again. It's so 90s.
Just double-click on the embedded file and start the editing. When done, press Ctrl + S to save the changes and close the file.
7. Integration of applications
Microsoft has developed one of the best scanning applications in the form of Microsoft Office Lens. Its super simple to use and works perfectly. You can use it to scan documents and convert them into images, Word, PowerPoint and PDF files. Once done, save it directly to OneNote.
IFTTT and Zapier are another notable application integration. For the uninitiated, these two applications will automate just about every aspect of your note-taking experience with OneNote. These two automation applications connect to hundreds of other applications to ensure interoperability between applications.
8. Sticky notes
I know I know. It's an old school but that's it? Did you know that Sticky Notes is now synced between multiple devices, including your desktop? Open OneNote on your smartphone. A tab is dedicated to Sticky Notes.
Any notes you create here will instantly sync to your desktop. Useful when you want to take quick notes or you want to copy text or a link from one device to another.
9. Group sections together
OneNote works in a simple way. It works like a log in which you create notes. OneNote stores these notes in inner sections that are then stacked in notebooks. You can group sections of different notebooks to bring more security to your notebooks.
Right-click the heading of the section to select New Section Group. You can create as many as you want. After creating a new section, drag it into the section group that appears next to the section tabs.
10. Onetastic
Onetastic is a fantastic addition to your OneNote tool arsenal. It brings so many features to OneNote that even Microsoft recommends. Once you've added it, new features like OneCalendar, favorites, macros, custom styles and the ability to crop images will be visible.
Discussing all the features of Onetastic is not possible here, so I suggest you try it. Check out their demonstration video in the link below.
11. OneNote models
OneNote comes with a bunch of templates. If they are not enough, you can always search for the mode. You can always check out our guide on using OneNote templates and find out more about the web.
A place to note
OneNote is an amazing note-taking app. When you start taking advantage of all the features that she offers, she becomes really challenging. I hope this guide will speed up your learning process and help you. Share your OneNote tips and tricks in the comments below that you use often.
Then: Confused between choosing Evernote and OneNote? Click the link below to learn more about the differences and similarities between Evernote and OneNote.