Ready to level up your OneNote notebooks? Discover how to embed rich media for more powerful, visual notes.
OneNote shines as a versatile tool for capturing and organizing notes. But why settle for text alone? Pair your insights with the actual content you're referencing—documents, audio, videos—to build an information-rich digital scrapbook.
I've relied on these techniques for years to streamline workflows, from project tracking to research. Here's how to embed media seamlessly in OneNote.
Need to annotate a full document in OneNote? Print it straight there as an editable printout. This works from virtually any app on your PC, mimicking PDF printing but with markup capabilities.
How to Save Anything to OneNote from Anywhere Microsoft OneNote is a powerful tool for free note taking. OneNote's unique structure helps you collect, organize, and share your notes. Here are the best ways to collect information from anywhere. Read more.
Open your file—say, a PDF in Chrome or a PowerPoint slide. Hit Ctrl + P to open the print dialog.
Select Send to OneNote 2016 as the printer and click Print. OneNote imports the full document, ready for your notes.
Track document versions collaboratively? Attach files to a OneNote table for easy access and history.
Go to the Insert tab and create a table. I use five columns: date, version, author, file, notes—adapt to your needs.
Right-click a row header, select Table > Insert Below for a new entry.
In the file cell, click Insert > Files (or Attachments).
Browse, select your file, and Insert.
Fill in the details.
This setup ensures all team members access every iteration, preventing lost work and simplifying version control.
Transcribing interviews? Embed audio to play and note-take in one place—no app-switching needed.
From the Insert tab, select Files and add your recording.
The file appears with playback controls. Click it to access play/pause, and a Playback tab emerges in the ribbon.
Jump to timestamps, rewind 10 seconds with Ctrl + Alt + Y—perfect for precise transcription without interrupting your flow.
Copy-paste a YouTube URL into OneNote for an instant player. For precision, link specific timestamps.
Great for lectures or tutorials: note alongside exact video moments.
Paste the URL first.
Customize by hiding the title if desired.
Pause at your spot, right-click the player, Copy video URL at current time, then Ctrl + V into notes.
Playback starts at your timestamp. Integrate neatly for quick reference.
These embeds turn OneNote into a powerhouse. For more, check our comprehensive OneNote Guide.
Got another media embedding tip for OneNote? Share in the comments!
