Microsoft Teams is a powerful hub for team collaboration, which helps in bringing together people, content, and tools that your team needs to be increasingly effective and engaged. While Microsoft Teams does a great job of getting your employees together from across your business or organization into one digital online space – it also integrates the power of Microsoft OneNote. With OneNote in Microsoft Teams, your employees could share and collaborate ideas and create together.
Now Microsoft Teams has OneNote built in it, so you can syndicate the power of Teams and OneNote to share important notes, task lists, and drawings, ultimately achieving more across your organization. Using OneNote in Microsoft Teams is very easy; this blog details how you could leverage the power of OneNote in Microsoft Teams.
How to use Microsoft OneNote in Microsoft Teams
To start using OneNote in Microsoft Teams, the user will need to add OneNote to one of their Teams’ general channels. Do note that the teams and channels are no longer present in the new Microsoft Teams (free) app. Those were present in the Microsoft Teams Free (classic). These options are replaced with a simplified communities experience to let users collaborate in threaded conversations.
To get started click ‘+’ button appearing at the top of the channel and select ‘OneNote’.
From here, you have these options:
- To start from scratch
- To add an existing notebook.
Let’s see these options in details.
1] To start from scratch:
Click ‘Create a new notebook’ at the top bar (under where names of channels appear), and click ‘Save’. When you create a new notebook, you can give it a name; click the ‘Notebook name’ field to add a name, and click ‘Save’.
2] To add an existing notebook:
Click ‘Browse notebooks’, select the notebook and section, and click ‘Save’.
You can also add a link to your notebook. For this, use the Paste a OneNote link option, add the link or URL, and press the Save button.
Once the OneNote tab in Microsoft Teams is added, everyone in the channel will be able to view the files and make edits to it (provided they have access). When any user is blocked from viewing the notebook, he/she can request access rights from the tab to view/edit Notebooks.
How does OneNote work in Microsoft Teams
Within the Teams application, users will notice several familiar features and options which are commonly available within OneNote itself. A few of the key features available from the OneNote ribbons are:
- Home: Basic core functions like undo, redo; cut, copy, paste, format painter, basic text features, bullets, and numbering; styling; tag creation; spell-check and dictation.
- Insert: Inserting new pages / new sections, tables, pictures / attachments / links; and recording audio.
- Draw: Ability to draw / sketch, control over drawing styles and colors, and highlighting notes
- View Tabs: Displays navigation panes, immersive reader, page color, page versions
- Open in browsers: User can press on the ‘Open in browser’ button if they wish to edit the Notebook using the OneNote app on their computer. Note, this action demands the user to sign in with their account.
OneNote in Microsoft Teams works by using the power of OneNote Online; in simple terms, it works as a web interface. Hence, the user needs to be connected to the internet to save all their work/changes on their Notebooks.
How do I sync my OneNote team notebook?
Once you add a Notebook to Microsoft Teams from your OneNote account, it is synced automatically. Thus, whatever changes are made to the notebook are visible to everyone with access to that particular notebook. In case you want to sync a shared notebook in OneNote, then access File > Info > View Sync Status. Press the Sync All button or Sync now button to sync all or a specific shared notebook.
How do I add a class notebook in MS Teams?
Microsoft Teams (for education) comes with a built-in Class Notebook feature for students as well as educators. To add or set up a class notebook, navigate to your class team, and access the Class Notebook tab. Next, select the From existing notebook content option in the drop-down menu available for the Set up a OneNote Class Notebook. Press Next, select + Add content in Content Library, choose a notebook, and click on the Next option. Select the notebook contents that you want in your Content Library, and finally use the Done option.
We hope this guide helps to outline how Teams and OneNote work together to create a simple, collaborative workspace for you and your users.
