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

Anonymous
2016-12-19T18:03:55+00:00

So this is what my one note looks like:

But I would like to get it to look like this layout instead:

This is how its advertised for mac and I have not been able to find anyone else with the same issue that I'm having. I just want the sections pane to be at the top and look like tabs, and the pages view to be on the right. 

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Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | MacOS

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Anonymous
2017-11-13T08:07:41+00:00

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to get used to the new layout (and hope for some improvement on that in coming versions) rather than sticking with an outdated app version.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 Also I do not know how that outdated app will behave under High Sierra in the long term.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.

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Anonymous
2017-11-12T13:14:59+00:00

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 So there is no way to go back to the old look except for installing an outdated version (prior to 15.34) from this link and prevent your Office updater from installing automatic OneNote updates in the future -- which I don't recommend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

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Anonymous
2017-05-19T16:34:25+00:00

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-05-25T01:37:51+00:00

    This is one more example of Microsoft making terrible design decisions and removing customization, not to mention giving blatant falsehoods.

    1. Given OneNote on Windows has not changed at all, saying this delivers a consistent look across devices is a lie.  Obviously, we want OneNote on Mac to look the same as it does on Windows so it IS consistent, AND so it has the same layout it has had since release.
    2. The fact that you can customize the layout on Windows, but you can NOT on Mac, is terrible to begin with, and shows the continuing disjoint between the product teams.  Given it's clearly possible to have layout preferences, the fact that the ability to customize your layout was removed is incomprehensible.  We should be able to choose the layout that works best for us.
    3. I don't believe for a second that hundreds of people or product telemetry in any way gave you data to make a change that no one likes.

    Microsoft's recent decisions in most products to introduce new designs that no one likes, and are counter to productivity, and to not allow customization, are severely hurting their market.  Why pay for products that take this draconian approach when open source solutions (free!) have all the same features and quite possibly more flexibility.  If we wanted to be locked into someone else's grand notion of what is best, we'd use Apple products.  Of course there's the rub isn't it in this case (I need to use both for my work, prefer Windows, or at least I did back in Win 7 days...).

    The point is this change is obviously a terrible decision, it's plain common sense.  You have crowded the screen horizontally so now all pages fail to fit on the screen and we have to re-organize them.  However, that's ONLY an issue for Mac, which means as I work on Windows I will be making notes that look fine but run off the side on Mac, and then when I fix it on Mac will have blank space on the side on Windows.  Just let us put the tabs on the top where they are supposed to be and let us scroll vertically like we always have and so thing ARE consistent across platform.  Or are you planning to break the Windows version soon too so we just give up and more to something like Evernote?

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