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

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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.

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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 :)

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-05-11T11:28:57+00:00

    Having the section tabs of Onenote bouncing in and out on the left side of the screen is really annoying and means it costs us clicks or keystrokes just to see the tabs of our notebooks. It also forces the Onenote window to be wider than it would otherwise need to be on a PC desktop. On a desktop, we shouldn't be forced to go wide with our windows when for one row of window real estate we could see all our section tabs always. You're supposed to make productivity apps more productive not less. Would it really have been that hard to give us a choice? The PC desktop does not quite have the same display constraints as smart phones and tablets. Microsoft may want to rethink what it's done.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-05-11T12:44:37+00:00

    Except Microsoft do not care what users think ! Which is why their products are becoming stale and old !

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-05-11T16:42:34+00:00

    Maybe I live still live in the 'stone age'. But after nearly 40 years of IT upper tier support and management for companies like IBM, Compaq and HP I think what I will say holds true. 

    To me OneNote is really a business application not a mobile phone applicaion. I fully understand that restrictions of a cell phone/tablets and graphic realestate issue.

    But OneNote really needs a full keyboard/computer set up to work at its best IMO. A OneNote on these other platforms should have been a totally seperate app (OneNote lite?). But nope...they flipped it and now we have this mess. I rarely use OneNote anymore it is now to much of a PITA. And I used to use it on a daily if not hourly basis. 

    Thanks MS for screwing up probably one of the best office desktop applications you ever produced.

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