OneNote 2013 For Dummies E-Book

James H. Russell

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 247

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

A quick guide to using Microsoft OneNote on tablets, online, or on your desktop

OneNote is the note-taking-and-sharing application that's part of Microsoft Office. It lets you create notes by hand, as audio, or by clipping items from other electronic formats to create a file that can be indexed and searched. With the release of Office 2013, OneNote has been integrated with Windows 8-powered tablet platforms and offers advanced mobile-enhanced features. This guide includes all the basic information, guidance, and insight you need to take full advantage of everything OneNote can do for you.

• OneNote is the Microsoft Office note-taking application that lets you make notes and clip items from electronic media to create a searchable file
• This friendly, plain-English guide shows you how to use OneNote online, on your desktop PC, or on your Windows-powered tablet
• Helps you take advantage of this highly useful and often-overlooked application

OneNote 2013 For Dummies gets you up and running with OneNote quickly and easily.

Leseprobe

OneNote® 2013 For Dummies®

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Microsoft and OneNote are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty:The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Not all content that is available in standard print versions of this book may appear or be packaged in all book formats. If you have purchased a version of this book that did not include media that is referenced by or accompanies a standard print version, you may request this media by visiting http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit us www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013934914

ISBN 978-1-118-55056-4 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-55190-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-55189-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-67459-8 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

James Russell has built and repaired PCs and installed, configured, and debugged most versions of Windows from Windows 3.1.1 for Workgroups to Windows 8. He began using OneNote in its initial release more than a decade ago and has loved the app ever since. He is a longtime editor and writer of technical books for John Wiley & Sons and other publishers. His latest book prior to OneNote 2013 For Dummies is Windows 8 Kickstart for McGraw-Hill. He is currently integrating social media strategy as a career focus and was recently named by Mashable.com as one of 101 social media experts to follow on Google+. James has had significant experience with the Mozilla open-source project since Mozilla’s M4 milestone in 1999, having been responsible for Netscape 6’s View Theme menu. He also rewrote the Linux and Windows release notes and README files for Mozilla’s .6 and 1.0 releases. You can find and follow James at @Kovu_ on Twitter or by looking him up by name on Facebook and Google+.

Dedication

To my sister Julie Mae Donovan: Always my touchtone, Emma.

Author’s Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I thank my amazing agent Carole Jelen, who pushed for me to have the chance to write a proposal for this book; and Steve Hayes, senior acquisitions editor at Wiley, for giving me extra time to prepare a proposal and for accepting said proposal. Thank you two for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to write a For Dummies book on a product I adore. Thanks are also due to Kara Berman and Melissa Dingle Hood at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide for helping me with general questions and for getting me Windows Phone screenshots. A special shout out also to Samantha Kristine for providing me with the screen shot of the Nexus 7 version of OneNote with absolutely zero notice.

Secondly, I’ve been an editor and sometime writer for John Wiley & Sons since March 1999 (then IDG Books Worldwide), and I wouldn’t be writing this book if it weren’t for a lot of IDGB/Wiley folks who’ve believed in me and helped me grow as an editor and as a writer over the last 14 years. Specifically, thanks are due to Leah Michael, Kyle Looper, Jodi Jensen, Kathryn Bourgoine, Jade Leah Williams, Andy Cummings, the “two Marys” Mary Bednarek and Mary C. Corder, Mark Enochs, Nicole Haims, Katie Feltman, Cherie Case, Melba Hopper, Sharon Mealka, and Megan Saur.

As is usually the case with writers, many people who didn’t help me write the book per se still helped me survive, stay centered, and were patient with me while I wrote and midwifed the book, and those people are due nods, as well. Specifically, thanks of course to my mother, Jacquelyn Arlene Cordoza, and my late father, John Howard Russell — I wouldn’t be me or here to write this book without you. Thanks also to my good friends Nancy Ciarrocchi and David Youhanna for all you’ve both done for me.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Vertical Websites

Sr. Project Editor: Mark Enochs

Executive Editor: Steve Hayes

Copy Editor: Melba Hopper

Technical Editor: Sharon Mealka

Editorial Manager: Leah Michael

Vertical Websites Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister

Supervising Producer: Rich Graves

Vertical Websites Associate Producers: Josh Frank, Marilyn Hummel, Douglas Kuhn, Shawn Patrick

Editorial Assistant: Annie Sullivan

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cover Photos: © ∏етр Степанов / iStockphoto for icon; Circle © John Takai / iStockphoto

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Katie Crocker

Layout and Graphics: Carrie A. Cesavice, Jennifer Creasey, Joyce Haughey

Proofreader: Toni Settle

Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Kathy Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

OneNote 2013 For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/onenote2013 to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Foolish Assumptions

Conventions Used in This Book

Icons Used in This Book

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Getting Started with OneNote 2013

Part II: Taking Notes via Other OneNote Versions

Part III: Putting OneNote Through Its Paces

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started with OneNote 2013

Chapter 1: OneNote Basics

Setting Up OneNote 2013

Getting a Microsoft account

Logging in to OneNote

Creating Notebooks, Sections, and Notes

Creating a notebook

Creating a new section

Creating a new section group

Creating a new note page

Saving Files . . . or Not

Getting to Know the OneNote 2013 Interface

Identifying parts of the OneNote window

Acquainting yourself with the revised Ribbon

Drawing in OneNote

Introducing the pen

Navigating the Draw tab

Chapter 2: Managing Notes and Configuring OneNote

Rearranging Notes

Moving or copying sections or pages

Merging sections

Renaming Notes

Deleting Notes or Sections

Retrieving Deleted Notes

Viewing Unfiled Notes

Syncing Notes

Syncing automatically

Syncing manually once

Configuring manual sync

Exporting Notes

Configuring OneNote

Changing account settings

Customizing the Quick Launch bar

Navigating OneNote’s options

Configuring View options

Password-Protecting Sections

Adding a password to a section

Removing a password from a section

Chapter 3: Formatting Notes

Formatting Notes

Checking out the standard Office formatting tools

Highlight note content with tags

Adding and Manipulating Images

Adding images by copying and pasting

Adding images by inserting

Adding images via the Screen Clipping tool

Retrieve text from images

Adding Audio and Video to Notes

Embedding an existing clip in your note

Recording a new clip to add to your note

Extracting Text from Handwriting

Creating Notes from Templates

Discovering default OneNote templates

Creating a note using a template

Creating a template

Setting a default template

Chapter 4: Inserting External Data and Taking Quick Notes

Inserting Data from Office Apps

Inserting data as a printout

Inserting data as file attachments

Inserting file data manually

Managing Office Data

Inserting word data as text

Inserting Excel data

Inserting data from Outlook

Inserting Visio diagrams

Adding External Data with the Send to OneNote Tool

Checking out the OneNote tool interface

Capturing screen clippings

Inserting data via the Send to OneNote Tool

Taking quick notes

Inserting External Data with the Insert Tab

Chapter 5: Securing and Managing Notes with SkyDrive

Getting SkyDrive on Your Device

Managing Notebooks on SkyDrive

Managing notebooks with the Windows 8 SkyDrive app

Managing notebooks with File Explorer or Windows Explorer

Managing notebooks with SkyDrive on the web

Managing notebooks with SkyDrive for iOS

Managing notebooks with SkyDrive for Android

Managing notebooks with SkyDrive for other platforms

Part II: Taking Notes via Other OneNote Versions

Chapter 6: Taking Notes with OneNote for Windows 8

Navigating the OneNote for Windows 8 Interface

Scrolling from left to right

Checking out key navigation tools

Introducing Radial Menus

Comprehending radial menus

Navigating radial menus

Identifying various radial menus

Selecting Items

Selecting with a mouse

Selecting with the pen button

Selecting with your finger

Adding Tags and Items

Formatting Notes

Modifying and manipulating text

Adding or removing lines

Changing a section’s color

Writing and Erasing Ink

Writing with the pen

Erasing with the pen

Managing Your Notes

Chapter 7: Taking Notes on Android Devices

Navigating the Interface

Writing Notes

Creating a new note

Opening existing notes

Adding list elements to notes

Recording notes

Adding a picture to a note

Deleting notes

Managing Notebooks and Notes

Checking Out OneNote Settings

Viewing the Options pane

Viewing the Settings menu

Viewing Android app settings

Chapter 8: Taking Notes on iOS Devices

Navigating OneNote for iOS

Checking out the OneNote interface

Writing Notes

Creating a new note

Opening existing notes

Adding a picture to a note

Naming and renaming a note

What you can’t rename or add

Deleting notes

Searching Notes

Managing Notebooks

Configuring OneNote Settings

Viewing in-app settings

Viewing other settings

Managing note syncing

Configuring image settings

Chapter 9: Managing and Taking Notes with OneNote Web App

Accessing the OneNote Web App

Exploring the OneNote Web App Interface

Getting familiar with tabs

Checking out the Reading View

Managing Your Notes

Making new notes

Opening existing notes

Adding formatting and tags

Renaming notes

Deleting notes

Changing section color

Creating subpages by indenting

Sharing Notes

Linking to a Note

Searching Your Notes

Part III: Putting OneNote Through Its Paces

Chapter 10: Sharing and Collaborating with OneNote

Taking Notes as a Team

Sharing via OneNote 2013

Sharing via OneNote Web App

Sharing via OneNote for Windows 8

Sharing via mobile devices

Sending Notes to Share Them

Viewing Versions and Authors

Viewing versions and authors in OneNote 2013

Viewing versions and authors in OneNote Web App

Managing Permissions

Managing permissions in OneNote 2013

Removing permissions in OneNote Web App

Chapter 11: Taking Notes in the Real World

Oh, What a Difference a Day Makes!

Making OneNote Your Digital School Binder

Taking OneNote to Work

Tracking charts in medical offices

Simplifying corporate meetings

Field work

Simplifying Your Life with OneNote at Home

Prescriptions

Recipes and grocery lists

Dictating ideas

Job application information

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Chapter 12: Ten (or So) Resources and Add-Ins for OneNote

OneNote 2013 For Dummies Online

Facebook page

Google+ page

Google+ community

Twitter account

Microsoft’s OneNote Blog

Office.com OneNote Templates

OneNote on Facebook

OneNote on Twitter

Engineering OneNote Blog

OneNote Testing Blog

Clip to OneNote Add-In

Onetastic and OneCalendar

Outline and Outline+

Office Labs and OneNote Blog

Chapter 13: Ten Killer Tips for OneNote

Backing Up Important Data

Accessing Entire Office Documents on iOS or Android

Dictating Notes Straight to Text

Retrieving Text from Images

Grabbing a Screen Clipping and Marking It Up

Marking Up Documents with a Pen

Copying Links to Specific Paragraphs

Searching Text in Images

Docking OneNote to the Desktop

Creating Outlook 2013 Tasks from OneNote

Cheat Sheet

End User License Agreement

Introduction

OneNote celebrates its tenth birthday with Office 2013, and finally I get to offer you an accompanying For Dummies book! OneNote has come a long way from its beginnings in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. It’s become a powerful super-app that allows you not only to take notes but also to consolidate other Office content, and now you can even access your notes on all major smartphones and tablets whether or not they run a version of Windows. With OneNote Mobile for Android and iOS, the OneNote Web App, click-to-run versions for Office 365, and the Windows 8 version of OneNote, suddenly OneNote is everywhere.

All told, Microsoft’s pet Office app of yore that so many loved but few publishers thought was worthy of a book has really grown up and achieved critical mass with the 2013 release. So welcome, friend, to the-long-lost-but-now-a-reality OneNote 2013 For Dummies!

Foolish Assumptions

Foolish as I am, I make assumptions. I kind of have to, actually; if not, I’d have to write a tome describing the fundamentals on how to use a computer, a smartphone, a tablet, and basic applications for all these devices — and you wouldn’t buy the book because it would be so expensive and off-topic. So I assume.

Following is specifically what I assume about you, gentle reader, as I write this book:

You have used a PC of some kind in the past, preferably running Windows 7 or Windows 8, as well as Windows apps.

You have used the Internet at some point in your jolly existence on this mud ball we call Earth.

You know what touchscreens, smartphones, and tablets are and how they work in general.

You know that Android is an operating system from Google that runs on smartphones and tablets.

You know that iOS is an operating system from Apple that runs on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches.

Foolish assumptions done with. Groovy. Moving on . . .

Conventions Used in This Book

This book uses two major text effects, one for typing items on your keyboard and one for computer output or hyperlinks within text. When I want you to type something, I use bold, as in, "In the Blah field, type your monkey was a wookiee." URLs and computer output appear like this, respectively: www.microsoft.com and www.facebook.com/onenotefordummies.

Also, because OneNote is on many platforms and now, with Windows 8, Windows is on touchscreens, the term “click” is no longer appropriate. Instead, you’ll see that I write “click or tap” and “right-click or press and hold on” to include instructions for both keyboard/mouse and touch interfaces.

A happy tale of your author and OneNote

In early 2002 while an in-house development editor at Wiley in Indianapolis, I gave a presentation to Wiley editors and brass on what I considered the future: How I was editing via pen marking up PDF chapters using a Wacom Intuos 2 tablet and Adobe Acrobat 5. Later that year, I bought a slightly used Acer tablet PC running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition — including the first version of OneNote. I fell in love with both the concept of the tablet and the OneNote app. Unfortunately, tablet PCs didn’t have touchscreen capabilities and were just not “there” as tablet devices.

In late 2012, my agent pings me via e-mail that Wiley is interested in seeing a proposal from me on OneNote 2013 For Dummies — I’d often wondered whether that book would ever be written. My proposal was accepted (yay!), and I started writing the book.

Fast forward a little further to mid-February 2013 at which time I have three chapters of OneNote 2013 For Dummies left to write — including the stuff on ink. Amazingly, I score a Surface Pro (a device I’ve coveted for years) in the first available batch from Microsoft just in time to write the ink-related content for the book — which can’t be properly written on anything other than a Surface Pro or a similar device.

So now I’m finishing up writing a book I’ve wanted to see for a decade using a machine I’ve wanted for as long. Can you say geek fate? I can.

Icons Used in This Book

I use a few standard icons in the book to visually call out information that’s especially useful or noteworthy. Specifically, OneNote 2013 For Dummies uses the following icons.

Tips call out information that can save you time, is especially cool, or both. Read these to get the most out of the various versions of OneNote.

I use this icon when referring to something I want you to keep in mind or to remind you of something mentioned in earlier chapters.

This icon points out techie stuff that you may not want to bother reading but may find interesting if you do.

These icons aren’t to be ignored; if you see one, read it because it can save you some kind of trauma in regard to your notes — such as losing them or the content within them.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into logical parts and chapters to help you know where to look for the information you need. The following sections describe the book’s four parts.

Part I: Getting Started with OneNote 2013

In this part, I get you up to speed with OneNote 2013, which is the most feature-rich version of OneNote. Early chapters orient you to the software, while later chapters describe more intermediate topics.

Part II: Taking Notes via Other OneNote Versions

With OneNote 2013, the software is now complemented by several mobile versions of OneNote plus a Windows 8 version that overhauls the way you use OneNote — or any Windows app, for that matter — as well as versions for Android and iOS devices and OneNote Web App, which runs on any device that can access real (not mobile) web pages. This part gives you the skinny on all these versions.

Although Windows Phone isn’t covered much in this book, the functionality of the Windows Phone version of OneNote is most similar to the Android version of OneNote. Although all the instructions in Chapter 7 may not be accurate for OneNote on Windows Phone, the chapter will at least give you an idea about how to use OneNote on your Windows Phone.

Part III: Putting OneNote Through Its Paces

Sharing and collaborating are key features of OneNote, and the first chapter in this part shows you how to do so. The second chapter takes you through various fictional scenarios that show you how useful OneNote can be to helping you simplify your life whether you use the software at home, work, or school.

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Since the first For Dummies book DOS For Dummies by Dan Gookin, a staple of the series has been “The Part of Tens” chapters. In OneNote 2013 For Dummies, “The Part of Tens” chapters offer you ten cool resources and add-ins for OneNote as well as ten killer tips for using the software.

Where to Go from Here

For Dummies books include a Table of Contents at the beginning of the books and an Index at the back to help you easily look up topics you want to know about. From here, I suggest that you go to Chapter 1 if you’ve no idea how OneNote 2013 works. On the other hand, if you’re using OneNote on a mobile device, see the chapter in Part II that covers your device.

This book is also more than just the pages between the covers. Because your author is a social media fiend, he's given the book a Twitter account (@OneNoteFD), a Facebook page, a Google+ page, and a Google+ community page — see Chapter 12 for more information and how to find these sites.

Occasionally there are updates for tech books, and if there are any for this book, you can find them at www.dummies.com/go/onenote2013fd.

Part I

Getting Started with OneNote 2013

Visit www.dummies.com for great Dummies content online.

In this part . . .

Learn how to perform basic tasks in OneNote 2013.

Find out how to manage and organize your notes and keep them secure.

Read up on how to format your notes.

Discover how to insert external data and take quick notes.

Find out how you can sync with SkyDrive.

Chapter 1

OneNote Basics

In This Chapter

Getting started with OneNote

Making your first note

Managing your notes

Becoming familiar with the various OneNote interfaces

Many Microsoft Office suite applications have come and gone over the years, but none became one of the core Office apps alongside Word, Excel, and PowerPoint like OneNote has. Over the course of its decade in the Office suite, OneNote has become a killer application on many levels, and particularly OneNote 2013 with its SkyDrive cloud integration and instant sync. In addition, with versions on critical non-Microsoft platforms such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, OneNote has been thrown into the spotlight.

In this chapter, I show you how to get up and running with OneNote, including how to sign in to the app with a Microsoft account, how to create new notes and manage them, and how to familiarize yourself with the app’s interface.

Where OneNote came from

Microsoft originally created OneNote for the tablet PC, which ran Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, in Office 2003. The operating system was the first version of Windows to support the ability to write on a screen using a stylus using digital ink features, which is essentially a pen-like device without ink. OneNote was designed to take advantage of and show off these new stylus-based features. The initial targets for the new application were students taking notes in school, but as the years passed, OneNote became more feature-rich and diverse in terms of its utility, and with its ten-year anniversary release, OneNote has matured enough to appeal to far more people than just students.

Setting Up OneNote 2013

Office 2013, and thus OneNote, includes a new sign-in process that allows you to sync your Office settings across devices. Previous versions of OneNote and Office supported only the ability to include your name and initials in the applications’ options so that you had a sort of “signature” for comments and tracked changes. By contrast, OneNote 2013, as well as other apps in the Office 2013 suite, includes a Windows-like sign-in interface with which you can sync settings across devices and even run OneNote on computers and devices that don’t have the app installed.

If you use the same Microsoft account for Windows 8 and Office 2013, both Windows 8 and Office 2013 settings are synced via your SkyDrive across all Windows 8 or later devices that you log in to. Furthermore, you need to remember only one account name and password for both Windows and Office.

Getting a Microsoft account

With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft followed in the footsteps of its competitors Apple and Google and those companies’ app stores by creating the Windows Store and tying it to a Microsoft account. A Microsoft e-mail account that functions as a single sign-on to all Microsoft services, including Windows 8, Office 2013, and Windows Store, with which all your downloaded apps will be associated so that you can access them on other Windows 8-compatible devices.

While not required, without a Microsoft account, you won’t be able to use cool features like sync and SkyDrive across multiple devices — all of your apps and settings will be tied to a single computer.

Creating a brand-new Outlook.com account

At the same time that Office 2013 and Windows 8 were being finalized, Microsoft introduced a new e-mail service called Outlook.com. In similar fashion to Gmail, with an @outlook.com address you get 7G of free cloud storage via SkyDrive as well as integrated web app versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. (OneNote has a web version tied to the app, not Outlook.com; I discuss the OneNote web app interface in Chapter 9.) In comparison to all other Microsoft e-mail accounts, which come with none of these features, Outlook.com clearly offers far more value.

Designed essentially as a competitor to Google Docs, Outlook.com web apps offer a more limited feature set than the full Office 2013 apps, but these features are nonetheless adequate for casual users.

You can set up an Outlook.com account at — surprise! — www.outlook.com. Here's how:

1. Surf over to www.outlook.com with your web browser and click the Sign Up Now link.

A screen appears with empty text fields.

2. Fill in your name, birth date, and gender under the Who Are You? heading.

3. Fill in a desired account name under the How Would You Like to Sign In? heading and then enter a password twice into the next two fields.

4. In the next section, enter at least two methods for Microsoft to identify you if you need to reset your password.

You can enter your phone number, add an alternate e-mail address, or click the Or Choose a Security Question link and choose a question and enter your answer.

5. Choose your location and enter your ZIP code in the next section.

6. Enter the CAPTCHA code in the field, uncheck the check box below it if you don’t want promotional e-mails, and click or tap the I Accept button.

A screen appears explaining a bit about your new account with a video you can watch if you choose to.

7. Click or tap the Continue to Inbox button, and you’re done.

Upgrading an existing Microsoft account to Outlook.com

If you have an existing Microsoft e-mail account such as @hotmail, @MSN.com, or @Live.com, you can upgrade it to an Outlook.com account easily. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your existing account at Live.com.

2. Click or tap the Upgrade for Free link in the Outlook.com ad at the bottom right of your main page.

A screen appears explaining a bit about your new account with a video you can watch if you choose to.

3. Click or tap the Continue to Inbox button, and you’re done.

If you later decide to switch back to your old Microsoft account, select the gear wheel icon in the upper-right of the page and choose Switch Back to Hotmail. You cannot switch back to an @MSN.com account; Microsoft is actively disabling the MSN.com domain.

Logging in to OneNote

As mentioned earlier in the chapter, logging in to OneNote allows you to customize your Office 2013 experience as well as sync settings across any device you use Office on. After you have a Microsoft account as described in the previous sections, follow these steps to log in:

1. Open OneNote 2013.

A small window appears.

2. Click or tap the Sign In button.

3. Enter the e-mail address and password for your Microsoft account and click Sign In.

Click or tap your name in the upper-right corner of the OneNote window to find links to change your profile photo, account settings, and profile information.

Creating Notebooks, Sections, and Notes

To understand notes, you need to understand the basic organization of notebooks, which include sections and pages within those sections. The OneNote interface hails somewhat from Excel’s multiple workbook tabs — the three or more tabs at the bottom of an Excel spreadsheet — except that in OneNote, each of those tabs would have an unlimited number of subtabs within it called pages.

Picture an actual notebook — not a cheapie knockoff with just paper in it, but an actual notebook with tabbed sections in it. As shown in Figure 1-1, you would write the title of the notebook on its cover, names of sections on the tabs interspersed between the pages, and then write your notes in the notebook on the actual pages between those section tabs. See Figure 1-2 to see what this translates to when looking at OneNote.

Figure 1-1: An illustration of pages within sections within notebooks.

Figure 1-2: Pages within sections within a notebook in OneNote 2013.

As an example of how this structure can work for a notebook, I’ll use a notebook I created for this book. I named the notebook (surprise!) OneNote For Dummies.