Taking notes: text, lists, tables, tags and ink

In chemistry class the teacher talks fast while Murad takes notes on his laptop. He formats headings in one move, builds a table of elements in seconds, marks his homework with a checkbox and sketches a molecule with his tablet pen. In this lesson you will learn the core tools for fast note-taking in OneNote.

Type anywhere: note containers and formatting

Click anywhere on the page and start typing — OneNote creates a note container, a box with a bar along the top. Drag the bar to move the whole block, or drag the right edge to change its width. The title at the top of the page also becomes the page's name in the page list.

The Home tab has the usual tools: bold, italic, highlight (Ctrl+Alt+H) and Styles such as Heading 1 (Ctrl+Alt+1) and Heading 2 (Ctrl+Alt+2). Ctrl+. starts a bulleted list and Ctrl+/ a numbered one; Tab indents a line one level deeper and Shift+Tab brings it back. Ctrl+Shift+N clears all formatting from the selected text.

A table in a second

1. 1
   Type the first cell

   Type the first heading, for example “Element”.

2. 2
   Press Tab

   Press Tab: OneNote turns the text into a table and moves to a new column. Type “Symbol”, Tab, then “Valency”.

3. 3
   Add rows

   Press Enter in the last cell to add a new row; Ctrl+Enter inserts a row below the current one.

4. 4
   Adjust the table

   Click inside the table and the Table tab appears, with Insert Above, Insert Below, Hide Borders, Shading, Sort and Convert to Excel Spreadsheet.

Tags and To Do

A tag marks a line with an icon. Put the cursor in a line and pick a tag from Home › Tags or press its shortcut. The To Do tag adds a checkbox that you tick when the job is done; Ctrl+0 removes all tags from the line. Customize Tags in the same list lets you create your own tag, such as “Exam”. Tags also pay off later: in a coming lesson you will gather every To Do item in one place with Find Tags.

Handwriting, shapes and maths

On a touchscreen or with a mouse, open the Draw tab, pick a pen and write or sketch. Circle handwriting with Lasso Select and choose Ink to Text to turn it into typed text; with Ink to Shape on, rough shapes you draw by hand become neat ones. For maths, circle a handwritten equation and select Math: the Math pane recognizes it, Ink to Math turns it into a typed equation, and Math Assistant can solve it step by step (Show steps) or draw its graph. The maths features need a Microsoft 365 subscription, and the step-by-step solver is for work and school accounts. To type an equation, use Insert › Equation (Alt+=).