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Tags in OneNote – Tutorial with Video

/ / Latest, Microsoft, Office 2016, OneNote 2016

Tags in OneNote: Video Lesson

            This video lesson, titled “Tagging Notes,” shows you how to use tags in OneNote. This video lesson on how to use tags in OneNote is from our complete OneNote 2016-2013 training, titled “Mastering OneNote Made Easy v.2016-2013.”

Tags in OneNote: Overview

            You use tags in OneNote to keep your content organized and easy to locate. Tags in OneNote give you a visual way to identify content within categories. Tags in OneNote also help you organize content, remember tasks, or find content based on the tags attached to it. You can attach tags to any content in OneNote for categories such as “Highlight,” to highlight important content; “Password,” to identify where passwords appear, or “Schedule Meeting,” to remind yourself to schedule a meeting around certain content. OneNote includes several built-in tags. You can modify the built-in tags in OneNote and also create your own custom tags in OneNote.

            To apply tags in OneNote, select the content on the page in the notebook you want to tag. With the content selected, click the “Home” tab in the Ribbon. Then click the “More” button in the “Tags” scroll box in the “Tags” button group. The “More” button looks like a downward-pointing arrow with a small line above it. Scroll through the list of tags and click one to attach it to the selected content. The icon at the left of the tags in the scroll box then appears to the left of the content.

            To find tags in OneNote, click the “Find Tags” button in the “Tags” button group on the “Home” tab of the Ribbon. It’s a toggle button that will turn the visibility of the “Tags” pane both on and off. In the “Tags” pane,  you can change the grouping and display of the tags in the “Tags” pane. You can do this by using the “Group tags by:” drop-down. Select “Tag name,” “Section,” “Title,” “Date” or “Note Text” to group the tags. You can also show only tags not checked as completed by selecting the “Show only unchecked items” checkbox.  At the bottom of the pane, use the “Search:” drop-down to choose where to search for tags. To show the changes in the “Tags” pane after changing the grouping or search settings, click the “Refresh Results” button. To jump to tagged content in OneNote and highlight it, click a tag shown in the “Tags” pane.

            If the tag you have assigned requires action on your part, such as “To Do” or “Call back,” you can click the small checkbox to the left of the tag in the pane or on the page to mark it as done. In the future, as you are searching for tags, if the “Show only unchecked items” checkbox is checked, that content will not appear in the search results. You can also click the “Create Summary Page” button in the pane to create a tag summary page. The summary page can be used as a master tag list. You can close the “Tags” pane at any time by clicking the “X” in the upper-right corner of the pane.

Tags in OneNote - Tutorial: A picture of a user marking a "To Do" tag as "done" by checking the checkbox for the tag in OneNote 2016.

Tags in OneNote – Tutorial: A picture of a user marking a “To Do” tag as “done” by checking the checkbox for the tag in OneNote 2016.

            To remove tags in OneNote, first select the tagged content in the page. Click the “More” button in the “Tags” scroll box in the “Tags” button group of the Ribbon. Then select “Remove Tag.”

            To customize the tags in OneNote or create your own custom tags, click the “More” button in the “Tags” scroll box in the “Tags” button group of the Ribbon. Then select “Customize Tags…” to launch the “Customize Tags” dialog box. In the “Customize Tags” dialog box, you can change the order the tags are displayed in the “Tags” scroll box by clicking to select a tag and then clicking either the “Up” or “Down” arrow to move the tag within the list. You can also click the “Remove” button, which looks like an “X,” to delete a tag from the list.

            To modify an existing tag, click or tap to select it and then click the “Modify Tag” button at the bottom of the dialog box to launch the “Modify Tag” dialog box. Here, make any changes you desire by using the drop-downs available. These drop-downs let you change the tag name, the tag symbol, the font color or add a highlight. To accept the changes you have made, click “OK.”

            To create a new tag, click the “New Tag…” button at the bottom of the “Customize Tags” dialog box. This time, OneNote will launch the “New Tag” dialog box. This dialog box works the same way the “Modify Tag” dialog box does. Add a name, symbol, font color, and highlight color, and then click the “OK” button. The new tag immediately appears in your tags list and is available for tagging content.

Tags in OneNote: Instructions

  1. To apply tags in OneNote, select the content on the page in the notebook you wish to tag.
  2. Click the “Home” tab in the Ribbon and then the “More” button, which looks like a downward-pointing arrow with a small line above it, in the “Tags” scroll box in the “Tags” button group.
  3. Then scroll through the list of tags and click one to attach it to the selected content.
  4. To find tags in OneNote, click the “Find Tags” button in the “Tags” group on the “Home” tab of the Ribbon.
  5. To turn the visibility of the “Tags” pane on and off, click the “Find Tags” button in the “Tags” group on the “Home” tab of the Ribbon.
  6. If you want to change how tags in OneNote are grouped and displayed in the “Tags” pane, use the “Group tags by:” drop-down in the “Tags” pane to select either “Tag name,” “Section,” Title,” “Date” and “Note Text.”
  7. To display only tags not checked as completed, check the checkbox for “Show only unchecked items.”
  8. To choose where to search for tags in OneNote, use the “Search:” drop-down at the bottom of the pane to choose a search location.
  9. if you want to jump to tagged content in OneNote and highlight it, click a tag shown in the “Tags” pane
  10. To show changes you make to the tags, click the “Refresh Content” button at the bottom of the pane.
  11. To mark a tag complete, if the tag that you have assigned requires action on your part, click the small checkbox to the left of the tag in the pane or on the page to mark that task as done. In the future, as you are searching for tags, if the “Show only unchecked items” checkbox is checked, that content will not appear in the search results.
  12. If you want to create a new page that summarizes all your tags, click the “Create Summary Page” button at the bottom of the pane.
  13. To close the “Tags” pane, click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the pane.
  14. To remove tags in OneNote, select the tagged content in the page.
  15. Then click the “More” button in the “Tags” scroll box in the “Tags” button group of the Ribbon.
  16. Then select “Remove Tag.”
  17. To customize the tags in OneNote or create your own custom tags, click the “More” button in the “Tags” scroll box in the “Tags” button group of the Ribbon.
  18. Then select “Customize Tags…” to launch the “Customize Tags” dialog box.
  19. To change the order in which tags in NoteNote are shown in the “Tags” scroll box, select a tag in the “Customize Tags” dialog box.
  20. Then click either the “Up” or “Down” arrow to move the tag in the list.
  21. To delete a tag from the list, click the “Remove” button, which looks like an “X.”
  22. To modify an existing tag, click or tap to select it.
  23. Then click the “Modify Tag..” button at the bottom of the dialog box to launch the “Modify Tag” dialog box.
  24. Then make any changes you desire by using the drop-downs available. These drop-downs let you change the tag name, the tag symbol, the font color or add a highlight.
  25. To accept the changes made, click “OK.”
  26. To create new tags in OneNote, click the “New Tag…” button at the bottom of the “Customize Tags” dialog box to launch the “New Tag” dialog box.
  27. Then add a name, symbol, font color and highlight color and click “OK.”
  28. The new tag immediately appears in your tags list and is available for tagging content.
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