Chapter 21. Creating Notebooks
OneNote is a handy organizing program you can use to help keep track of various pieces of information. OneNote is like a digital three-ring binder; you can use it to store and organize clippings and text notes, as well as visual items such as digital photos and artwork, video clips, and more. You can move notes around and organize them into pages any way you want. You’ll find plenty of uses for OneNote around the home, school, or office. You can also print and share your digital notebooks and store them online in Microsoft’s cloud storage.
Notebooks are composed of pages and sections. You can add as many of each as you need. Sections display as tabs across the top of the page, whereas pages appear as tabs along the right side of the screen. Like all the other Office programs, OneNote displays commands, tools, and features on the Ribbon at the top of the program window. However, to give you plenty of space to work with your notebook pages, the Ribbon may be minimized until you need it. You never need to save your work in OneNote; the program saves things automatically for you as you go along.
Creating a New Notebook
Items you collect and store digitally with OneNote are placed into notebooks. Like a regular paper notebook, your digital notebooks are built page by page. When you create a notebook, OneNote starts with a single, blank page. You can start adding notes anywhere on the page.
Click the File tab.
Click New.
Specify a location for the file, such as on your computer or cloud storage.
Type a name for the notebook.
Click Create Notebook.
OneNote creates the notebook and displays an untitled page. Click anywhere on the page, and begin typing to start adding notes.
Tip: No Saving Required
OneNote saves your notebooks and the work you do in them automatically, so there’s no need to activate a Save command. Notebooks are saved to the place you designated when you first created the notebook. 
Tip: Switch Between Notebooks
You can click the notebook name’s drop-down arrow at the top of the page to display a menu of your notebooks. Click the one you want to work with and OneNote switches to it.
Adding a Page Title
You can add titles to your notebook pages to help you keep your information organized and easy to identify. Titles appear at the top of the page and in the page tab area to the right.
Click in the title area of the page.
Type a title and press Enter.
OneNote adds the page title to the page tab.
Tip: Edit Titles
You can edit a page title at any time by clicking the title at the top of the page and typing something else.
Creating a Section
You can add sections to a notebook to create logical groups of pages. Sections are much like the color tabs in a binder notebook and appear as tabs at the top of the page. You can add as many sections as you need to your digital notebook. To view a section, click the section tab.
Click the Create a New Section icon (plus sign).
OneNote adds a new section with a blank page.
Type a new name and press Enter.
OneNote applies the new name.
Tip: Color Section Tabs
You can assign different colors to your section tabs by right-clicking the section name tab, choosing Section Color, and then choosing a new color to assign.
Tip: Delete It!
To remove a section you no longer want, right-click the section tab and choose Delete. OneNote prompts you to verify the deletion; click Yes.
Moving a Section
You can easily move sections within your notebook. For example, you might want to move a section to the front of the notebook or move another to the back.
Click the section tab you want to move.
Drag it to a new location and drop it into place; an indicator marker appears as you drag the section tab.
OneNote rearranges the existing tabs to fit the change in order.
Tip: Merge Sections
You can merge sections, if needed, to create one large section. Right-click the section tab you want to merge and click Merge into Another Section. This opens the Merge Section dialog box. Select the section you want to merge into and click Merge.
Adding Notes
You can add all kinds of notes to a page in a notebook simply by typing on the page. Although typing in notes is similar to typing text in Microsoft Word, notes are contained in their own boxes, which you can move around the page, resize, and format. Although boxed, no actual borders appear around the note text.
Click the page where you want to insert a note.
Type your note text. The note box expands as you type.
To move a note, click and drag the top of the note, and drop it where you want it to go.
Tip: Format Text
You can format your note text using the formatting commands on the Ribbon’s Home tab or using the mini toolbar that appears when you select text. OneNote’s basic formatting tools include fonts, sizes, font colors, and alignment settings, just to name a few.
Tip: Add Other Elements
You can also add other elements to your notebook, including artwork, video clips, sound files, and more. See Chapter 22, “Enhancing and Managing Notebooks,” to learn more about including several of these elements in your notebooks.
Display the page you want to precede the new page.
Click the Add Page icon.
OneNote adds a new page.
Tip: Delete Pages
To remove a page, right-click the page tab and click Delete.
Tip: Rearrange Pages
You drag and drop page tabs on the right side of the OneNote window to rearrange the order of pages in a section.
Creating Subpages
You can make a page subordinate to another page, which is handy when you want to group similar subjects together yet keep them on separate pages.
Display the page you want to turn into a subpage.
Right-click the page tab and click Make Subpage.
OneNote turns the page into a subpage subordinate to the page above it.
Tip: Promote a Page
Just as you can make a page subordinate to another, you can also promote a subordinate page. Right-click the page tab and choose Promote Subpage.
Adding a Picture
You can add pictures from your computer, the Web, a scanner, or a digital camera. In this task, you see how to add a picture stored on your computer. After you insert a picture, you can move it and resize it.
Click the Insert tab.
Click Pictures.
The Insert Picture dialog box opens; navigate to and select the picture you want to insert.
Click Insert.
The picture is added to the notebook page.
Tip: Delete Pictures
To remove a picture, right-click the image and press the Delete key.
Tip: Resize Pictures
You can resize a picture by dragging any of its handles—the tiny squares that surround a selected picture.
Applying Tags
You can use tags to help you remember important things or mark important notes in your notebooks. You can find a list of preset tags on the Ribbon’s Home tab.
Click the note you want to tag.
Click the Home tab.
Click the More button on the Tags gallery.
Click a tag.
OneNote applies the tag to the note.
Tip: Create Custom Tags
You can create your own custom tags. Display the tags list on the Home tab, and click Customize Tags. This opens the Customize Tags dialog box where you can add a new tag or modify an existing tag.
Inserting Links
You can add links in your notes to other notebooks, pages, or websites. If you know a web address, you can type it or use your default browser program to navigate to a page.
Right-click the text or picture you want to turn into a link.
Click Link.
The Link dialog box opens; type the URL for the page you want to link to, or use the Browse the Web button to navigate to the page and copy the URL.
Click OK.
OneNote creates the link.
Tip: Alternative Method
You can also use the Link button on the Ribbon’s Insert tab to open the Link dialog box.
Applying a Template
OneNote includes a variety of templates you can use to create all kinds of notebook pages. For example, you can apply templates for business meeting notes, lecture notes for classroom situations, to-do lists, and more.
Click the Insert tab.
Click Page Templates.
The Templates pane appears; click a template category.
Click a template.
OneNote applies the template to a new page.
Click to close the Templates pane.
Tip: Get Other Templates
You can click the Templates on Office.com link in the Templates pane to look for more OneNote templates online.
Change Notebook Views
You can switch between Normal view (the default) and Full Page view, which enables you to view more of your notebook page onscreen.
Click the View tab.
Click Full Page View.
OneNote displays the full page.
Click Normal View to return to the default view.
Tip: Dock OneNote
You can use the Dock to Desktop view to dock the notebook on the right side of your Windows desktop screen, which enables you to move items into your notebook or work with the notes while performing other computer tasks.