Using Pages in OneNote 2010

Pages are an element within your notebook. When the new notebook opened, it automatically had one page in it. See the snapshot below.

In this article, we're going to learn more about pages.

Naming a Page

Look at the snapshot above. On the right hand side of the window, you can see that our current page is titled by default "Untitled Page." You are going to want to name each page as a reminder of the content that is on the page.

To rename the page, start typing in the rectangular field on your page, as shown below.

If you look to the right, you'll see the page name is automatically updated and changed.

Adding a Page

Adding a page to your notebook is just as easy. Look at the snapshot above and see where it says New Page on the right hand side of the window.

Simply click it and a new page is added. If you look at the next snapshot, you will see the new page was added as "Untitled Page."

Adding a Subpage

Remember, a subpage is an additional page whose tabs are smaller than primary pages. Adding one is very easy.

Go to the right hand side of the window just as you did when you added a new page. Click the downward arrow beside New Page. This is what you will see:

Select New Subpage

As you can now see, the subpage is added as a subpage of the page entitled Untitled Page.

We can follow the same steps to rename it as we did with a regular page.

If we'd have wanted the subpage to be under Page One, we'd have made sure that Page One was active, or the page was showing in the workspace, before clicking the arrow beside New Page.

Moving Pages

Moving a Page is very easy in OneNote 2010.

Below you see our pages:

Simply drag and drop the page you want to move. For example, if we want to move Page One so it comes after Page Two, simply click on Page One. While holding your left mouse button down, drag it so it is below Page Two.

In the snapshot below, you will see a thick black line. This lets you know where the page that you are dragging will appear. This way, you know exactly where you are placing it.

Let go of the mouse button when you are finished.

The page has now been moved.

You can also right click on a page and select Move or Copy.

Deleting a Page

To delete a page, go to the right hand side of the screen, locate the page you want to delete, and right click on it. Select Delete. The entire page will be deleted.

Page Templates and the Template Pane

In OneNote 2010, a template is a page that has a pre-existing structure. In other words, it was a layout or structure for the page that was created to use with any page. The framework of the page is already done when you open a template, and all you have to do is add text, pictures, notes, etc. that you want to appear on the page. A template is simply a ready-made page. Let's show you what we mean by learning to create templates.

To create a page template, go to the right hand side of the window and click the downward arrow beside New Page.

Select Page Templates from the dropdown menu.

The Template Pane now appears, as shown below.

Want to learn more? Take an online course in OneNote 2010.

Now, we can add a new page using a template. We can select a default template that will be applied to all new pages in the current section in the Choose Default Template section. Or we can create our own new template using the current page that's open on our workspace. You might want to choose this third option if you have created framework and structure for a page, and you want to use this specific framework and structure for several other pages as well.

For now, let's Add a Page so we can see some of the templates OneNote provides.

We've added a template page under Academic Templates.

You can see above that when we added a template page, the default page name is Title. We can change that to our own page name.

Adding a Section

We explained the definition of a section earlier in this article. Now it is time to learn how to add a section. Go to the Navigation Pane on the left side of your screen, then right click on the notebook that you want to add a section to, as we've done below.

Select New Section.

As you can see above, the new section is added. Now you can add pages to this section on the right hand side of the window.

You can also rename the section by clicking on it in the Navigation Pane. We've changed our new section name in the snapshot below.

Adding New Section Groups

If you have a lot of different sections in your notebook, it can get tedious to find exactly what you need. Some sections may be closely related to other sections, but some sections may not be related at all. If you have other users viewing your notebook or you are getting confused about where to find things, you can create something called Section Groups. It is just like the name says – it is simply groups of sections.

Let's say, for example, that your entire notebook deals with natural products, and you have sections related to this with pages in each section. Now, let's say you have users who will just want to view sections on natural skin care products. You can create a Section Group, then put all sections that deal with natural skin care products in that group so they're easier to find. Let's learn how to do that.

The first thing you are going to do is right click on the notebook, just like you did to add a new section. Select New Section Group.

The new section group will appear as it does below.

Now you can name your section group. We might name ours Natural Skin Care. For now, we're not going to give it a name. You will want to name yours however. We just want you to be clear this is a new section group, which is why we're not changing the name.

Now, click on New Section Group (or the name you've given it). You will see this screen:

Now you can create new sections to go in this group, or you can return to the Navigation Pane on the left and drag and drop sections into the section group.

You will now see the section we've moved in the new section group:

Working with Sections and Sections Groups

Just as when you were in school and taking notes in class, organization is key in creating useful and helpful notebooks in OneNote. For that reason, we've provide some organizational tips below.

Put "like" pages into the same section.
Name the pages to represent the content of each page.
Name the sections to represent the overall content of the pages. It is like chapters of a book.
If you have a lot of sections, group your sections into section groups. Give the section group a topic, then place all sections related to that topic in the section group.

Adding Text and Styles

Now that you know how to create notebooks, and then add pages, sections, and section groups, it is time to learn to start adding notes and text to the notebooks. Don't worry. None of this is difficult. You will be using OneNote 2010 like a pro in no time at all.

Adding Text

In most word processing programs, you can add text to a document by typing once the cursor appears. You start at the top of the page and work your way down. You can hit enter to start typing further down on the page if you want, but the cursor starts at the top. Also, you can add text boxes if you want. Text boxes are boxes that contain text. You can resize, drag, and drop these text boxes.

OneNote 2010 is nowhere near that complicated.

The first thing you need to know about adding text to OneNote is that you can type anywhere on the page. Just click on the area where you want to type and start typing. It doesn't have to be at the top of the page, and you do not have to hit Enter to move further down. Just click and type. It is that easy.

Now, as you type, your text will be put in what's called a note container. A note container is sort of like a text box. With your text in a note container, it will make it easier to move it around later if you want.

That said, if you have OneNote 2010 open right now, just click anywhere on a page and start typing.

Formatting Text in Note Containers

Once you type text into a note container, you can format it. Formatting is adding a font type, such as Times New Roman, Ariel, or Calibri, adding bold or italics, changing the font size, etc.

To format your text, first select it so it is highlighted. Then go to the Basic Text group under the Home tab. Here you can apply formatting to your text.

In the snapshot below, you can see where you can change the font type and size. The current font type is Calibri and the size is 11. For now, however,

is for boldface,

is for italics, and

is for underline. The

button highlights section of text, and

will enable you to change the font color.

Add Handwritten Notes

If you have a pen-input device on a Tablet PC or other compatible computer, you can also handwrite notes. To do that, click the Draw tab, then select a pen from the Tools group.

You can then handwrite notes anywhere on the page that you want. If you want to switch back to typing, click Select & Type on the Draw tab in the Tools group, as pictured above.

Copy and Paste

You can also copy and paste text from one page to another or from an outside source (such as Internet Explorer) into a page of your notebook.

To copy, first select the text that you want to copy. We're going to copy this paragraph and paste it into your notebook.

After you've selected the text, right click and select Copy. If you are copying from a page in your notebook, you can also go to the Home tab and click in the Clipboard group.

Next, click the place on the page where you want to paste the text. Now, right click and select Paste or go to the Clipboard group and click Paste .

You will then see these options in the dropdown menu:

Let's learn what each of these buttons mean.

The first one on the left is to keep source formatting. This means if you copy something that is in Times New Roman size 12, when you paste it, it will remain in Times New Roman 12, even if the text or notes on the page you paste to are in Ariel.

The second one from the left, the one with the little blue arrow, is to merge formatting. If what you copy is Times New Roman, but the text/notes on the page that you paste to has the majority of text in Ariel, whatever you paste will be pasted in Ariel. In other words, it makes it match the majority.

The third is text which pastes it without any formatting.

The last one (on the far right) is to paste a picture.

Add Extra Writing Space

If you want extra space to add even more notes, then you can insert space to make that happen.

Go to the Insert group under the Insert tab.

Now, click the place on your page where you want to add more space. Hold your left mouse button down and drag until you have as much space as you want or need, as shown below.

Applying Styles

A style is what you apply to text, such as headings. OneNote has very basic styles and not the broad variety that you find in other programs such as MS Word. However, that's to keep things simple. OneNote was intended to be simple.

You find styles by clicking on the Home tab and going to the Styles group on the ribbon. We've pictured it below.

To apply a style to text, highlight the text, then click the appropriate style that you want.

In the example below, we've used the Quote style.

Aligning Text

If you've used other word processing programs before, you know what it means to align text. You can align text three ways:

To the left margin

To the right margin

Centered between the two margins

To align text in OneNote 2010, select the text that you want to align. It should also be noted that you can select all text in a note container by clicking the gray bar at the top of the note container.

Next, go to the Home tab to the Basic Text Group. Select the Align button as shown below and choose how you want to align your text from the dropdown menu.

Moving Note Containers

Moving note containers is easy. Simply click in the gray bar of the note container until you see what looks like a plus sign with arrows on each of the four ends. Then, holding your left mouse button down, drag and drop the container. You can see the drag and drop in process in the snapshot below.