Collecting on-screen information in a OneNote notebook falls under the "easiest thing since sliced bread" classification. You can send content from any screen to OneNote as a screen clipping, or send an entire Web page as a Web note. When viewing a Web page, you can send the entire page to your notebook without leaving Windows Internet Explorer.
When you clip or send content to OneNote, OneNote stores it temporarily in the Unfiled Notes section. Unfiled Notes is not part of any notebook; it is a separate file stored in your DocumentsOneNote Notebooks folder. Screen clippings and Web notes remain in the Unfiled Notes section until you move them elsewhere. When it is convenient to display the OneNote program window, you can move either the screen clipping's note container or the entire page to any notebook.
Note
See Also For more information about moving notebook content, see Moving and Removing Information in Chapter 16, Chapter 16.
The screen clipping feature first became available as an add-in to OneNote 2003 and is fully incorporated into OneNote 2007. You can use the OneNote Screen Clipper to capture an image of anything that is visible on your computer screen. After you display the content you want to send to OneNote, you can start the Screen Clipper in several ways, including the following:
When the Screen Clipper is active, a transparent white overlay appears on the screen, and instructions in a notification explain how to capture the screen clipping. Drag with your mouse or pen to define the area you want to "clip." (As you drag, the white overlay becomes clear in the area you define.) When you release the mouse button or lift the pen, the clipping appears on a new, untitled page of the Unfiled Notes section, along with the date and time you created the clipping. If you clipped content from a Web page, the Web page name and URL are also stored in the note container, and the notebook page title is set to the Web page name.
You can specify what you want OneNote to do with screen clippings, by setting the default action. The options are:
Copy To Clipboard Only. OneNote copies the screen clipping to the Clipboard. You can paste it into OneNote or another application by pressing Ctrl+V or by using the Paste command in the application.
Copy To Clipboard And Unfiled Notes (Show Image). This is the default setting. OneNote copies the screen clipping to the Clipboard, pastes it into your Unfiled Notes section, and displays the OneNote window so that you can verify that the content was clipped, add notes to it, or move it to another section.
Copy To Clipboard And Unfiled Notes (Don't Show Image). This setting allows you to continue working uninterrupted. OneNote copies the screen clipping to the Clipboard and pastes it into your Unfiled Notes section, but does not display the OneNote window.
To change the default action, right-click the OneNote icon in the notification area of the taskbar, point to Options, point to Screen Clipping Defaults, and then click the setting you want.
From Internet Explorer, you can send an entire Web page to OneNote. To capture a Web note:
Display the Web page you want to send to OneNote.
On the Tools menu, click Send to OneNote.
OneNote processes the Web note in the background while you continue working in Internet Explorer, and stores the Web note in the Unfiled Notes section. As was the case with the screen clipping taken from a Web site, the Web page title appears as the note page title. The Web page content—including text, images, hyperlinks, and similar content—appears on the note page. Depending on the complexity of the content, you might notice that the page layout in OneNote doesn't precisely reflect the on-screen layout. If the page formatting depends on styles stored in an external style sheet, the fonts, sizes, and other elements controlled by the style sheet will not be displayed as intended.
You can specify where you want OneNote to save the information you send to OneNote from Internet Explorer or through the Send To Microsoft OneNote print driver. Use one of the options on the following page.
New Page In Section. This is the default setting. OneNote creates a new page for each note in the Unfiled Notes section or another section that you specify.
New Page In The Current Section. OneNote creates a page in whatever section is currently active.
On The Current Page. OneNote adds the Web page content to the active page.
To change the default location, click Options on the Tools menu, display the Send To OneNote page, select the Web note and printout locations you want, and then click OK.
In this exercise, you will create a screen clipping, a Web page screen clipping, and a Web note. Then you will delete all the captured notes. There is no practice file for this exercise.
Note
BE SURE TO close or minimize any open windows. Then start OneNote and close any open notebooks before beginning this exercise.
At the bottom of the Navigation Bar, click the Unfiled Notes button.OneNote displays either the empty section or an untitled page; or, if you already have unfiled notes, the most recently viewed or collected page.
On the OneNote title bar, click the Minimize button to display your Windows desktop.A Windows taskbar button represents the minimized program window.
In the notification area at the right end of the taskbar, right-click the OneNote icon, and then click Create Screen Clipping.Note
See Also The ScreenTip that appears for this notification area icon changes depending on the default action associated with it. For more information about the functionality of this notification area icon, see Quickly Capturing Notes later in this chapter.
A translucent white screen covers the desktop.
Drag to select an area of your desktop (preferably an area displaying something interesting).
As you drag, the screen covering the selected area becomes clear, so you can see the content you are selecting. When you release the mouse button, a second OneNote window opens, displaying the Unfiled Notes section and a new page containing your screen clipping. (The second taskbar button indicates that this is a second window.) The note container might be active or inactive, depending on the position of your pointer.
Note
Troubleshooting If the OneNote window doesn't open, your default Screen Clipping action might be set to only copy the image to the Clipboard or to not display the image. For more information, see the Collecting Screen Clippings section of this topic.
The OneNote title bar and associated taskbar button, the page tab, and the screen clipping note container all identify the date and time the screen clipping was taken.
Click to place the insertion point under the collected screen clipping.
Start Internet Explorer, and display a Web site of your choice.
For the purposes of this exercise, we are using our company Web site at www.otsi.com.
Press
(hold down the 
key and then press the 
key).Note
Troubleshooting If your keyboard does not have a Windows logo key, switch to the OneNote screen clipping window. Then on the Insert menu, click Screen Clipping.
A translucent white screen covers the displayed Web page. Any active animation on the page is frozen.
Drag to select an area of the Web page.
When you release the mouse button, OneNote adds the screen clipping to the Unfiled Notes section, where you placed the insertion point. Notice that the program window title bar still reflects the date and time of the original screen clipping.
On the title bar of the active OneNote window, click the Close button.Click the taskbar button of the original OneNote program window.
Notice that the screen clipping page is immediately visible in this window.
Right-click the taskbar button of the active OneNote window, and then click Close, leaving only the Internet Explorer window open.
On the Tools menu, click Send to OneNote.
A window displaying a progress bar appears briefly in the lower-right corner of the screen, and a corresponding taskbar button appears on the taskbar.
When the progress bar reaches the end, the Web note has been successfully stored on a new page in the Unfiled Notes section.
If necessary, switch to OneNote to view the collected Web page.
The previous screen clipping page tab is also visible.
Note
Troubleshooting If the Web note is inserted on the same page as the screen clippings, or in a section other than Unfiled Notes, your Web Notes collection location might be set to something other than the default. For more information, see the Collecting Web Notes section immediately preceding this exercise.
Compare the captured Web note to the original page content. At the bottom of the page, note the Inserted From link back to the original page.
In the Page Tabs area, click the active page tab, and press
to select all the pages in the Unfiled Notes section. Then press 
to remove them from OneNote.
