In addition to being a great place to store all of your notes and other content, OneNote also serves as a calculator. For example, say you're taking some notes and you suddenly have to do some quick arithmetic. You can either try to uncover those dusty memories of how to do fundamental mathematics in the far-reaching, (and in my case, dark), corners of your brain…or, just let OneNote's Napkin Math feature figure out the result for you.

Here's how it works. Just type the equation anywhere on OneNote's page surface, followed by an equals sign "=" and as soon as you press the <Spacebar> or <Enter>, OneNote performs the calculation.  For example, let's say you want to calculate the average monthly sales of bolts that sell 70 thousand per year: just type "70,000 / 12 =". Once you press the <Spacebar> OneNote does the following: "70,000 / 12 = 5,833.3333".

Or perhaps your in a meeting discussing the purchase of 18 new company vehicles for your sales force at $29,000 a car.  Just enter "18 * $29,000 =". OneNote resolves to "18 * $29,000 = $522,000.00". Notice the automatic inclusion of the decimal point (.) in the result. That's because of the dollar sign ($).

If you want to figure out the monthly payment of a loan you're about to take out just use pmt(i; n; b), where i = interest rate, n = number of payments and b = the amount borrowed. So if you type the following equation: "pmt(.019; 36; $50,000) =" you'll get: "pmt(.019; 36; $50,000) = $1,930.28".

Maybe you just want to impress your fellow classmates by showing them how quickly you can work out the answers to those complicated calculations.  Tip: Just don't let them see your fingers typing away on the keyboard.

Whatever the reason, you're sure to benefit from OneNote's built-in calculator.

Here are some more examples of expressions that can be calculated in OneNote:

• You type: "sin(30) =". OneNote resolves to: "sin(30) = 0.5"
• You type: "(6 + 7) / (4 * sqrt(3)) =". OneNote resolves to: "(6 + 7) / (4 * sqrt(3)) =1.876388374866284"
• You type: "5 ^ 4 =". OneNote resolves to: "5 ^ 4 = 625"

See below for a list of supported operators and math/trig functions.

Tips:

• Use the percent sign (%) to make calculating percentages easier
  • Type: "35 * 20 % =", you get: "35 * 20 % = 7"

• Lower case x, upper case X and asterisk (*) are all valid multiplication operators
  • "2 x 3 X 5 *9 =" resolves to: "2 x 3 X 5 *9 = 270"

• You can use pi and phi as constants
  • "1 * pi=" resolves to: "1 * pi = 3.141592653589793"
  • "1 * phi=" resolves to: "1 * phi = 1.618033988749895"

• Factorial numbers are computed like so:
  • "5 ! =" resolves to: "5 ! = 120"

• Use 'mod' to calculate remainders
  • "38 mod 12 =" resolves to: "38 mod 12 = 2"

• To disable napkin math in OneNote, click Tools -> Options -> remove the checkmark from Calculate mathematical expressions automatically.
• Be sure the symbols you use in your equation are valid symbols. For example, try typing "#38 mod 12 =". You would probably expect a result of 2. However, because the hash mark "#" invalidates the number 38, OneNote is really solving the equation "12 =", for which the result is 12.
• Finally, here's a note from John Guin's blog on napkin math:

And here is the final part that surprised me the most. The Greek letters for pi and phi are supported as constants in both lower case and capital forms. Try it out:

π= should give 3.141592653589793

Π=should give 3.141592653589793

φ=should give 1.618033988749895

Φ=should give 1.618033988749895

(Use character map to insert the symbols if you want).

List of supported operators:

List of math and trigonometry functions:

A friend of mine recently got a new Tablet PC and decided to show off some of it's cool features. He also knows that I work for the OneNote team and so he decided he was going to impress me with his knowledge of OneNote. He told me he loves the idea that he can use OneNote like a to do list. So he pulled out his stylus and began drawing a small box of ink on his page, then he proceeded to write a note next to the box. He said "look, once I finish this item, I just check off this box" as he drew a checkmark inside the box he had just made.

I found myself intrigued that he had not yet discovered the note tag feature, given that it is one of the most prominent features in OneNote. So I said, "yeah that's cool...but wouldn't it be great if there was a way you could search your notebook and find all the little checkboxes that have not been checked off yet?" His eyes got big and the wheels started spinning as he began thinking of all the different possibilities he could use that for.

Note Tags:

Note Tags are interactive checkboxes that can be applied to your notes in OneNote. They can be applied to text, ink, pictures, drawings and much, much more. What's more, you can search your notebook for any and all checkboxes and filter your search based on the checked status, type of tag, date applied, etc.

You can apply a note tag by pressing <Ctrl + 1>. This places a checkbox on your page. Then you just begin typing or writing your note. If you want to add another checkbox, move to a new location on the page and press <Ctrl + 1> again, then take your next note. Once you've accomplished your task, you just click on the checkbox and it marks it as complete.

Tips:

1. Use the <Ctrl> key in conjunction with the numbers 1…9 to access additional predefined tags.
2. There are also many other available tags in OneNote:

   

3. If you don't find a tag that suites your needs, create your own
   • Click View -> Customize My Tags -> New Tag, then give it a name and choose from any of the available formatting options.

Now, let's say you have multiple projects going on at the same time. So you may have multiple notebooks or sections you use to take notes and track your work. You might be using note tags across many of those notebooks and sections. So, now you want to roll up all the unchecked tags into one easy to see view so you can determine what you have left to accomplish. To view a list of all your tags click View -> All Tagged Notes. Tips: 1. To display only the unchecked items, place a checkmark in the 'Show only unchecked items' checkbox'.
2. To broaden or limit your search scope click the Search dropdown menu then select the desired scope.
3. To sort the list, click the Group tags by dropdown menu. 4. If you need more context to understand what that note was about, just click on the note in the summary pane and you will be navigated to the page where you originally took the note.

5. You can also create a new summary page of all the tagged notes found in the summary. Click the Create Summary Page button. With the new page you can print out a copy of your to do list and take it on the run with you.

Note: It's important to understand that when you create a summary page, all the tags that are currently in the Tags Summary pane are duplicated onto the new page.  This means you will have exact copies of these tags and once you refresh the results of the pane, you could potentially be seeing double, (depending on the search scope you have selected).

So, what's actually happening here?  Well, tags have several properties associated with them, one of which is 'archived'.  When a summary page is generated, all the original tags become archived, while the new duplicates are active.  Now, generally, this doesn't really mean anything, other than the behavior described above.  However, OneNote has some tag settings that allow you to utilize this little known feature.

You can cause the original, (or archived), tags to appear dimmed once the summary page is created, giving the appearance of a disabled tag, (even though the tag is still enabled).  To do this, click Tools -> Options -> Tags -> mark Show original tagged notes as dimmed.  By the very nature of the note tags being dimmed, they will be excluded from the search results in the summary pane.  But suppose you don't want them to be excluded.  Easy.  Just place a checkmark in the Show dimmed tagged notes in the Tags Summary pane of the Tools -> Options -> Tags settings.

Sometimes you won't have time to think about where to put a particular note. For example, suppose you're in a meeting where you're discussing the week's activities with your colleagues. Suddenly, you have a thought about your stock portfolio, something completely unrelated to the meeting. Rather than disrupt the flow of the meeting to run OneNote, find the section containing your portfolio information and type a note to yourself, you can create a quick reminder note in your Unfiled Notes where you can follow up with it later. It's easy and there's only one step to remember, <Windows key + N>.

Unfiled Notes is a special area in OneNote where you can just throw a bunch of your stuff and then deal with it later. To create a new unfiled note, press the <Windows key + N>.

You'll see a new smaller OneNote window appear in the form of a sticky note, where you can jot down your thought and then close the window so you don't have to think about it any more.

Then, After the meeting, when you have more time to organize your notes, you can click on the Unfiled Notes button in OneNote, found at the bottom-left of the NavBar.

Here, you'll see the note you took, but in the more familiar looking OneNote window, with the section tabs and page tabs. You can move the page with the note on it to whatever section/notebook you prefer.

This can be done in one of 3 ways:

1. drag the page to the desired section.
2. Cut/copy/paste the page to any section you desire.
3. Right-click on the page -> select Move Page To -> then select the desire section.

Tips:

• You can customize the location of your unfiled notes. Just click Tools -> Options -> Save -> select Unfiled Notes -> Modify -> select the folder you would like to use -> OK.
• You can also create a new unfiled note using any of these options:
  1. Click the Side Note icon in the Windows System Tray

     

  2. In OneNote, click Window -> New Side Note Window
  3. In OneNote, press <Ctrl + Shift + M>

• Side note default options can be changed by simply right-clicking on the Side Note icon in the Windows System Tray -> selecting Options -> and then clicking on OneNote Icon Defaults.

  • Open New Side Note: Sets Side Note as the default mode when left-clicking on the icon.
  • Open OneNote: Sets OneNote as the default mode when left-clicking on the icon.
  • Start Recording Audio: Begins recording audio when Side Note is started.
  • Screen Clipping: Starts Side Note in Screen Clipping mode.

• If you don't see the Side Note icon in the Windows System Tray, open OneNote and click Tools -> Options -> Other -> add a checkmark to Place OneNote icon in the notification area of the taskbar.
• You can customize Side Note to do any of the following startup options by default (these will only be the default when the Side Note icon in the Windows System Tray is clicked):
  1. Open OneNote (instead of Side Note).
  2. Begin recording audio when Side Note is opened.
  3. Automatically set Side Note in Screen Clipping when it's opened.

Page tabs are the labels that appear along the right edge of the page. They belong inside of sections. As you switch from section to section, you'll see all the page tabs pertaining to that section change to display the ones associated with the current section. This is where your notes and other content lives.

You can add a new page by clicking the New Page button that appears above the page tabs. If you prefer to use the keyboard, you can press <Ctrl + N> to create a new page. Subpages, (also known as grouped pages), are the page tabs that appear slightly indented, such as "Passwords" in this picture. This provides a way to further organize your pages.

The slight indentation indicates that they belong to a group of pages with the main page as its 'parent page'.

You can put any notes or content onto a subpage just like you can on a main page. To create a new subpage beneath the current one, simply click the small arrow next to the New Page button -> and select New Subpage.  You can also right-click any page and select New Subpage to create a new one immediately beneath it.  Or for you keyboard lovers out there, you can press <Ctrl + Shift + N>.  

One of the most compelling things about a page in OneNote is the versatility in which it can store your stuff. You can put just about every kind of content you can imagine on the page surface. It can handle, text, ink, drawings, pictures, audio, video, tables, documents and files of every kind. What's more, you don't have to do anything special for OneNote to handle any of these things. It just knows how to deal with them.

Content added to a page appears inside a container, known as an outline. The outline contains a handle along the top to show that you can grab it and move it around.

Each note inside the outline is known as an element.  Each element has a small grab handle that appears to the side to show that it can be repositioned inside the outline. You can also use the grab handle to drag content outside the outline if you desire.

The outline border and the element grab handle only appear if your mouse is hovering over them. To some people this is a nuisance, because these things are constantly flashing as your mouse moves across the page. If you want to reduce the amount the visual 'noise' on the page, you can hide the outline borders. To do this, click Tools -> Options -> Display -> remove the checkmark from 'Show note containers on pages'.

Tips:

• For left-handed users, the page tabs and scroll bar can be displayed along the left side instead of the right, click Tools -> Options -> Display -> place a checkmark in 'Page tabs appear on the left' and 'Vertical scroll bar appears on the left'.  This makes it easier to navigate your pages when using a pen.
• When a new page is created, the page tab's name appears as "Untitled Page". However, after you add a title to your page, the page tab adopts it as its new name. Even if you don't explicitly give it a title, the page tab name will adopt the first few words of any text or ink that it sees on the page.
• You can change a series of existing main pages into grouped pages by first selecting the range of pages, (this is done by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on each additional page) -> then right-click the selection -> choose Group Pages. This causes the first page in the selected range to become the main page and all subsequent pages in the selected range to become subpages.
• You can also change all subpages within a group to be main pages by right-clicking the page group -> and selecting Ungroup Pages.
• You can adjust the properties of a page by right-clicking the page tab -> and pressing Page Setup. This is where you can specify the paper size, margins, rule lines, and more. You can even set your page surface to be a certain color.
• Pages come with a page title at the top. This is a special container that floats above the page surface and is reserved for text and ink only. All other content will be stored on the page surface. Immediately beneath the page title you will see the creation date and time. You can easily change the date and time by clicking on them. Once you do so a small control will appear to the side, click on it to select the desired date or time.
• You can also turn off the page title. To do so, right-click the page tab -> select Page Setup -> remove the checkmark from the 'Show page title' checkbox. Note, however, that doing so will permanently remove the page title and any content that appears in it. If you decide later to turn the title back on, just follow the same steps.
• If you are using a Tablet PC, you may have noticed that every time you create a new page it displays rule lines. To most people this serves as a guide to writing in a straight line. In addition, it gives you the experience of writing on a real paper notebook. Some people would prefer not to have rule lines on every new page. To disable this feature click Tools -> Options -> Display -> remove the checkmark from 'Create all new pages with rule lines'.

Sections appear along the top of the page and look similar in shape to the tabs you find on the yellow manila folders:

Sections belong inside of notebooks. So when you switch to another notebook, you'll see the section tabs associated with that notebook change to display all the sections contained within it. Some people like to name their section tabs by topic, such as what the example picture shows above. In this example, each tab contains notes about a given subject in school.

Some people like to name their section after a customer's name or a client. Then they store notes relating to that customer in the section. They can add new notes about the customer during meetings, or perhaps refer to notes they've previously taken about them.

Some might name their section after the name of a particular task they have at work. Or they might name it after a weekly meeting. Others like to name them after a topic or a particular subject. There are no right or wrong section names, just use names that appeal to you and help you to more easily organize your stuff. Since a section represents a single file at the Windows level, there are certain characters that cannot be used in the section name. These include all of the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > |

Sections can also be stored inside of Section Groups. Section groups give you an extra layer of organization. Like sections, they are contained in notebooks and appear along the top of the page, next to the section tabs.

To create a section group, click File -> New (or right-click the empty area immediately to the right of the section tabs) -> Section Group. You can also use the New button dropdown on the Standard toolbar.

Tips:

• If you find yourself wishing you would have named your notebooks or sections with a different name, don't worry, it's easy to rename them. Just right-click on the notebook or section tab -> and select Rename.
• The section tab and notebook colors are determined randomly by an internal algorithm. If you don't like the color OneNote has chosen for your section, you can change it by simply right-clicking the section tab -> choosing Section Color -> and then selecting one of the available color options.
  • Similarly with notebooks, you right-click the notebook -> select Properties and select one of the available colors under the Color dropdown.

• Unlike notebooks, you can't simply close a section, unless your section is currently opened from outside the current notebook. If you want to get rid of a section, you can either move it into another notebook, or you can delete it.
  • To move a section into a different notebook, click and drag the section over the NavBar and hover the mouse over the notebook. After about a second, a flyout will appear revealing all the sections in that notebook. Simply drop the section wherever you like amongst the existing sections in that notebook.
    • You can also right-click the section tab ->select Move -> select the notebook in which you would like to move the section into -> and then click Move Into.
  • To delete a section, right-click the section tab -> then choose Delete. The section is automatically sent to the Windows Recycle Bin.

• Did you know that you can easily password protect a section in OneNote? It's easy to do. Just click File (or right-click the section tab) -> Password Protect this Section -> after the Password Protection task pane appears, click Set Password -> enter the desired password and you're done. After a password protected section becomes inactive for 10 minutes or more, it'll be locked automatically. If you prefer to lock the section manually, on your own schedule, just click Lock on the Password Protection task pane.
  • You can also adjust the number of minutes of inactivity before OneNote will automatically lock the section. This is done by clicking Tools -> Options -> Passwords -> then select the desired time.
  • You can also force OneNote to automatically lock the section each time you navigate away from the section in the same Tools -> Options dialog.

So, let's go over some of the basic storage details. Let's start with notebooks. They appear along the left edge of your page, in what's called the 'Navigation Bar' (or NavBar for short), as pictured below.

The NavBar can be expanded to see the sections contained within the notebooks. Some people like to keep the NavBar open all the time, however that reduces the amount of real estate you have available to you on your page, so it's really up to you to decide how you like to work with the NavBar.

Note that in Windows Explorer: Notebooks are regular folders Sections are regular files

A notebook can be local, (meaning it's stored on your own personal computer and available only to you), or it can be shared, (meaning that other people can open the same notebook and add/contribute content at the same time that you are). One of the most compelling uses of notebooks is the ability to share them with others. Here on the OneNote team, for example, we use a shared notebook to discuss our priorities in our weekly team meeting. We all sit around a table in a conference room and, during our meeting, go over items that need to be discussed. At any time any member of the team can add some notes to the notebook and within a few seconds we all see those notes appear on our own screens.

I use this same feature to sync my notes on my laptop to my notes on my home computer. I can add notes to my notebook on my laptop and when I get home they automatically sync up with my notebook at home. I don’t have to do anything special, it just works. Likewise, if I add notes on my notebook at home, boom, it syncs with my laptop so I always have my latest notes with me, wherever I go.

In the picture above, you'll notice the little green synchronize icon next to the notebook. This indicates that the notebook is being shared. The checkmark in the icon indicates that the notebook is up to date with the latest changes. The synchronization takes place automatically, so you don't need to do anything special, other than open/create a notebook outside your default notebook location. If you wish to see the details of the synchronization, you can do so by opening the Shared Notebook Synchronization window. To do this click File -> Sync -> Notebook Sync Status. This allows you to change the online status of a notebook, see the synchronization progress, or check for sync errors.

Sharing a notebook is easy. You can do it one of 2 ways:

1. If you know beforehand that you want to share the notebook, you can use the Notebook Wizard, (File -> New -> Notebook -> then just follow the prompts), to create your notebook.
2. If you have already created a local notebook and want to begin sharing it, you can simply change the location of the notebook to a more suitable location, (right-click the notebook -> select Properties -> then choose Change Location -> select the location, and you're done). Now just point the other people to the new location of the notebook.
• You can also do this via Windows Explorer if you're adventurous enough.

Tips:

• The Notebook Wizard will guide you through creating any kind of notebook you desire. When you get to the 'Who will use this notebook?' step you'll be asked where the notebook will reside.
  1. You can select 'I will use it on this computer' to specify a local notebook.
  2. Select 'I will use it on multiple computers' to specify that the notebook will live in a central location that you specify, but will be accessed on 2 or more computers.
  3. Or select 'Multiple people will share the notebook' to specify that the notebook will reside in a shared location, such as a server or a shared folder on your computer.
• You can specify the location of the default notebook location in OneNote. Generally this is located at C:\Documents and Settings\[your name]\My Documents\OneNote Notebooks. However, to change to a different location, click Tools -> Options -> Save -> select Default Notebook Location -> select the desired folder -> click OK.
• To close a notebook, right-click the notebook -> Close. While this closes the notebook, it does not delete it. You can always reopen it later by clicking File -> Open -> Notebook.

So one of the most frequently asked questions we get here at OneNote is "what's the best way to use OneNote?" People really want to know. Well, my response to you is "what's the best way to take notes?" Is there really a definitive answer to that question?

We have many different types of people who have discovered a new way of doing their work in OneNote. From the college student to the medical doctor, the professor to the real estate agent, the sales associate to the shopper. And the list goes on and on. We even had a software developer who once told us he writes all of his code in OneNote because he loves the outlining capabilities. To all you developers out there with one eyebrow raised, we don't regularly recommend this, but…to each his own. With as many different varieties of people we have using OneNote, we have equally as many different styles of using it.

There really is no 'one size fits all' approach to using OneNote. After all, we're not your typical application for refining documents. Our purpose in life is to give you a free-form way to gather your thoughts, ideas, research and more in the way that best suits you.

Having said that, there are many ways in which OneNote can help you make your life more productive. In the way you organize your stuff, for example. You can think of our storage model, (the way OneNote saves your stuff), as somewhat of a hierarchical structure. You have notebooks, which contain sections or section groups, which contain pages and subpages, which is where all your stuff lives.

As I was writing this blog, I discovered that there is much more material to cover in this particular topic than I could reasonably fit into a single post. So I decided to break it into 4 separate posts that will cover each of the following topics:

• Notebooks
• Sections
• Pages
• Unfiled Notes

Over the next few days, each post will cover tips associated with the topic itself. My intent is not to tell you how to use OneNote, but to open your eyes to some of the different ways to discover how you can use it to improve your workstyle. So get ready, and I hope you enjoy it.

OneNote's user base has been steadily increasing over the years.  So I thought this would be a good forum to share some of the useful tips and tricks in this fantastic software application that have made people's lives more productive.

OneNote is a software product that is part of the Microsoft Office family of products. It was originally introduced as a standalone application in 2003, but has since been included in the Office Home and Student 2007 and Office Ultimate 2007 suites.

Now, if you're a regular user of OneNote, you already have a taste of it's many flavors of productivity. However, if you're new to OneNote, you might be asking yourself, "what can OneNote do for me?". I hope to answer this question and many more through this blog.

OneNote was originally conceived as a digital note-taking application. A way to take notes on your computer so you can easily find them again. It was designed to make your experience as close as possible to a real paper notebook and still retain all the digital advantages of a computer. With that in mind, there are many more features that let you capture your thoughts, ideas, research, class notes, journal and much, much more. So stay tuned to this blog and hopefully you'll discover new ways to use OneNote that'll promise to make your life more productive.

My intent is to appeal to both the new user, the seasoned veteran and everyone in between who's interested in using OneNote. So I hope you enjoy this blog. I'd also be interested in hearing some of the ways you've found to make yourself more productive with OneNote.

Now, on to the first tip:

• Capture Screen Clippings.

It's easy to capture a Screen Clipping in OneNote. This is essentially the same thing as taking a picture of what's on your screen and storing it in OneNote. Then you can add your notations above, below, to the side or right on top of it.

This is useful for a number of reasons, but to put it into an easy-to-understand scenario, let's say you're a college student and are currently in a biology class. On the big screen, your professor navigates to an internet site that contains a picture of EscherichiaColi, also known as E. coli. He requests the students in the classroom who have computers to also navigate to the site. Then he begins explaining its genetic makeup.

After you navigate to the site, you open OneNote and take a Screen Clipping of the picture he's explaining by clicking on the Insert menu, then on Screen Clipping and then you draw a rectangle around the picture. The picture appears on your page in OneNote and you begin taking notes, pointing your notes to the area of the picture he's explaining. After the class is over, you head to your next class.

A few weeks later you're preparing for a biology exam. You're trying to remember some of the terms the professor used to describe E. coli. You open OneNote, type "E. coli" in the search box and just like that you're taken to the notes you took on that day. Now you have all those notes and the picture you took from the Screen Clipping. What's more, the internet address from which the clipping was captured appears beneath the picture so you can easily navigate back to it.

Tip: There are a few ways to capture a Screen Clipping:

1. From the Insert menu in OneNote click Screen Clipping -> draw a rectangle around the area of the screen you wish to capture. Once you release the mouse button, the picture is dropped right into your OneNote page.
2. Right-click on Side Note in your Windows System Tray -> Create Screen Clipping:



This will put you into Screen Clipping mode and you can draw a rectangle around the area of the screen you wish to capture.

3. You can also press the Windows + S keys on your keyboard to activate the Screen Clipping feature.

Note that this will only work if you currently have Side Note running in your system tray:

Additional information: You can customize the Screen Clipping feature to do any of the following:

1. Copy the image to the clipboard only, (useful for when you want the picture to be dropped into another application).

This is done by right-clicking the Side Note icon in the Windows System Tray -> Options -> Screen Clipping Defaults -> Copy To Clipboard Only.

When this feature is enabled, it only works when capturing a Screen Clipping via the Side Note icon. When accessed through the Insert menu in OneNote, it places the picture on your page in OneNote in addition to copying it to the clipboard.

2. Disable Screen Clipping notifications, (the little bubble that appears above the Side Note icon in the Windows System Tray when the Screen Clipping feature is activated).

This is done by clicking the Tools menu in OneNote -> Options -> Other -> Disable screen clipping notifications.