G
Grant Robertson
If any of you are like me, you often need to enter equations or diagrams
into OneNote. While you could just draw them directly in OneNote you have
probably found that organizing notes into a neat outline is next to
impossible if you have used any handwriting and it is totally impossible
if you have drawn any equations or diagrams. I have figured out a few
tricks using tables, external programs, and embedding files into the
OneNote page that allow me to create the neat and modifiable outlines
that I prefer.
Tables:
A table can be moved around in an outline regardless of what is in that
table. If you have a diagram you have made in OneNote, you can keep all
the parts of that diagram together by putting them into a one-cell table.
Simple create a 1x1 cell table, select all of your diagram with the lasso
tool, cut that, then paste it into your 1x1 table. You can then drag that
table anywhere in your outline you want and the whole diagram will stay
together neatly. To make it easier to create tables I copied the create
table toolbar button right in the menu bar next to the table menu. A
single click and drag creates any size table I want.
Sometimes you want to put a picture or diagram beside some text. You can
use tables for this too. Put your text in one cell and the picture in the
cell next to it.
What a lot of people don't realize is that you can nest tables within
other tables. Lets say you have a complicated chart you want to create.
You want there to be one heading across the entire top of the chart, then
you want a row or two of columns with things next to each other. Then you
want another header going all the way across with more columns under
that. Just create a 4x1 table (OneNote lists rows first), then place the
cursor in the second row and create yet another table, say 2x4, for 2
rows of 4 columns. Do that again in the last row of the main table. Now
you can put text, pictures, or diagrams into any of these cells.
Anyone experienced with basic web page design should be familiar with
these nested table techniques. Using them, you can create any complicated
structure you desire. Just be creative.
I have noticed that it is not possible to insert a line of text UNDER a
table which is nested within another table cell. So I have gotten in the
habit of entering a carriage return into the cell before creating the
nested table within it and then creating that nested table on the first
of those two blank lines. You can go back and clean up all those extra
lines later. It is easy to create a blank line ABOVE a nested table. Just
put the cursor at the beginning of the first cell in the nested table and
press return. If you neglect to enter the extra, safety-line there is a
workaround to add a line under your nested table. Select the entire
nested table and cut it. Press return to add a second blank line to the
cell. Sometimes you may need to press ctrl-enter to avoid creating a new
row in the table or creating a new line below the entire table. Finally
paste the nested table back in on the first blank line.
External Programs:
When I need to enter an equation into my study notes I want to be able to
actually read the thing later. Also, if I print that out for anyone I
want it to look professional. I also want to be able to manipulate this
entire equation as a unit without worrying about parts of it shifting
around or disappearing as can happen with ink sometimes. This is why I
hate to just draw my equations into OneNote freehand. I use the Microsoft
Equation Editor instead. I have created a shortcut directly to the
Equation Editor on my Start Menu. The path to the executable is "C:
\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\EQUATION\EQNEDT32.EXE" on my
computer. It may be different on yours.
Once you have created your equation you can just select it in Equation
Editor and paste it into OneNote. It will paste in as a picture. The
picture will be a little small so you may need to enlarge it. The easiest
way to select the picture so you can enlarge it is to simply press the up
arrow right after pasting-in the equation. OneNote always inserts an
extra line under a pasted picture and leaves the cursor on that extra
line, so pressing the up arrow moves the selection back to the picture.
You can also drag the text pointer over a significant portion of the
inside of the picture to select it. When you do this, keep the pointer
within the borders of the picture rather than dragging a box around the
outside of the picture as you would for other programs. You will have to
ask the Microsoft people why they designed it that way.
Sometimes I want to draw a rather complicated diagram to include in my
OneNote notes. I have found that the Windows Journal program that comes
with Tablet PCs is still better for this than OneNote because it provides
more choices for the line style and color. Journal also allows you to
group a set of objects and move them around as a unit. finally, you can
drag copy things in Journal which you still cannot do in OneNote. So, I
use Journal any time I think my diagram will be very complicated.
Getting the diagrams from Journal to OneNote is a little tricky due to
what I consider to be a bug in OneNote. Microsoft naturally calls it a
"feature." If you paste from Journal to OneNote and the default paste
mode is set to either "Keep Source Formatting" or "Match Destination
Formatting" then OneNote will paste the diagram as individual pieces of
ink and each of those pieces will be in its own separate multiply-
overlapping text box. It is a real mess. So, before you paste from
Journal to OneNote you need to set the default paste mode to either "Keep
Text Only" or "Paste as Picture." Preferably the latter. The only way to
do this is to copy and paste some text then choose "Paste as Picture"
from the Paste Options menu that appears, then you have to open that menu
again and choose "Set as default paste." If "Keep Text Only" just
happened to be the default paste mode when you paste from Journal then
you will see gibberish. Fortunately, it is easy enough to use the Paste
Options menu to change it to a picture. Remember, you must set the
default paste mode BEFORE you copy your diagram out of Journal.
{Note to Microsoft: It would be really nice to be able to set a different
default paste option for each different program we may be pasting stuff
FROM. This would save us a lot of darn clicking every single time we
pasted something into OneNote.}
Embedding Files:
After a few times of creating a diagram in Journal, getting it into
OneNote, then closing Journal only to realize that I needed to modify the
diagram, I was struck with the idea for my last tip. I keep the Journal
file that I used to create the diagrams in as an attachment to my OneNote
page. Just save the Journal file to your desktop and exit Journal. Drag
that icon onto your OneNote page. Use the second option of the Insert
File Options dialog "Insert a copy of the file onto the page." I usually
put the icon at the top next to the page title. After embedding the file
into your OneNote page you don't need it on your desktop any more so you
can just delete it. Now, if you need to change one of the diagrams you
can just open the Journal file right from OneNote, modify the diagram,
and re-paste it into OneNote in place of the previous version of the
diagram.
I do the same thing for my equations. Rather than going straight to the
Equation Editor like I used to, I now open a blank Word document and
create the equations there. Choose { Insert / Object ; Microsoft Equation
3.0 } from the Word menus. Sometimes I go straight to the Equation Editor
using the shortcut I mentioned above then copy all of my equations into
an empty Word document if I decide I want to keep them. Then I embed that
Word document into my OneNote page using the same method as for the
Journal file. I know that this increases the size of my OneNote files but
the time saved by not needing to recreate diagrams and equations is worth
it. Sometimes, when I need to make a new equation for a page I will open
up the Word file from a previous page and copy parts out of that to save
even more time.
Using these three techniques now allows me to create neat outlines of my
notes which can easily be rearranged as I rethink how they should be
organized. I hope they will prove helpful to you as well.
P.S. A final tip for Microsoft: If OneNote had OLE or whatever is the new
way to do that then none of this would be necessary. OLE (or whatever)
would provide a lot of the functionality that people keep asking for. For
example: If we could paste in an HTML OLE object from a browser, Word, or
another HTML editor then we could keep the HTML formatting intact and not
have to print space-hogging, non-editable, "non-copy-fromable" PICTURES
to OneNote.
into OneNote. While you could just draw them directly in OneNote you have
probably found that organizing notes into a neat outline is next to
impossible if you have used any handwriting and it is totally impossible
if you have drawn any equations or diagrams. I have figured out a few
tricks using tables, external programs, and embedding files into the
OneNote page that allow me to create the neat and modifiable outlines
that I prefer.
Tables:
A table can be moved around in an outline regardless of what is in that
table. If you have a diagram you have made in OneNote, you can keep all
the parts of that diagram together by putting them into a one-cell table.
Simple create a 1x1 cell table, select all of your diagram with the lasso
tool, cut that, then paste it into your 1x1 table. You can then drag that
table anywhere in your outline you want and the whole diagram will stay
together neatly. To make it easier to create tables I copied the create
table toolbar button right in the menu bar next to the table menu. A
single click and drag creates any size table I want.
Sometimes you want to put a picture or diagram beside some text. You can
use tables for this too. Put your text in one cell and the picture in the
cell next to it.
What a lot of people don't realize is that you can nest tables within
other tables. Lets say you have a complicated chart you want to create.
You want there to be one heading across the entire top of the chart, then
you want a row or two of columns with things next to each other. Then you
want another header going all the way across with more columns under
that. Just create a 4x1 table (OneNote lists rows first), then place the
cursor in the second row and create yet another table, say 2x4, for 2
rows of 4 columns. Do that again in the last row of the main table. Now
you can put text, pictures, or diagrams into any of these cells.
Anyone experienced with basic web page design should be familiar with
these nested table techniques. Using them, you can create any complicated
structure you desire. Just be creative.
I have noticed that it is not possible to insert a line of text UNDER a
table which is nested within another table cell. So I have gotten in the
habit of entering a carriage return into the cell before creating the
nested table within it and then creating that nested table on the first
of those two blank lines. You can go back and clean up all those extra
lines later. It is easy to create a blank line ABOVE a nested table. Just
put the cursor at the beginning of the first cell in the nested table and
press return. If you neglect to enter the extra, safety-line there is a
workaround to add a line under your nested table. Select the entire
nested table and cut it. Press return to add a second blank line to the
cell. Sometimes you may need to press ctrl-enter to avoid creating a new
row in the table or creating a new line below the entire table. Finally
paste the nested table back in on the first blank line.
External Programs:
When I need to enter an equation into my study notes I want to be able to
actually read the thing later. Also, if I print that out for anyone I
want it to look professional. I also want to be able to manipulate this
entire equation as a unit without worrying about parts of it shifting
around or disappearing as can happen with ink sometimes. This is why I
hate to just draw my equations into OneNote freehand. I use the Microsoft
Equation Editor instead. I have created a shortcut directly to the
Equation Editor on my Start Menu. The path to the executable is "C:
\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\EQUATION\EQNEDT32.EXE" on my
computer. It may be different on yours.
Once you have created your equation you can just select it in Equation
Editor and paste it into OneNote. It will paste in as a picture. The
picture will be a little small so you may need to enlarge it. The easiest
way to select the picture so you can enlarge it is to simply press the up
arrow right after pasting-in the equation. OneNote always inserts an
extra line under a pasted picture and leaves the cursor on that extra
line, so pressing the up arrow moves the selection back to the picture.
You can also drag the text pointer over a significant portion of the
inside of the picture to select it. When you do this, keep the pointer
within the borders of the picture rather than dragging a box around the
outside of the picture as you would for other programs. You will have to
ask the Microsoft people why they designed it that way.
Sometimes I want to draw a rather complicated diagram to include in my
OneNote notes. I have found that the Windows Journal program that comes
with Tablet PCs is still better for this than OneNote because it provides
more choices for the line style and color. Journal also allows you to
group a set of objects and move them around as a unit. finally, you can
drag copy things in Journal which you still cannot do in OneNote. So, I
use Journal any time I think my diagram will be very complicated.
Getting the diagrams from Journal to OneNote is a little tricky due to
what I consider to be a bug in OneNote. Microsoft naturally calls it a
"feature." If you paste from Journal to OneNote and the default paste
mode is set to either "Keep Source Formatting" or "Match Destination
Formatting" then OneNote will paste the diagram as individual pieces of
ink and each of those pieces will be in its own separate multiply-
overlapping text box. It is a real mess. So, before you paste from
Journal to OneNote you need to set the default paste mode to either "Keep
Text Only" or "Paste as Picture." Preferably the latter. The only way to
do this is to copy and paste some text then choose "Paste as Picture"
from the Paste Options menu that appears, then you have to open that menu
again and choose "Set as default paste." If "Keep Text Only" just
happened to be the default paste mode when you paste from Journal then
you will see gibberish. Fortunately, it is easy enough to use the Paste
Options menu to change it to a picture. Remember, you must set the
default paste mode BEFORE you copy your diagram out of Journal.
{Note to Microsoft: It would be really nice to be able to set a different
default paste option for each different program we may be pasting stuff
FROM. This would save us a lot of darn clicking every single time we
pasted something into OneNote.}
Embedding Files:
After a few times of creating a diagram in Journal, getting it into
OneNote, then closing Journal only to realize that I needed to modify the
diagram, I was struck with the idea for my last tip. I keep the Journal
file that I used to create the diagrams in as an attachment to my OneNote
page. Just save the Journal file to your desktop and exit Journal. Drag
that icon onto your OneNote page. Use the second option of the Insert
File Options dialog "Insert a copy of the file onto the page." I usually
put the icon at the top next to the page title. After embedding the file
into your OneNote page you don't need it on your desktop any more so you
can just delete it. Now, if you need to change one of the diagrams you
can just open the Journal file right from OneNote, modify the diagram,
and re-paste it into OneNote in place of the previous version of the
diagram.
I do the same thing for my equations. Rather than going straight to the
Equation Editor like I used to, I now open a blank Word document and
create the equations there. Choose { Insert / Object ; Microsoft Equation
3.0 } from the Word menus. Sometimes I go straight to the Equation Editor
using the shortcut I mentioned above then copy all of my equations into
an empty Word document if I decide I want to keep them. Then I embed that
Word document into my OneNote page using the same method as for the
Journal file. I know that this increases the size of my OneNote files but
the time saved by not needing to recreate diagrams and equations is worth
it. Sometimes, when I need to make a new equation for a page I will open
up the Word file from a previous page and copy parts out of that to save
even more time.
Using these three techniques now allows me to create neat outlines of my
notes which can easily be rearranged as I rethink how they should be
organized. I hope they will prove helpful to you as well.
P.S. A final tip for Microsoft: If OneNote had OLE or whatever is the new
way to do that then none of this would be necessary. OLE (or whatever)
would provide a lot of the functionality that people keep asking for. For
example: If we could paste in an HTML OLE object from a browser, Word, or
another HTML editor then we could keep the HTML formatting intact and not
have to print space-hogging, non-editable, "non-copy-fromable" PICTURES
to OneNote.
