If you use OneNote as it is meant to be used, you will eventually find yourself with a large collection of information. Organizing the information by using the tools and techniques discussed in this chapter makes it easier to know where to look to retrieve stored information. However, if you know specific details about the information you're looking for, you can quickly locate it by using one of the available search and filter functions.
In the previous topic, we discussed locating tagged notes from the Tags Summary task pane. You can use the following tools to locate content that isn't tagged:
The Search box is where you type text you know is contained in the note you are looking for. Click the Search button to generate a results list.
The Search menu at the right end of the Search box enables you to search for written or spoken text in content within the active section, a group of sections, the active notebooks, or all notebooks. OneNote will locate the search text in handwritten, typed, or scanned content, or in an audio or video file.
The Page List task pane displays a list of notebook pages containing the search results. These results are ordered by the date on which you last changed any information on the page, by section, or by page title. You can limit the results to pages in a specific location (active section, active section group, active notebook) or search all notebooks.
When you are looking for information you have stored in your notebook, you can search not only the text of the notes, but also the text of images. For example, if you store scanned business card images in OneNote, a search for a name, company name, address, or other information on the business card will locate the scanned image. OneNote 2007 supports image text search in English, French, and Spanish. You can change the search text language of an individual image by right-clicking the image, pointing to Make Text In Image Searchable, and then clicking the text search language. You can also disable text search for a specific language from this menu.
Here's a fun experiment to try:
Using your digital camera or mobile phone, take a photo of a business card (or other printed item).
Transfer the photo to your computer, by copying it or sending it in an e-mail message.
Insert the photo into OneNote.
Enter text displayed in the photo into the Search box, and then click the Search button.
OneNote 2007 includes an Audio Search feature that you can use to search for spoken text in good-quality audio and video recordings. Audio Search is not available by default; you must specifically enable it.
To enable Audio Search:
On the Tools menu, click Options.
In the Options window, display the Audio and Video page.
Under Audio Search, select the Enable searching audio and video recordings for words check box.
The Did You Know About Audio Search window opens.
Click the Enable Audio Search button, and then in the Options window, click OK.
OneNote indexes the audio and video recordings while you're not using your computer; the indexing process is somewhat slow, so you won't be able to search for spoken words immediately.
Note
See Also For more information about searching for content in spoken text, see the Audio Search page in the More Cool Features section of the OneNote 2007 Guide notebook.
Tip
Microsoft recommends a 2 gigahertz (GHz) or higher processor and 1 gigabyte (GB) or higher of RAM for the OneNote Audio Search feature.
The OneNote 2007 Guide notebook that comes with OneNote 2007 includes many different types of content that you can search. To practice, open the OneNote 2007 Guide notebook, display the page titled "6. Search your notes" in the Getting Started With OneNote section, and follow the Try It Now steps.
