Onenote for mac 2016 move section pane to top as tabs, and pages pane to right (like on Windows)

zanne ~ Welcome to the Community. Uncheck "Enable experimental features" via OneNote menu > Preferences... > General icon:

...Then vote here:

Leaving (or option to leave) the section tabs at the top on the page instead of on the side

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I'd recommend to get used to the new layout (and hope for some improvement on that in coming versions) rather than sticking with an outdated app version. The Updates between 15.33 and now (16.7 for me on insider fast) have removed a lot of bugs and incorporated some new features. Also I do not know how that outdated app will behave under High Sierra in the long term.

I did find some advantages in the new layout (although I also preferred the tabs on top as I mostly use OneNote 2016 for Windows which is the only version left that has it): Especially with more than 6 or 7 sections in a notebook I'd have to scroll horizontally to see more sections and/or use very short names for them.

Yes, you are right about the cloud only storage. This is the case for ALL OneNote versions except for OneNote 2016 which comes with MS Office 2016 for Windows (only!). That is more of a leftover from older OneNote versions (2003, 2007) on Windows, when there was not cloud storage. OneNote is declared "cloud software" now by Microsoft so this "restriction" will most likely not change. 

If you are looking for a similar powerful note taking sotftware that can synchronize across multiple systems/platforms/devices AND gives you the option to locally save your notes (without syncing to other devices in that case), your only choice would be Evernote with a paid subscription. But that one has it's weaknesses as well (IMO a lot of them in the latest versions) and a much more cluttered interface.

The new UI layout isn't an experimental feature anymore since version 15.34. So there is no way to go back to the old look except for installing an outdated version (prior to 15.34) from this link and prevent your Office updater from installing automatic OneNote updates in the future -- which I don't recommend very strongly.

Hello--

This is Denise from the OneNote Team.  The left-side navigation is the default OneNote navigation.

We'd love to get more information on what we can do to improve it.

As you’ve noticed, we have made some design updates and based on feedback from existing customers, we focused on 3 key areas:  1) consistency across platforms, (2) usability for those who use assistive technologies such as screen readers, and (3) improving organization and navigation of notes**.** Regardless of what device someone is using, the experience will be the same, so people can capture thoughts, add files and get things done more quickly with no time required to learn new design patterns. We also focused on making OneNote more usable for those with disabilities such as vision and mobility impairments. We interviewed hundreds of people and analyzed product telemetry to understand how to best improve OneNote for use with screen readers and keyboard shortcuts. This design update makes OneNote easier to use for everyone. We also worked with users to learn how we could improve the navigation layout, especially for larger notebooks with more sections. Now, the navigation controls are all in one area on the left-hand side of the app. which allows people to easily switch between their notes and maintain focus on their work rather than the clicks in the app. 

We encourage you to try the new navigation and let us know what you like, what you don't like, and where we might improve.

Please try out the following:

• Resize the navigation panes by dragging from their borders with your mouse.
• Hide the navigation panes, or toggle previews of page content, by opening the View menu and choosing Navigation Panes.
• Change the position in the page list where new pages are created via Settings (on Windows and iOS) or Preferences (on Mac).

For more information, please go to the link below --

Get started with the new OneNote 

http://support.office.com/article/ab84fcc2-f845-41ac-9c29-89b0720c8eb3