I've used OneNote for years, and I wish I knew about these 5 settings sooner

Published Sep 16, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT Parth, a seasoned tech writer, wields the keyboard (or pen) with finesse to unravel the intricacies of both Windows and Mac operating systems. He has covered evergreen content on mobile devices and computers for multiple publications over the last six years. You can find his work on AndroidPolice, GuidingTech and TechWiser. Whether it’s demystifying system updates, deciphering error codes, or exploring hidden features, Parth’s prose guides readers through the binary maze. When not immersed in tech jargon, you’ll find him sipping chai, pondering the next software review, and occasionally indulging in a friendly debate about mechanical keyboards. Being a power OneNote user for years, I thought I already knew it inside out. I had my notebooks neatly organized, relied on them for work notes, ideas, research, and random thoughts, and rarely bothered digging through their settings. That turned out to be a mistake. OneNote hides several useful options that can change how the app feels and works day-to-day. After tweaking a handful of them, I ended up with a cleaner interface, fewer distractions, and a productive workflow. Disable note containers on pages I finally got rid of those distracting boxes OneNote’s freeform canvas is one of its biggest strengths, but I never liked how note containers constantly appeared around my text. Every time I clicked into a paragraph, OneNote would show the box around it along with the little controls at the top. It wasn’t a deal-breaker, so I simply put up with it for years. Buried under File -> Options -> Display is a setting called Show note containers on pages. Turning it off instantly made my pages look cleaner and far less distracting. The best part is that I don’t lose OneNote’s flexible canvas. I can still click anywhere, type wherever I want, and move content around when needed. The containers are still there in the background; OneNote just stops constantly showing their outlines. It’s a small visual tweak, but it made my everyday note-taking experience more polished. Turn double brackets into page links This shortcut was hiding in plain sight This one surprised me because I didn’t even have to enable anything. Like Obsidian, OneNote already supports creating page links with double brackets, but I had somehow used the app for years without knowing about it. All I need to do is type a page name inside [[double brackets]], and OneNote automatically turns it into a link. It’s such a simple trick, but it has changed how I connect related notes. For example, while working on an Android Auto article, I might type [[Android Auto testing]] inside my research page. OneNote instantly links that text to my existing Android Auto testing page, so I can jump between related notes without digging through notebooks and sections. If the page doesn’t exist yet, I can use the same approach to start building it. I now use this constantly for projects, research, and recurring topics. I only wish I had discovered it years ago. Switch to vertical tabs on OneNote Cleaning up my navigation I used OneNote with the traditional horizontal tabs simply because that was the layout I was used to. It worked fine when my notebooks were small, but as I added more sections and sub-sections for work, research, personal notes, and ongoing projects, the top bar started to feel cramped. I was constantly scanning across tabs or opening menus just to find the section I needed. Switching to vertical tabs changed that. With notebooks, sections, and pages arranged down the left side, OneNote now feels much easier to navigate, especially on my larger desktop display. I can see far more of my structure at once and jump between sections without hunting around. Lock password-protected sections as soon as I leave them My private notes lock instantly now I use password-protected sections in OneNote for notes that I don’t want sitting openly on the screen. What I didn’t realize was that OneNote’s default behavior can leave an unlocked protected section accessible for a few minutes after I move away from it. The default auto-lock period is five minutes, and that feels a little too long once I notice it. I eventually found the option (under File -> Options -> Advanced -> Password) to lock password-protected sections as soon as I navigate away from them, and I enabled it immediately. Now, the moment I leave a protected section and switch to another page or notebook, OneNote locks it again automatically. It gives me much more confidence when I am using OneNote on the desktop around other people. My notes are easier to scan now I have used OneNote’s built-in tags like Important, Question, and To Do for years, but I somehow overlooked the fact that I could create my own. Once I started using custom tags, they became a much better fit for the way I actually organize my work. For example, when I am researching an article, I can create tags such as Article Idea, Research, or Follow Up instead of trying to make OneNote’s default options work for everything. I can even assign a symbol, font color, and highlight color to each custom tag, which makes important information much easier to spot when I am scanning a long research page. The real advantage comes when my notebooks start getting crowded. I can use Find Tags to pull tagged items together instead of manually searching through individual pages. I was barely using OneNote properly None of these OneNote settings reinvent the app, but together, they have made a noticeable difference to how I use it every day. I was surprised that several of these features had been sitting there for years while I continued using OneNote the same old way.