Now that you’ve gotten the chance to explore the Home and Insert tabs, it is time to check out the amazing features of OneNote under the Draw tab. The Draw tab is unique to OneNote because no other Microsoft program currently comes with this creative feature. People who find it easier to draw out ideas rather than write them out in words will love this. The Draw feature is best used with a third-party drawing tablet (you can usually hook it right into your computer), or if you have a touchscreen laptop and a stylus, but even if you don’t have any of those tools you can still make the most of it.
The first icon all the way at the far left of the toolbar is the Select and Type icon. Clicking on this button allows you to go back to the default settings where you can click on the page and start typing text. Next you will see an eraser icon with a sun shining behind it. This is the Eraser tool and it will come in very handy once you start using the draw ability. Underneath the Eraser icon you will see a drop-down arrow. By clicking on that arrow, you will get to select from a set of predefined erasers. By default, the eraser is set to Stroke, which means it will erase the last object you drew just by clicking on any part of it. You can also change it to a small, medium or large eraser where you have to hold the mouse button down to make erasures.
Next to the Select and Type and Eraser tool you will see the Lasso Select tool and the Panning Hand tool. The Lasso Select tool enables you to select regions of ink that you’ve drawn in freeform and the Panning Hand tool enables you to “grab” the page with your mouse and move it freely in any direction.
After these four icons is the true treasure of OneNote: the pens. In the middle of the toolbar you will see 14 boxes, all of which contain the image of a pen or highlighter with ink trailing out of it. The drop-down box extends the pen options and you can choose from different sizes. At the bottom of the drop-down box you will see where it says “More Color & Thickness Options.” By clicking on that box, you can further customize the size and color of your pen. In this section, you will also notice the Highlighter pen option. Like its name, this pen acts just like a highlighter. You can go to a page where you have typed text and run the highlighter over it. Instead of covering the text like a normal paintbrush, the highlighter will just make the text stand out. This tool is helpful for marking important notes and topics, especially when you have a lot of information on hand. The default highlighter colors are yellow, turquoise, neon green and purple, but you can customize it to be anything you want under More Color & Thickness Options.
Next to the pens you will see the Shapes box, which contains the perfect tools for geometry and graphing. By clicking on the various icons in this box, you can add professional shapes to your pages. Most of the shapes in this box are geometrical symbols such as lines, squares, circles, parallelograms, triangles, diamonds and shapes to build graphs. If you’re taking a math class or going to be figuring out mathematical equations this is the perfect toolbox for you to utilize. This function may even be helpful for small business owners who need to put their numbers in a visual format. Next to the Shapes box you will see another Color & Thickness tool where you can manipulate the thickness and color of the shapes you make.
The Insert Space icon makes another appearance under the Draw tab so that you can conveniently move your shapes and other notes around to make it easier to manage your pages. If you click on your shapes, you will also notice that you can delete them or arrange them on top/behind each other by using the Delete and Arrange tools that are located next to the Insert Space icon. The Arrange tool is helpful for cases when you need to create a double-bar graph or a circle comparison chart. Next to the Arrange icon is the Rotate icon, which allows you to rotate a selected shape anywhere from a 45 degree angle, a 90 degree angle or horizontally/vertically.
The last two tools under the Draw tab are really amazing and unique to OneNote. The first of the last two tools is the Ink to Text icon. This button allows you to turn handwritten text that you may have entered into OneNote into computerized text. For example, if you use the pen tool to write “Hello” in freehand, you can select that phrase and hit Ink to Text and then see it magically turn into “Hello” in text form. This tool can be really helpful if you’re taking handwritten notes (preferably on a tablet for the most ease) and you need to sharpen/clean it up to share with others. Turning handwritten notes into text can also help you if you need to search for terms within your notes.
The last tool is the Ink to Math tool. Similar to the Ink to Text tool, this function can turn handwritten mathematical equations into professional text. Go ahead and try it—click on the Ink to Math Tool. Write out 2+2=4 in the space it presents to you and click Insert. The writing space grows with the equation so you never have to worry about running out of space. The Ink to Math tool is perfect for doing math in OneNote when you do not see an equation you need under the Insert tab or when you just need to work with a lot of different numbers.