How to move onenote sections back to top of notebook?

Anonymous
2017-05-26T06:50:42+00:00

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.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2017-05-27T19:38:21+00:00

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.

Was this answer helpful?

400+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2017-05-27T05:41:55+00:00

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 :)

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

434 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2020-12-16T01:18:38+00:00

    I currently have two different versions of OneNote on Windows (see below).  Neither version one OneNote have their notebooks and respective notebook pages horizontally.  Does anyone know which specific version I can download that has notebooks and notebook pages tabbed horizontally?

    1.  OneNote*(Included with Microsoft Office)*

    This is the successor to OneNote 2016.  It displays the Notebook names in horizontal tabs.  However, respective notebook pages are still vertical:

    1. OneNote for Windows 10

    This can be downloaded via the Microsoft Store.  Both the Notebook names and notebook pages are all vertical.. which makes Onenote almost unusable for me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-16T00:08:10+00:00

    Not sure about PC land as I am a Mac guy.

    Happy to share what we do on mac OS. We download a local copy of the OneNote executable in the version that supports across top tabs.

    Make sure your data is sync’d to the cloud aka backed up. Uninstall One Note.

    Then reinstall the version containing the tabs.

    Keep your installer somewhere accessible as depending on your enviromment updates are involuntarily pushed and this allows you to revert back on demand if and when things get jazzed up. Those are the noted we play to make the world make sense. 

    The One Team arent my favorite MS Boys and Girls any more and will remain in that rank until thrt give us what we want and stop imagining what we want.

    we know what we want in MAC land and have sounded off collectively.

    Show us some Love ! 

    Hope it helps.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-15T17:39:50+00:00

    Yeah. Not so much. Would love to go back to the way it was. 

    I posted this originally back in August. You can get the free download for OneNote 2016 and that has the old layout. Problem solved. I've been using it for months now with no problem. Loving having my top tabs back.

    After months of waiting and making do with the Onenote for Windows 10 issues, I did a search for OneNote desktop and discovered that there is a free download and install of Windows 2016. Once I installed it and made it my default program for OneNote my tabs are back on top, I can extract text from images, I can do everything that the desktop version is supposed to do that the superior minds in MS programming removed in order to "improve" usability of OneNote for Windows 10.

    I did have to close and reopen each notebook for all of the content to sync, but it worked like a charm.

    Dane PMan, I do a lot with Section Groups within a notebook. Within a section group (major category) you can add additional section groups and then sections under that.  So you don't necessarily need 50 tabs across the top. you could possibly reduce that to 5-10 major groupings with addition groupings, then sections, then pages underneath in a new master notebook.

    It would take some time but you could then move pages from your current plethora of notebooks to the appropriate groups and sections within your new one. Or even keep 1-3 notebooks for various major areas and then subdivide within those and consolidate.

    I've done that a few times with work files in order to keep from managing disparate notebooks.

    Paul

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments