Regardless of the program you are using, we all want to make sure we are being productive with our time. Using OneNote keyboard shortcuts is the perfect way to improve productivity and streamline your workflow.
The key to learning new keyboard shortcuts is consistency. A commitment to give your mouse a rest and keep your hands on the keyboard wherever possible means you reduce the amount of movement between the keyboard and mouse and therefore improve your workflow. There are LOTS of OneNote keyboard shortcut options, but here you’ll find my favourites which I consistently use daily.
Below is a list of OneNote keyboard shortcuts, don’t worry about writing these down, you can receive a PDF copy of all keyboard shortcut lists at the bottom of this post. That includes shortcuts for Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook and Word.
My Favourite OneNote Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut Keys | Description |
| Ctrl + N | Create a new page within the Notebook |
| Ctrl + M | Open a new OneNote window |
| Ctrl + O | Open a Notebook |
| Ctrl + S | Synchronise the Notebook |
| Ctrl + P | Print current page |
| Ctrl + T | Create a new section |
| Ctrl + A | Select all items on the page |
| Ctrl + Z | Undo. Undo. Undo. Need I say more? |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo the last action |
| Ctrl + X | Cut text or item |
| Ctrl + C | Copy text or item |
| Ctrl + V | Paste text or item |
| Ctrl + B | Apply Bold formatting |
| Ctrl + I | Apply Italics formatting |
| Ctrl + U | Apply Underline formatting |
| Ctrl + E | Search all Notebooks |
| Ctrl + F | Search current page |
| Ctrl + K | Insert a hyperlink |
| Ctrl + L | Align paragraph to Left |
| Ctrl + R | Align paragraph to Right |
| Ctrl + mouse wheel | Zoom page in and down |
| Ctrl + Shift + M | Create a Quick Note |
| Alt + F4 | Close OneNote |
| F7 | Spell Check |
| F11 | Enable/Disable Full Page View |
| Page Up | Scroll up the current page |
| Page Down | Scroll down the current page |
| Ctrl + Alt + 1 | Apply Heading 1 style |
| Ctrl + Alt + 2 | Apply Heading 2 style |
| Ctrl + Alt + 3 | Apply Heading 3 style |
| Ctrl + Alt + 4 | Apply Heading 4 style |
| Ctrl + Alt + 5 | Apply Heading 5 style |
| Ctrl + Alt + 6 | Apply Heading 6 style |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | Apply the Normal style |
| Ctrl + Home | Scroll to top of the current page |
| Ctrl + End | Scroll to the bottom of the current page |
To see a full list of all shortcuts available in OneNote, use the F1 key to access the built-in Microsoft OneNote Help feature and search for “keyboard shortcuts” or check out the Microsoft website.
Be sure to check out my other posts for keyboard shortcuts to use in Microsoft Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word,
Receive a Printable Copy
If you would like a printable copy of all my favourite keyboard shortcuts, simply subscribe to our newsletter below and a copy will be emailed to you.
Many of the keyboard shortcuts listed here can be used across many of the Microsoft programs. Learning them in the context of OneNote is great, but you’ll then also be able to use them in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word.
Comment below with your favourite OneNote keyboard shortcuts to use or new ones you’ve discovered here.
2 Responses
i love One Note – been using it for over 15 years and have well over 500 notebooks.
but that is what is causing me a problem – notebooks are backed up in one drive; when i close a notebook in one note it remains in one drive; then they reappear in one note. also some old notebooks i want to close completely; related i am getting duplicate notebooks and also some empty notebooks with duplicate names to the ones i closed and some that i did not close and net net i cannot delete them from one drive and they keep coming back to one note and with over 500 notebooks it creates a real problem in my favorite program — can you please help me??
Hi Paul,
That sounds like a nightmare!
I’d suggest going and having a look at my post about deleting notebooks and would suggest you need to do a clean up in your OneDrive.
How to delete a notebook in OneNote
Hope this helps.
Belinda