"Insert link to file"- where did this go?

Anonymous
2013-02-06T22:04:23+00:00

I'm an attorney, and I created a great litigation and trial-management system using only OneNote.  We put it to use in a large "mass action" case with over fifty plaintiffs and tens of thousands of exhibits.  The system allowed us to completely outmaneuver the plaintiffs at trial, and we were able to line up exhibits, deposition citations, and both direct and cross examination questions from a single program.   We all credit a great deal of our defense verdict to the system.

The key feature that let us build the various pages for trial quickly was the ability to drag and drop exhibit pdfs into the onenote pages as links to files.  Due to the sheer volume of exhibits, as well as the ease of using tables, links were far more effective than inserting the files directly, and certainly more effective than inserting printouts. 

With OneNote 2013, this mission-critical feature appears to be missing.  I can only insert the file, or insert a printout.  I don't want to do either- I want to insert a link.  I know that I can insert links using the manual "insert link" function, but that is slower and more error prone than the simplicity of the previous versions.  Am I missing a key option to trigger?  Or is this a missing feature from OneNote 2013?  If the latter, I suspect we will stick with 2010....

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-02-11T12:13:17+00:00

    (i guess it's CTRL+K instead of CTRL+I)

    i think it's much more intuitive if you can just drop files to notebook, or just save files in explorer so they show up in the notebook

    like i describe in

    https://onenote.uservoice.com/forums/256328-onenote-users/suggestions/7080538-files

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-11T16:56:32+00:00

    Preparing for several annual meetings come this february and march, having hundreds of files in several folders, drag to link in OneNote is a much missed option by me too after upgrading from Office 2010 to Office 365 Small Business Premium. 

    There is a workaround I figured out.  It's fairly simple, but does not excuse the removal of this important, basic feature.  It's considerably faster than manually linking, and it doesn't require the installation of any add ins which might be problematic for users with draconian IT departments (is that a redundant expression?).

    1.  Open your web browser. 

    2.  In the address bar, navigate to the folder path with the load of files you want to link.  The browser should display a list consisting all the files in the directory.  The listed files are links to the same. 

    3.  From there, select the links you want, then copy/paste them into the onenote page.  It will create a table automatically, which you can modify/destroy/whatever

    And done. Regardless, a return to this as an option for a simple drag and drop operation would be quite welcome.  I'd still love to know why they removed this feature.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-12T17:01:16+00:00

    I rephrased my idea once more

    https://onenote.uservoice.com/forums/256328-onenote-users/suggestions/7086905-insert-files-in-onenote

    perhaps check it out and vote on it, maybe dev team would pick it up. and we'll be able to insert files in OneNote in a convenient way

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-02-18T15:02:18+00:00

    2 years went by, and this popular feature which worked so well in older versions didn't come back.

    Even worse. It doesn't work in 365 either.

    I think that dragging and dropping elements or links to an application that is supposed to store all kinds of information one can think of, is one of the most basic features.

    Wasn't OLE one of the new features of Windows 3.1? Object linking and embedding? And now, more than 20 years later, Microsoft takes some of these features away from their newest products!

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-02-24T19:04:47+00:00

    I love OneNote... but wish it were more like Notebook for the Mac (by Circus Ponies)

    I use it similar to that described above, but for storing, assimilating and creating information related to medical devices and how they are used - using all kinds of media.  Notebook lets you create real sections that can be expanded and contracted as the need arises. 

    I have too many OneNote notebooks with tabs and pages - would have far few with the feature I described from Notebook.

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