Ten Best Microsoft OneNote Tips

The Microsoft OneNote is a prevalent software simply because it is accessible across all the major operating systems. Not only it does a great job, but the software has some decent support for touch inputs such as the S Pen or the Apple Pencil. It is excellent for making presentations and charts, and the simple user interface is just the icing on the cake. However, as a newcomer, you may feel overwhelmed by the UI. So in this article, we provide ten best Microsoft OneNote tips that will get you up and run in no time with the OneNote.

Ten Best Microsoft OneNote Tips

Yes, you heard it right; there are many hidden OneNote tips and tricks that we have explored for you in this article. Have a look:

Changing names of OneNote Notebooks
Making Use of the OneNote Printer
Website Clipping
Creating Subpages
Taking Screenshots
Adding images to OneNote
Support on Various Platforms
Organizing Information
Using the Stylus to Draw and Write
Syncing your Drawings

Make sure to connect your Microsoft Account if you are planning to sync across devices.

1. Changing names of OneNote Notebooks

Trying to change the Notebook file names from within the software is futile. For some reason, it doesn’t let you do that. To change the name you first of all close OneNote.

Open File Explorer and navigate your way to the respected file.
After you have found it, Right Click on it and hit Rename.

2. Making Use of the OneNote Printer

The OneNote Printer is a handy piece of software. You can use it to share your files and presentation at the workplace without the trouble of rummaging through your other data. After you have finished installing OneNote, the program automatically installs the printer driver, created especially for OneNote.

You can find it among the available list of devices attached to the computer.
Post this, make sure you do all your printing, though this printer application.
Now if you want to share your work with others, you won’t have to create another storage for the file. All you have to do is to share your OneNote printer on the office network, and others can print out your work on their computers.
However, they must have the OneNote printer driver installed.

3. Website Clipping

Microsoft has created extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge with the help of which you can clip various websites directly to your OneNote document.

Install the extension on the specific browsers.
Sign into your Microsoft account.
Visit the website that you wish to clip and click on the icon of the extension.
A new window will open up along with a set of options for the page you just clipped. They are:
- Bookmark: Adds a bookmark to your OneNote document of the page you just clipped.
- Region: This option lets you select a specific part of the page.
- Full page: This grabs a screenshot or a full image of the entire page.
- Article: Only the written part of the page gets clipped.

Further down you will find various options regarding the place you want to store your clipping. By default, it puts them in the Quick Notes section.
After making all the adjustments, click on the Clip button.

4. Creating Subpages

This option comes in handy into making specific groups among vast amounts of data. For example, if you have frequent meetings with a certain number of people, you might want to separate them into specific groups, so that you can approach them individually. Like under a notebook of the names of teacher, you make a subpage called Fifth Grade. You can also make subpages for meeting titles, dates, etc.

Firstly, create a page with a proper description.
Add a New Project to the section and give it a title.
Hover over the page title on the right side of the OneNote screen. A little plus icon will show up.
Click on it to add a new page and give that one a title as well.
Now, if you want it to become a subpage under the main page, click on the tab on the right side.
Dragging them by the names a bit to the right will make them the subpage of the page directly above it.
You can also drag them leftwards to make them the Main Page.

5. Taking Screenshots

You can very quickly take quick screenshots with the help of the Surface Pen and send them quickly to OneNote. But before you do that, you will need to some tweaking in the settings.

Go to the Windows Settings and navigate your way to the Device section.

Click on Pen & Windows Ink from the list on the left side.

The first set of drop-down options managed what happens when you click the button the S Pen once. You can set it to opening the Windows Ink Workspace.
The second drop-down menu controls what happen when you press the button in quick succession. You can set it to Send a screenshot to OneNote.
You are all done and ready quick screenshots and have them available at your OneNote workspace. It helps the trouble of importing the images manually.

While not a very popular among the Best Microsoft OneNote Tips, but If you use a digital pen, this is a must know tip.

6. Adding images to OneNote

There are various ways to which you can add pictures to your OneNote documents. There is Facebook, OneDrive, Flickr and the Bing search engine. You can also add images from your personal hard drive.

Place the cursor where you intend to insert the image.
Click on the Insert Tab and then on the Online Pictures button.

In the default window that pops up, there is the Bing search engine and the OneDrive (If you are signed into it).
You can add images from other sources such as Facebook and Flickr after you have signed into the social media accounts.
To insert an image select the particular picture and hit Insert. Your photo will finally be available in your document.

7. Support on Various Platforms

The software supports various platforms. You can even install it on your mobile phones and edit documents on the go, provided that you have the sync option turned on. Checking this option makes a backup of your data online, from where you can use on any device.

Download OneNote from various App stores: For iOS, Android and Mac.
Install the device and sign in into your OneNote account.
All your saved data is ready for use.

8. Organizing Information

There are numerous options that better help you to manage your OneNote workspace. You can add to-do lists, reminders and even notes for future reference.

Open up the OneNote.
There is a group known as Tags.
It is available near the To-Do button.
Click on a tag and contact information, questions, notes and other tags to your documents, to help you better search and assert them in the future.

This is my favorite of our best Microsoft OneNote Tips. It helps when you have too many notes to manage.

9. Using the Stylus to Draw and Write

The ability to draw and write on your notes is priceless and goes a long way when you sit down to review what info you have at your disposal. A quick draw or scribble speaks a thousand words at the right time and can be invaluable to the user devices with large screen sizes such as the iPad Pro; Galaxy Tab S3 is ideal for such purposes.

To draw, click on the Draw Tab in the OneNote ribbon.
Once clicked the interface changes and you can scribble on your document till your heart’s content.

10. Syncing your Drawings

In a situation where you don’t have a suitable device with a stylus, consider buying one. Do your work on the stylus supported devices and export the tasks to OneDrive or OneNote later on. It is an alternative in a situation where your device which has OneNote installed doesn’t support a stylus.

Do your drawings and scribbles elsewhere.
Export your works into OneDrive, Facebook or even Flickr.
Then open up OneNote and import the drawings into the software from any of the sources mentioned above.

These are some of the best Microsoft OneNote tips and tricks that will help you to master the app. If you know any other best OneNote tips and tricks, do let us know in the comment section below and we will try to feature it.

Ten Best Microsoft OneNote Tips