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
    2019-05-11T18:12:51+00:00

    I think it's a little different.

    1. Many people may have used OneNote as a business application but I am pretty sure it has never really been one. When Chris Pratley inented it about 17 years ago he wanted merely a "personal information manager". It was not meant to be part of MS Office back then. When Microsoft failed to position it in the market and make money out of it they decided to add it to the office package to add some value to it. Also they hastily added some COm API add-ins (Outlook) and DLL calls (e.g. spell checking, autocorrect) but never really integrated it into MS Office. This most likely had political and organizational reasons (different departments and development teams).
    2. OneNote for WIndows 10 in fact IS a totally different app, programmed from scratch and mostly with mobile devices (Surface) in mind. Microsoft did not switch or migrate it; they simply sunsetted the Win 32 version. It did not transmute to the app that is now left; both wer separate programs, existing in parallel and Microsoft simply decided to dump the desktop version (which they hadn't developed any further since at least 2013 btw), most likely because they did not find a way to make money out of it or get any other benefit from it. They hope they will with the Windows 10 app by conquering the educational market with it. Business use of OneNote is not in their interest at all.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-05-11T19:19:30+00:00

    You make some very good points.

    So the bottom line is that they didn't market it correctly. It was then relegated to add on/value added. Then MS turned it over to probies coders that were young and everything they knew was orientated around smart phones/pads. Rather than full blown computers. Makes sense.

    IMHO, MS screwed up big time with this product in not promoting and presenting it as a pivotal product for business. I for one used it all the time while working. I was ALWAYS amazed that so few of my co-workers knew nothing about about it.

    But after an brief intro they were hooked.  A place where....like a briefcase...you can dump all your stuff...no formats no this or that...just dump it into a folder and sort it out later.

    Gee just like what one normally does while doing business. 

    Shame.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-05-12T11:41:45+00:00

    Did you find a useful replacement for OneNote?  I use it all the time, but as MS won't support or fix it, I see the beginning of the end.

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