OneNote is a great program for recording, organizing and categorizing information, thoughts and much more. Most information in OneNote is stored and organized in on pages within a Notebook. But what about clips of miscellaneous data or the ability to quickly jot notes that may or may not need to be saved? Welcome – Side Note.

The OneNote Side Note is OneNote’s answer to the yellow sticky pad on steroids. A Side Note can be opened at any time to take quick notes, sketch a drawing, insert information or record audio/visual notes.

It is easy to create a new Side Note – simply press the Windows Key + N and new Side Note will open. To make note taking even easier multiple Side Notes can be opened at the same time. To create another Side Note press the Windows Key + N again and another Side Note will open.

Once finished with the Side Notes they can be saved into OneNote either into the Unfiled Notes section (default) or a specific page can be selected. By clicking the X (close) in the Side Note window the note is automatically placed in the Unfiled Notes.

To have the note saved to a specific page click on Pages | Move Page | Select Location for Note. This will save the note in the specified page instead of having it placed in the unfiled section.

Docking Side Notes:

Docking a Side Note will place new Side Note to the side of the desktop. This prevents having Side Note windows floating around the desktop. By default this feature is not enabled. To change the docking option, follow the steps below.

1. From within the Side Note Windows select File | Options
2. Click on Display in the OneNote Options window
3. Click on Dock new Side Note windows to the side of the desktop
4. Click on OK to finish

Now each time a new Side Note is created it will be docked to the side of the desktop.

Using Side Note:

There are several tabs in the Side Note and each tab has a different set of functions for inserting and formatting data. The list below is the standard set of tabs and options which can be customized by right-clicking on the ribbon and selecting Customize the Ribbon.

Home

• Basic Text – font selection, size, color and formatting
• Insert – Screen Clipping, Record Audio, Record Video

Draw

• Tools – Select writing tool, erase, select
• Edit – Insert Space, delete

View

• Views – Norma, Dock to desktop
• Page Setup – Page color, rule lines, hide page title
• Zoom – change zoom level for page

Pages

• Navigate – navigate and search pages
• Pages – Create, delete or move a page