How to use OneNote effectively for project management

Use OneNote for unlimited organizational possibilities

OneNote makes it easy for you to stay organized: name your sections by categories such as Status Reports, Contacts, and Project Notes, to name just a few categories you might need when managing complex projects.

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The versatility of a OneNote notebook means that you can create new tabs for sections and add as many pages as you want. No matter how long your meetings run, you’ll have enough space for everything you need.

OneNote becomes a repository for any supplemental materials you might need for your project. No matter what content you’re pulling from, you can insert photos, links, screen snippets, and message recordings into your pages.

Taking meeting minutes is easier than ever

OneNote is available for desktops and mobile devices alike, but its handwriting features truly shine on a tablet such as a Surface. With the Surface Slim Pen 2 that’s built into Surface devices, hand-write notes directly onto the touchscreen and digitize them. And as you take down meeting notes, keep up with whoever’s talking and write across a nearly infinite number of digital pages. If you use AI meeting transcription or summaries, easily save them for later in OneNote, too.

Create checklists to keep track of your project’s progress

The Tags section in the Home menu is one of the most useful parts of OneNote. Use this to create action items, assign tasks to collaborators, or bring up points to be answered.

Collaborate across Microsoft 365 apps

As part of the Microsoft 365 suite, OneNote is capable of syncing with apps such as Teams and Outlook. If you’re adding the agenda of an upcoming Teams meeting, you can embed past or upcoming meeting details from Outlook into your OneNote page. In the Home menu, select Meeting Details on the right side of the menu. Upcoming meetings linked to your Microsoft 365 account will appear in a dropdown menu. Select a meeting and its information will be inserted into your OneNote page: meeting dates, participants, and a Teams link will populate the page.

You can easily email your OneNote page from the Home menu via the Email Page button. Here, a preformatted email template will appear that will cover everything from meeting information to action items that you’ll cover during said meeting.

Whether you’re passing along agenda notes, invitations to future meetings, or project resources, sending OneNote pages to colleagues via Outlook or Microsoft Cloud is a cinch. The Email Page button is the easiest, but you can export OneNote notebooks as well.

Use free OneNote project management templates

Don’t spend time formatting your notes. OneNote comes with dozens of great project management templates designed specifically for various functions, including task management and meeting agendas. Under the Insert menu, select Page Templates and a panel will open on the right showing templates based on category. Business templates feature designs for meeting notes—all ranging from the simplest brainstorming sessions to formal conference-style meetings, as well as Project Overview templates to oversee all aspects of your project. And if these don’t suit your needs, customize OneNote templates to use and reuse.

OneNote is a powerful tool whose uses extend to all aspects of your business needs. For more tips on how to stay organized, both at work and in your personal life, visit the Microsoft 365 Life Hacks hub. To start using OneNote templates and tools for project management, try Microsoft 365 for free.