How to move onenote sections back to top of notebook?

Anonymous

I have found that the default onenote view is to have sections run along the top of the notebook instead of on the right (vertical view). I prefer to have my sections run along the top in the default view, but somehow, my view changed where all my sections are in a left aligned vertical view. I cannot figure out how to revert back to where all the section tabs are back along the top of each notebook. Please show me how. I cannot find this info anywhere in Microsoft support. Please note, this screenshot was taken while Office Theme = Colorful and while the "Enable Experimental Features" box was checked.

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Anonymous

Hi Nick. I'm glad to hear you're an actual MicroSoft engineer. I hope it is an engineer specifically for the OneNote product. I want to call B.S. on your "user testing". Switching over without the option of giving your end users a choice of layout was plain stupid and short-sighted on the part of MicroSoft. I've been using OneNote for just over a year despite being an avid Apple products user. I did this on the advice of two colleagues who use Onenote regularly, and who actually work for Microsoft (as employees, not vendors). Both of them state that they use tabs across the top and they believe it is only the Apple version that was changed permanently. They stated they would revert to version 15.33 if the engineering team forced this changed upon the software! Also, why don't you take a moment to read the feedback that you've been receiving about this forced change? Not just within the VOTE page (which has risen to 370), but throughout all the tickets that have been submitted asking how to restore this, as well as posts and comments made within the Microsoft online community. The 370 votes posted are only a small percentage of dissent that's out there. Nick, take your head out of the sand. Really. You can add this as an option for those who prefer tabs on the left... But why force it? Stupid. Plain stupid.

I have reverted back to version 15.33 using Apple's time machine. If anyone reading this wants to know how to fix this issue, the answer is revert back to version 15.33. If you don' have Time Machine, and you need an alternative means to do so, please post a message here and I will help you with this.

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Anonymous

Hey Santiago! I'm an engineer on the OneNote team.

To bring consistency across the OneNote platforms we've moved the section selection to the left side of the screen. Through user testing we've determined that (while the migration can be confusing) users find the updated experience to be more intuitive given our hierarchy structure (Notebook => Section => Page).

You're welcome to leave feedback for this change on UserVoice :)

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434 additional answers

Anonymous

2017-05-27T02:36:18+00:00

Qing, "design updates and based on feedback from existing customers". I call B.S. on that one. I have reverted back to 15.33, and based on all the feedback I've seen, I have not seen any advocates for the new layout. Making this change without providing the users the option of choosing they own layout preference is pathetic. The facts are MANY users are reverting back to the former version 15.33 because of this critical error. Please save us your template and lifeless answer. Thank you.
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Anonymous

2017-07-15T13:39:26+00:00

So far, there have been 422 negative comments on the change and counting. And not one positive vote for the current system.
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Anonymous

2017-07-15T17:23:26+00:00

How can you justify that this change brings consistency across platforms? I frequently use OneNote on my Windows 10 laptop. Thankfully the tabs are still across the top - and PLEASE don't move them! It's much too easy to accidentally delete a page by swiping left on a mobile device. I can't find any option in Settings to confirm or cancel a delete. It requires doing a restore - a real nuisance.

Microsoft needs to recognize the needs/requests of ALL their end users. Some users are not tech savvy and this type of change is unnecessary and frustrating. I don't know how anyone finds this "updated experience" to be more intuitive. Go back to the drawing board and give us an option to determine where we want the tabs - PLEASE! We're the ones paying for it.
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