"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
    2015-03-26T11:11:42+00:00

    Good document management practice specifies NOT having multiple versions of files in multiple locations so linking to a single source file is the correct and safe way to work.  In other words, store the original in one place and use links/short cuts to access it for viewing and/or editing.

    In any event, OneNote is not a good place to keep originals since it is not really a file or document manager.  

    Easiest solution I have found is to use CTRL-K to bring up the link dialog, navigate to the required file, select it and click OK.  The file location and its name are then inserted for you.  However, this is not anywhere near as good as dragging files into OneNote and being given the option of inserting the original OR a link - please bring this back soon.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-03-26T16:41:33+00:00

    Good document management practice specifies NOT having multiple versions of files in multiple locations so linking to a single source file is the correct and safe way to work.  In other words, store the original in one place and use links/short cuts to access it for viewing and/or editing.

    I agree

    Bernd

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-04-29T16:25:50+00:00

    Two years later and nothing. No wonder people love Microsoft so much.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-05-15T02:05:40+00:00

    I'd second, third, and fourth this.  Without this feature, OneNote is maybe half as useful to me at work--inserting attacments or links is ten times clunkier and more time consuming.  Please, please bring this back asap!  (I'll send good karma.)

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-05-19T12:22:56+00:00

    Hi Omer

    This response was two years ago - was there no way of bringing the drag-and-drop/copy-and-paste a link to file functionality back? I have recently updated to Office 2013 and, because I use OneNote for just about everything, I miss it very much! It's a shame this hasn't been fixed but am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be addressed in a future update.

    Best regards,

    Nat

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