A few keyboard shortcuts make you much faster in OneNote: add a page, a to-do list or today's date without touching your mouse. Here are the most useful shortcuts for OneNote on Windows, organized by task in tables, with tips to remember them and an explanation of the differences between the OneNote versions.
Which OneNote are you using?
OneNote for Windows 10 is no longer supported. Use the OneNote app that comes with Microsoft 365 (formerly OneNote 2016), which you install together with Word and Excel. The shortcuts below work in it. Most basic shortcuts also work in OneNote for the web, but not all of them. New to OneNote? Read getting started with OneNote in Microsoft 365 first.
Pages and sections
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + N | New page |
| Ctrl + Alt + N | New page below the current page |
| Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N | New subpage below the current page |
| Ctrl + T | New section |
| Ctrl + E | Search all notebooks |
| Ctrl + F | Search the current page |
| Ctrl + Page Up / Page Down | Previous or next page |
| Ctrl + Tab | Next section |
| Ctrl + Shift + Tab | Previous section |
Text and formatting
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + 1 | To Do tag (checkbox) |
| Ctrl + 2 | Important tag |
| Ctrl + 3 | Question tag |
| Ctrl + 0 | Remove all tags from the selection |
| Ctrl + . | Bulleted list |
| Ctrl + / | Numbered list |
| Ctrl + Alt + 1 to 6 | Heading 1 to 6 |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | Clear formatting (Normal style) |
| Ctrl + Alt + H | Highlight text |
| Ctrl + K | Insert link |
| Alt + Shift + ↑ / ↓ | Move paragraph up or down |
A to-do list with Ctrl + 1 is one of the most useful combinations: press the same shortcut again to tick the box, and a third time to remove the tag.
Insert
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Alt + Shift + D | Insert date |
| Alt + Shift + T | Insert time |
| Alt + Shift + F | Insert date and time |
| Alt + = | Insert a math equation |
| Windows + Shift + S | Take a screen clip and paste it with Ctrl + V |
The screen clip shortcut comes from Windows itself. More shortcuts like it are in Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts.
View
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| F11 | Turn full page view on or off |
| Ctrl + M | Open a new OneNote window |
| Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y | Undo or redo |
Tips to learn shortcuts
- Hover over a ribbon button to see its shortcut.
- Press Alt to show letters on every button. That way you control the whole ribbon with the keyboard, also for features without a fixed shortcut.
- Don't learn too many at once. Start with three shortcuts you need every day, for example a new page, a to-do list and the date.
- Many shortcuts are the same as in Word and Teams. Also see the most useful Microsoft Teams keyboard shortcuts.
Common problems
A shortcut does nothing. Check that you're working in the right version. Some shortcuts don't exist in OneNote for the web or on a Mac, where you usually use Cmd instead of Ctrl.
Something else happens than expected. Another app, such as a screen capture tool or a translation program, can use the same key combination. Close that app or change the shortcut there.
The date is in the wrong format. OneNote uses the regional settings of Windows. Change the date format there.
Nederlandstalige versie: De handigste sneltoetsen in OneNote voor Windows