In OneNote, there are many useful options and features under the Home tab that you can use to make your notes more organized and coherent. I will take you through every option under the Home tab in this chapter and explain how to use it to your best advantage.
Starting all the way from the left, you will see the Paste icon. By clicking on that icon, OneNote will paste in the last piece of text that you’ve highlighted and cut/copied from your computer. This function is helpful for when you’re copying words from your internet browser or another application such as Microsoft word. If you are copying from one place to one note, you can use the shortcut of CTRL +C to copy and CTRL + V to Paste. Next to the Paste icon are the Cut and Copy icons. These features are useful for when you’re working and editing within OneNote. You can highlight a piece of your text and “cut” it, meaning it disappears from the page but can be reinserted with the Paste button. You can also “copy” your text and duplicate it elsewhere in your notebook. When you highlight and copy your text, it doesn’t disappear. Underneath the cut and copy buttons is the Format Painter button. The Format Painter option allows you to copy formatting from one place in your notebook and apply it to another section of text.
To the right of the Cut, Copy and Paste options box is the section where you can customize your text. You will see a font drop-down box where you can change the font type of your text. The default font in OneNote 2010 is Calibri. Next to the font drop-down box is another drop-down box where you can change the size of your font. Underneath those boxes, you will see 5 small icons that will allow you to further customize your text. Starting from the right, there is the Bold option, which allows you to make all or some of your text bold-faced. Next is the Italics option, which can make your font look like this. Third is the Underline option, which can make your text look like this. Fourth is the Strikethrough option, which can make your text look like this. Finally, there is the Subscript/Superscript option, which can make your text look like this or this.
Looking back up next to the font drop-down boxes, you will see a few more functions. The next two icons are Bullet Functions. The first one allows you to put your text next to bullets and the following one lets you bullet it with letters/numbers instead of small black circles. Under the first bullet icon, there is a small arrow that opens up another drop-down box. If you click on that arrow, you will see that you can customize how your bullets look. You can choose anything from arrows to snowflakes to smiley faces. If you do the same for the second icon, you will see that you have the option to change the lettering into roman numerals, written words or interchangeable icons. Finally, the last icon up top you will see is an icon with two A’s in a box next to an eraser. This is the Clear Formatting icon. By clicking on this icon while you have a piece of modified text highlight (bolded, italicized, bulleted, etc.) you can instantly undo the formatting and change it back to normal.
Underneath those icons and next to the text customization icons, you will see 5 more icons for that section. The first icon bears a bright yellow color and is the Text Highlight Color option. When you highlight a piece of text and click on that icon your text will get highlighted in the desired color. This can be a very useful feature when taking notes because you can highlight the most important parts. Next to the Text Highlight Color icon you will see the letter A with a black strip underneath it. This is the Font Color button and it enables you to change the color of your font. You will see a drop-down arrow next to this icon and, when clicked, you can pick any color you would like for your text. At the very top of the drop-down box, you can click “automatic color” to change your text back to its default color.
The next three icons are paragraph formatting options. The first two icons are the Decrease Paragraph Indent and Increase Paragraph Indent buttons. By clicking at the beginning of a paragraph, you can either move it in or out, thus decreasing or increasing the indent level. In the next box over you will see that you can stylize your text by using different preset Headings. These headings are pre-made and meant to make your life easier because you can use them to break up different sections of your notes. The drop-down box shows you the different sized headings you can use. Heading 1 is the largest font and Heading 6 is the smallest. This box also gives you the option to format your text for a citation, code, quote or page title. You can also set your text style back to normal.
After the style box you will discover one of the most important and unique features of OneNote—the Tags. By looking at the tabs box and expanding it, you will see many different icons with different labels (such as to-do, important, etc.). One of the coolest things is that you can use these different tags throughout your notes to take even more notes! For example, if you have written a to-do list in the middle of your notes, you can tag that list with the to-do icon to break it up and make it stand out. Best of all, you can click the little square next to each task as you complete it and a check will appear in the box, noting that you’ve completed the task. You can tag questions with a “?” symbol, you can mark text as important with a little yellow star and you can even tag ideas with a little lightbulb symbol, which I think is perfect for brainstorming.
There is almost a tag for anything you can think of, including one for contacts, addresses, phone numbers, website links, passwords, and reminders. You can drop these symbols anywhere in your notebook to make your notes more organized and effective. You can also create custom tags. To create a custom tag, expand the tab drop-down box and go all the way to the bottom where it says “Customize Tags.” A box will then pop up, enabling you to create your own tag and pick an icon. You can also modify an existing tag to suit your needs.
Next to the tag box, you will discover the Find Tags function, where you can search all tags throughout all of your notebooks. This is useful for ensuring that you’ve checked off everything on your to-do list, answered all important questions and have contacted everyone you need to see, etc. Think of the Find Tags function as your “double-check box.” You can always see what you need to complete on hand with this tool. Finally, the last function under the Home Tab is the Email Page option. By clicking on that icon, you can email the page you’re working on through Outlook.