How to Create a Calendar in OneNote

OneNote is an excellent note-taking tool, but Microsoft didn't give it a built-in calendar. Microsoft's Office.com website had no OneNote templates as of July, 2014, but you can find a few at a third-party Web page. However, you don't have to rely on templates to add calendars to OneNote because you can build your own using a table. Calendars you build are not only customizable, but you can find important dates instantly using Windows search.

Click a blank space on a OneNote page and you'll see a radial menu. Click that menu followed by "Table" and OneNote adds a small table as a new note. The table has one row and two columns. When you click inside the table and click the radial menu again, you'll see table options. Clicking "Insert Right" five times adds five additional columns. These columns, which reside in the first row, will hold the calendar's weekdays.

Click inside a table cell, click the radial menu a final time and then click the arrow to the right of "Insert Tables" five times to add five additional rows to create the table's structure.Type the weekdays in the table's first row. For instance, Monday goes into the first column and Sunday goes into the last column. As you type, OneNote expands each cell automatically to accommodate its text. Move to the table's second row and type "1" in the first cell that marks the calendar's first day. For example, if the first of the month starts on Tuesday, type "1" in the cell below "Tuesday."

If you press "Tab" while the cursor is in cell that contains "1," OneNote moves the cursor to the adjacent cell where you can type "2." That number represents the month's second day. Repeat this process until you add numbers that represent all of the month's days. Although you could click any cell and type a number into it, you'll work faster without using your mouse by pressing the "Tab" key and entering your date values. Give your calendar a name by Clicking outside the calendar and typing the current month followed by the current year. For example, if you're making a calendar for July, 2014, type that to create a new note. Click the container that surrounds the note and drag it above your calendar to give your calendar a title.

You can format your calendar to emphasize important dates. Highlight a date, for instance, and the radial menu appears. When you use the radial menu, some options, such as "Bold" act immediately, while options that require menu choices require you to click the arrow next to, above or below the option. Click the menu to view formatting options such as "Bold" and "Color." Click the arrow above "Color" and click the color you'd like to apply to the date you highlighted.

Search for anything in your calendar by pressing "Windows-S," clicking the down arrow next to "Everywhere" followed by "OneNote." Type your search term in the search box that appears and press "Enter" to display search results. Click a result to jump to the date that matches your search term.

The Office OneNote Gem Add-ins site has a few calendar templates you can download by double-clicking "Download File" below one you like (link in Resources). Choices as of July 2014 included Birthday and Anniversary Calendar template, a formatted calendar useful for marking birthdays and anniversaries, and Calendar 2014 Template. The Calendar 2014 template is a basic calendar similar to the one you create using a table. After you save a calendar template, double-click it to open the template as a note.

These table instructions apply to the Windows Store version of OneNote that works with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. If you use the older desktop version of OneNote 2013 that has a ribbon, click "Insert" followed by "Table" and use your mouse to draw a table that contains seven columns and six rows. After you add text to the table, you can highlight any text to view a menu that lets you format that text. Search for calendar items by typing in the search box.

You can install Onetastic, an add-on that displays a notebook's pages in a calendar view (link in Resources). For instance, if you created a page December 13, you'll see that page's title in the calendar's December 13 cell. This add-in only works in the older desktop version of OneNote. It also doesn't allow you to type new information into the calendar. After you install the add-in, display the calendar view by clicking "Home" followed by "Launch One Calendar."