Microsoft OneNote is a highly effective, free tool for capturing practically anything. You can take digital or handwritten notes; create a quick sketch; and organize everything into notebooks, sections, and pages. That's not it. You can also add images, diagrams, audio, video, and other content.

OneNote is highly useful for workplace productivity. And so, if you have various items to remember, multiple tasks to complete, and sudden ideas, OneNote is the ideal application to record and organize them. Here are a few ways OneNote can help you be more productive at work.

1. Use Quick Notes to Save Your Best Ideas

OneNote has a built-in feature to collect the sudden work-related thoughts that matter. It's called Quick Notes. Think of Quick Notes as one of the many capabilities that help you take better notes with OneNote.

When using OneNote on a PC, press the Alt + Windows key + N. Doing that opens up a small typepad within OneNote. Just type out your idea and close the window. It automatically saves whatever you write, keeping your good ideas in one place.

onenote for work tips tricks

Quick Notes is a better option if you're tired of jotting points down on scraps of paper and then losing them. When you want to view your Quick Notes later, you can use the notebooks dropdown tab at the top of your screen.

2. Integrate With Outlook for Project Management

To use OneNote as a project management tool, you must integrate it with Outlook. Outlook already has a project management feature via the Tasks section. You can open an individual task and write a note about it, but the note-taking abilities within Outlook are pretty limited.

Luckily, you can integrate Outlook and OneNote for project management in a few seconds. Follow the below-given steps to integrate OneNote with Outlook:

  1. In Outlook, go to File > Options and select the Add-ins option.
  2. Then, find the Manage section at the bottom of that window that includes a dropdown list. Click the Go... button to the immediate right of the dropdown.
  3. Outlook Add Ins Options
    Tick the checkbox named OneNote Notes about Outlook Items and click the OK button.
  4. Outlook Add Ins Overview
    Next, open OneNote and create sections for the different project management tasks you oversee daily.
  5. Switch to Outlook and click the Outlook Tasks icon and start creating different tasks.
    Tasks In Outlook
  6. Now, select all the tasks and click the Send to OneNote option.
  7. OneNote then asks where to place the task. Select one of the sections in your task management notebook. Then, click OK.
Send To OneNote Preview

Remember that each section represents a project in your task management notebook, and that each page is a task. You can now freely make notes in OneNote relevant to your Outlook tasks.

3. Use OneNote to Create Your Own Cliff Notes

Cliff notes are one of the best ways to retain a summary of a longer work quickly. And the best thing about OneNote is that it allows you to create customized cliff notes in no time.

Start by creating a notebook to reflect the book's title or choosing another name to help identify it. Then, look for the Add Page button on the top right side. It has a plus sign (+) to the left of it. Make each new page reflect a chapter in the book.

Notebook In OneNote

Alternatively, create subpages for topics covered in a chapter and depend on the parent-child organizational structure. Look on the right side of the OneNote screen and click on the chapter page. Find the small arrow next to the New Page button. Click it to create a new page below the current one.

New Page In OneNote

Then, right-click on the new page and click Make Subpage. Now you can easily save and organize everything you learn in your cliff notes.

4. Use It to Make All Your To-Do Lists

Not surprisingly, OneNote is a fantastic list app. You can even use keyboard shortcuts to make checklists swiftly. These valuable lists guide you through your workday, reducing the likelihood of forgetting something. Follow these steps to use OneNote as your To-Do list application:

  1. Open a page in your notebook and type the first task on your checklist.
  2. Then, highlight it and press Ctrl + 1 on your keyboard. That shortcut adds a checkbox to the left of what you typed.
    To-Do List In OneNote
  3. Want to call attention to an especially important task? Highlight the important task, and press Ctrl + 2 at the same time to start it.
    Starred List In OneNote
  4. You might also want to separate tasks into bulleted lists. That's a convenient method if you feel pulled in all directions and need help focusing. Use Ctrl + . (period) to create a bulleted list.
Bulleted List In OneNote

There are many other ways to work with lists in OneNote, but these keyboard shortcuts alone get you off to a strong start. If you want a more robust to-do list setup, check out how to use OneNote as a to-do list.

5. Sharing and Collaboration

After capturing and organizing your notes, you can immediately share them with your friends, coworkers, and team members.

For sharing a notebook, you must navigate to File > Share and choose the required options. Alternatively, click the Share button at the top right corner. Microsoft OneNote provides three different methods for sharing your notes.

  • Share Entire Notebook: If you wish to share your entire notebook with a specific person, you must first obtain that person's email address. Then, you can easily grant the receiver editing or viewing permissions.
  • Copy Link to Notebook: If you want to share your notebook with many people in your organization, you can send them a link exclusive to your notebook.
  • Email Copy of Page: This is an excellent way to share a single page without disclosing the contents of your entire notebook. Once you select this option, the default email client will open, allowing you to select recipients and send a copy of the selected OneNote page.
Sharing Options In OneNote

Regardless of how you choose to share, you can remove access at any time from the Manage Access... settings.

6. Meeting Notes

Taking effective notes during the meeting is essential if you are required to send a meeting summary during long meetings. The good thing is that OneNote makes it simple to collect ideas and record meeting minutes quickly. Follow the steps below to create meeting notes in OneNote:

  1. Add a new section to your existing OneNote notebook.
  2. Navigate to Home > Meeting Details and choose the desired meeting from the dropdown menu.
    Meeting Notes In OneNote
  3. It'll automatically fetch all your meeting details for you and display them in the current section. Now you can begin taking notes under the Notes heading.
  4. Once you're done, you can share the meeting notes directly via the Share button at the top right corner.

OneNote is undoubtedly more than a simple note-taking application. You can use it to track meeting minutes, action items, and other meeting outcomes in one location. Accordingly, even if a team member cannot attend the meeting, they can stay informed through the meeting notes.

What makes OneNote remarkable is that it can serve as an all-in-one hub for any content, such as your work-related images, videos, tables, handwritten notes, etc.

In addition, you can use OneNote's sections and pages to create an attractive project wiki. And because OneNote is fully searchable, you can always find what you're looking for using the search function.

A well-designed Wiki can assist your organization in becoming more organized. Therefore, you should try it and stay on top at work. Check out our article on creating a Wiki with OneNote if you're looking for assistance.

8. Use Spreadsheets With OneNote

Let's say you want to add notes to your Excel data and keep track of it all in one place. So, how'll you do it? Fortunately, OneNote makes it simple to integrate with other Office programs like Excel. Hence, you can quickly import your Excel spreadsheet into your OneNote notebook. This will help you combine Excel's data features and OneNote's note-taking functionality in one place.

There are several methods for embedding your spreadsheet. Here's an easy one to get you started:

  1. Open OneNote and navigate to the Insert tab.
  2. Choose Table > New Excel Spreadsheet to add a new spreadsheet.
    Insert Spreadsheet In OneNote
  3. You can also click Spreadsheet > Existing Excel Spreadsheet to insert an existing spreadsheet.
  4. On the next screen, you can select to insert a chart, table, or an entire spreadsheet.

When you have finished making all the necessary changes to your Excel spreadsheet, only then should you embed it into OneNote. This is because changes made in OneNote will not be reflected in the original Excel file, and vice versa.

Use OneNote Effectively and Be More Organized

OneNote is a truly powerful tool for getting more done at work. The deeper you dive into its features, the more you discover how it can enhance your and your team's productivity.

By using the methods mentioned above, you can quickly advance things at work. Also, OneNote is not limited to the workplace; students and teachers can also use it to increase productivity.