Microsoft OneNote (Desktop App)
Ends soon! Keep adding new skills with 10,000+ programs for $239 (usually $399). Save now.
What you'll learn
Create and structure electronic notebooks with custom page templates, section groups, and color-coded tabs.
Incorporate diverse media by embedding Excel spreadsheets, recording live audio, capturing screen clips, and attaching files.
Secure private notes with password encryption and track revision history to restore deleted or modified content.|Learn by doing.
Perform guided, step-by-step hands-on activities on your own computer.
Skills you'll gain
Tools you'll learn
Details to know
January 2026
1 assignment
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
There are 8 modules in this course
In our fast-paced digital world, the need to capture ideas, meeting notes, and to-do items is ever present. Microsoft's® OneNote® app provides a way for you to efficiently create and collect your notes in an electronic notebook. This course will help you use OneNote notebooks to store a wide variety of content in an organized structure, access the content from anywhere, and also share it with others. Additionally, learning how OneNote and other applications in the Microsoft 365 suite are integrated will increase your productivity.
This course is intended for people in a variety of roles and fields who have a basic understanding of Microsoft 365 and want to incorporate digital note taking and note collaboration by using Microsoft OneNote. In this course, you will: navigate and customize the OneNote environment and create your first notebook; add and format various types of notes and note elements, including text, links, and drawing objects; add images, video, audio, Excel spreadsheets, and other types of files to a notebook; organize, categorize, and search notebook content; finalize notebook content by checking spelling, printing copies, and password-protecting notebooks; manage notebooks by exporting content and working with history and backups; and share notebooks using Outlook and collaborate with colleagues using OneDrive. This course requires that you have Microsoft OneNote installed on a Windows PC. The course setup instructions provided in the first module of the course go into more detail about the hardware and software requirements.
In this first lesson, you will get started by exploring the different parts of a notebook and learning how to navigate the OneNote interface. Understanding the OneNote environment and the components of a notebook, adding notes, and adding other content are the building blocks for learning OneNote.
What's included
15 plugins
15 plugins•Total 105 minutes
- Data Files and Setup for This Course•15 minutes
- About This Course•1 minute
- Lesson Introduction•1 minute
- Topic 1A: Navigate the OneNote Environment•1 minute
- 1A-1: Reading•15 minutes
- 1A-2: Activity•10 minutes
- 1A-3: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 1B: Create Notebook Pages from Page Templates•1 minute
- 1B-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 1B-2: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 1C: Customize the OneNote User Interface•1 minute
- 1C-1: Reading•10 minutes
- 1C-2: Activity•10 minutes
- Mastery Builder: Creating a Custom Page Template•10 minutes
- Lesson Summary•5 minutes
Now that you know how to navigate notebooks, you're ready to add content to them. Within each Microsoft® OneNote® notebook page, you have the ability to add a wide variety of content and also format note entries for a specific look and feel. These features will enhance your notebook and make the content easier to read and edit.
What's included
18 plugins
18 plugins•Total 130 minutes
- Lesson Introduction•1 minute
- Topic 2A: Format Notebook Content•1 minute
- 2A-1: Reading•15 minutes
- 2A-2: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 2B: Add Quick Notes and Linked Notes to a Notebook•1 minute
- 2B-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 2B-2: Activity•10 minutes
- 2B-3: Activity•10 minutes
- 2B-4: Reading•5 minutes
- 2B-5: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 2C: Use Drawing Tools in a Notebook•1 minute
- 2C-1: Reading•10 minutes
- 2C-2: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 2D: Use Dictation in a Notebook•1 minute
- 2D-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 2D-2: Activity•10 minutes
- Mastery Builder: Formatting and Drawing in a Notebook•20 minutes
- Lesson Summary•5 minutes
As a Microsoft® 365 product, OneNote® can work with files from other 365 applications. You can create links to other files on a notebook page to avoid having to create duplicate content. An even more powerful feature is the ability to embed a file so that you can make changes to the file content and update the file in its source application without leaving the OneNote interface.
What's included
15 plugins
15 plugins•Total 89 minutes
- Lesson Introduction•1 minute
- Topic 3A: Insert Images, Video, and Audio into a Notebook•1 minute
- 3A-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 3A-2: Activity•10 minutes
- 3A-3: Reading•5 minutes
- 3A-4: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 3B: Embed Excel Spreadsheets in a Notebook•1 minute
- 3B-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 3B-2: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 3C: Attach Other File Types to a Notebook•1 minute
- 3C-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 3C-2: Activity•10 minutes
- 3C-3: Activity•10 minutes
- Mastery Builder: Embedding Spreadsheet Data in a Notebook•10 minutes
- Lesson Summary•5 minutes
As the number of sections and pages in your notebooks increases, the ability to search for specific content becomes an important feature. OneNote provides various ways to help you identify notebook content faster.
What's included
10 plugins
10 plugins•Total 78 minutes
- Lesson Introduction•1 minute
- Topic 4A: Use Tags to Categorize Notes•1 minute
- 4A-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 4A-2: Activity•15 minutes
- Topic 4B: Organize and Search Notebooks•1 minute
- 4B-1: Reading•10 minutes
- 4B-2: Activity•15 minutes
- 4B-3: Activity•15 minutes
- Mastery Builder: Searching for Text and Tagged Items•10 minutes
- Lesson Summary•5 minutes
When you have completed your page content, especially if you plan on printing or publishing your notes, you may want to perform some tasks for finalization. This can include everything from checking spelling, to setting up print options, to password-protecting a notebook that contains private information, and more. This lesson will help you acquire these skills.
What's included
9 plugins
9 plugins•Total 68 minutes
- Lesson Introduction•1 minute
- Topic 5A: Proof and Print a Notebook•1 minute
- 5A-1: Reading•15 minutes
- 5A-2: Activity•15 minutes
- Topic 5B: Configure Password Protection and Notebook Properties•1 minute
- 5B-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 5B-2: Activity•15 minutes
- Mastery Builder: Proofing and Printing a Report•10 minutes
- Lesson Summary•5 minutes
You may find that you need to modify the underlying file format of your OneNote notebooks to make them easier to share and store. Likewise, you should understand how OneNote keeps backup copies and a history of your notebooks so that you can have a little peace of mind as the number of pages and importance of your notebook content grows.
What's included
10 plugins
10 plugins•Total 63 minutes
- Lesson Introduction•1 minute
- Topic 6A: Export Content from a Notebook•1 minute
- 6A-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 6A-2: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 6B: Manage Notebook History•1 minute
- 6B-1: Reading•10 minutes
- 6B-2: Activity•10 minutes
- 6B-3: Activity•10 minutes
- Mastery Builder: Maintaining and Exporting Notebook Files•10 minutes
- Lesson Summary•5 minutes
Now that you know how to create and edit notebook content as well as manage notebook files, the final step is sharing and collaborating with others using Microsoft® OneNote®. In this lesson, you will learn how a team collaborates using the Microsoft Outlook® features and shared OneNote notebooks.
What's included
14 plugins
14 plugins•Total 85 minutes
- Lesson Introduction•1 minute
- Topic 7A: Send Notebook Pages to Others•1 minute
- 7A-1: Reading•5 minutes
- 7A-2: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 7B: Work with Integrated Outlook Features•1 minute
- 7B-1: Reading•1 minute
- 7B-2: Activity•10 minutes
- 7B-3: Activity•10 minutes
- Topic 7C: Collaborate on Notebooks•1 minute
- 7C-1: Reading•10 minutes
- 7C-2: Activity•10 minutes
- 7C-3: Activity•10 minutes
- Mastery Builder: Using OneDrive to Share Notebook Content•10 minutes
- Lesson Summary•5 minutes
You'll wrap things up and then validate what you've learned in this course by taking an assessment.
What's included
1 assignment2 plugins
1 assignment•Total 25 minutes
- Course Assessment•25 minutes
2 plugins•Total 6 minutes
- Course Summary•1 minute
- Appendix: Microsoft OneNote Common Keyboard Shortcuts•5 minutes
Instructor
Offered by
Explore more from Business Essentials
Guided Project
- Status: Free TrialL
Logical Operations
Course
- Status: Free Trial
- Status: Free TrialK
Knowledge Accelerators
Course
Why people choose Coursera for their career
Frequently asked questions
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
More questions
Financial aid available,