Using Drawing Tools and Tables

Office OneNote 2007 continues the tradition of supporting ink—enabling you to add handwritten notes directly onto your note pages. But now you can also draw on the page using a full set of drawing tools; you can better control the writing tool or pen mode you want to work with, add tables to your pages, and insert files directly onto your notes pages.

Using the Drawing Tools

Office OneNote 2007 now includes a complete set of Drawing Tools you can display along the bottom edge of the notes window (see Figure 8-7) by choosing Drawing Toolbar in the View menu. The tools on the toolbar give you what you need to add freeform shapes, autoshapes, and diagram connectors to your pages. You can also choose line color and thickness settings, and even duplicate and rotate selected objects on the page.

Working with Writing Tools and Pen Modes

Office OneNote 2007 expands the capability of the writing and drawing features by breaking each out into its own separate function. Now you can use the Pen mode to choose whether you want the pen to be used for writing or drawing, or writing and drawing. The Writing Tools option (in the Tools menu) enables you to choose the style of pen or eraser you want to use to write freehand on your notes pages. You can also use the Type/Selection Tool to switch from Pen mode to Typing mode easily.

Additionally, the new Lasso tool enables you to select, freeform, any object on a page you want to copy, save, or drag to your notes pages. This is great for capturing an ink note you’ve added on another page or document; now you can use the Lasso tool to grab that note and move it to your current notes page.

Adding Tables to Your Notes Pages

Adding tables to your notes pages in Office OneNote 2007 is as simple as choosing Insert Table from the Table menu, entering the number of columns and rows you want to include, and then clicking OK. Using the commands in the Table menu, you can modify the table by adding or deleting rows or columns and displaying or hiding borders (see Figure 8-8).

Using the Calculator to Do Simple Calculations Here’s a great new feature in Office OneNote 2007: quick calculations. How many times in the course of a day do you need to stop and quickly open the Calculator accessory to do some simple math? Maybe you need to figure out the total number of lunches you need to order for an upcoming workshop; or you might need to reserve the larger conference room for the sales meeting next week (but you need a total to be sure). In Office OneNote 2007, you can now simply type your calculation on a note page, and when you type the equal symbol (=) and press the spacebar, Office OneNote 2007 performs the calculation and enters the result automatically for you. This simple feature saves you the time and trouble of stopping what you’re doing, opening another application, entering the calculation, and pasting it back into your notes.