Get More from the Notes You Take Everyday and Everywhere

Never lose any note again. When you take a note using OneNote—whether it's typed, handwritten, an audio or video recording, or even screen clipping from another program—it's saved automatically. And, every type of note you need to take can be saved together by project, date, or however you prefer to organize. Learn about how the OneNote notebook is organized.

Tip:  Screen clippings are images of any part of any other application window you have open when you're working in OneNote. You can use a simple mouse click to add an image into OneNote from a Web page, an Excel worksheet, a Microsoft Office Word document, or other sources. Find out how to add screen clippings to your notes.

Find any note in no time at all. When you need to search for a note—such as references to a client project or to recall a meeting date—the Find feature in OneNote will search all of your typed and handwritten notes at once. It will give you a list of found items that you can scroll through, or view in a task pane and sort instantly by notebook section name, page title, or date. Learn how to find notes in OneNote and get tips for customizing your search.

Create Microsoft Office Outlook items or start a Word document directly from your notes. You can select notes in OneNote and use them to create Outlook appointments, tasks and contacts—or send a page of notes to Word in just two clicks. You can even import notes or voice recordings from your Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC or SmartPhone.

Create customized reminders to suit any task list. Using the Note Flags feature in OneNote, you can simply click to flag a note for whatever type of follow-up it requires. Use the pre-created note flag types as they are, customize them, or even create your own. Then, when you need to see all of your to-do items at a glance, on the View menu select Note Flags Summary. That's all there is to it. The Note Flags Summary task pane will open, showing you all flagged notes from your entire notebook at once, or any section you choose. Learn about using, customizing, and reviewing note flags.

Share your notes in just three clicks. To share OneNote notes with colleagues, you can simply e-mail a page from your notebook using Microsoft Outlook 2003. To do this from OneNote, on the File menu click Send To, and then click Mail Recipient. Outlook puts the text of the page right into the body of the email, for access by recipients who do not use OneNote. And, the page will also be sent as an attachment for access by recipients who do use OneNote.

You can also save an individual page from your OneNote notebook as a Web page, a OneNote section, or a Word document. To do this, on the File menu click Publish Pages. In the Publish dialog box, select your desired file type from the Save as type dropdown list and then click Publish.

The Publish dialog box in OneNote

Rearrange your notes at will. You can move or copy pages of your notebook from one section to another, create new sections, or even create folders to make your own virtual filing cabinet. To accomplish these tasks, just open the Move Or Copy Pages dialog box. To do this, on the Edit menu click Move Pages To, and then click Another Section. You can also insert new pages, sections, or folders with a single click from the Insert menu.

Save audio and video notes right in your notebook. If your computer has sound, you can record audio notes with just two clicks and they're automatically saved on your active OneNote page. Or, connect a video camera to your computer and record video to save with your notes just as easily. Learn about using audio and video with OneNote.

Make your notebook whatever you want it to be. Just as you can create templates for your Word documents, you can create stationary for your OneNote notebook. OneNote comes with dozens of stationary options for many types of notes, in a variety of paper sizes. You can use pre-created stationary for meeting planning, project organization, or even just to add your own personal style—or customize and create your own stationary for any project. You can also download your choice from a wide variety of free stationary available on Office Online. Get more information about OneNote stationary.

Share notes and brainstorm with colleagues, and leave the whiteboard in the closet. The Shared Session feature in OneNote is one of my favorite technology tools. With little more effort than sending an e-mail, you can create a shared session that enables you and whoever you choose to edit the very same OneNote page at the same time—each from your own computer. Watch what your colleague writes, as they write it, on your own screen—and add your own notations right along with them. Learn more about shared sessions.