027 - OneNote - the Final Chapter

Really missed the chance to say 'The Last Page' in the Title, didn't I..

Hey Friends, welcome back!  I hope you had a good week!  For my fellow tax professionals, I hope you take Labor Day off and have already completed your entity returns.  And, if not, may every upstream Schedule K-1 land in your inbox on Tuesday so your Monday can still be chill. 

What are we about today?  We will wrap up our exploration of OneNote by covering how you can create Notebook templates so you don't have to recreate the wheel every time you get a new project or client. Then, we're going to cover some Power Automate automations.  The key concept for this week is – do some heavy lifting on the front end so you can have an easier time later.

Ready?  Let's jump in…

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Creating a OneNote Notebook Template

So, I shared with you what my OneNote setup looks like for each client.  You can find the discussion of it here.  But that takes time and effort to set up.  And if I had to set it up every time for each client…  Noooooo thank you.  I'd rather just write it down somewhere on a paper notepad that I'm sure I'll refer back to at some point. So, instead, let's make a template. 

First, the good news, then the bad news, and then the inconvenient news.  The good news is that it's possible to make a Notebook template of sorts.  So, yay.  The bad news is that there isn't a built-in default "make this Notebook a template" button.  The inconvenient news is that your tags (see the article linked above) are saved locally, so if you want to share the Notebook template with someone else, you have to create a page that just holds the tag library so they travel with the template.  Not awful, just inconvenient.

How to create a OneNote Notebook template:

1. Create a killer OneNote Notebook that you show to your friends and family (using GenAI to help you with this isn't cheating!  See this prior blogletter article here)

2. Create a copy of/export your Notebook.  You can create a copy if you're using OneNote for the Web.  If you're using OneNote Desktop, you will export the Notebook.  The easiest is via OneNote for the Web, so that's how we're going to do it.  

3. Change the Notebook name/save location.

The first thing you need to know is that OneNote Notebooks are just files that look a certain way.  Just like Word documents are just files that look different than Excel spreadsheets.  In my head, I made them up to be this Whole Big Thing.  Most likely, it's because they ARE harder to move around than Word documents or Excel files, but also because they sometimes break (remember, it's the GenX of software.  Train was still a headlining band and I was making mixtapes on actual cassette tapes (I eventually moved on to CD's, don't @ me.  So give it a little grace – it's still wondering whatever happened to the Black Eyed Peas).

Go to where the Notebook file lives, whether in your OneDrive or SharePoint folder, and click the three dots next to the name.  Choose 'Copy To' and find a new place to save.

One of the biggest challenges to saving your OneNote Notebooks using OneNote for the Web is finding where they're saved.  I would recommend going to the OneNote app in your Office 365 on the Web and clicking the link below the file name.

Also, it can get a little messy in the OneNote app directory (as you can see), so I'd recommend filtering for the Notebooks rather than just the pages.  The icon next to the name will indicate which kind of file it is.

One more tip – you can't 'Copy To' the same folder because there isn't a way to change the name of the Notebook file as part of the copying process (and you can't have two files with the same name in the same location).  So, if you're going to set this up as a template for your clients, I would recommend storing the template separately from the client Notebooks and then renaming the Notebook as soon as you copy it over for a new client.

And that's it!  Super convoluted and head-scratching, but it is worth it to not have to spend hours setting up new Notebooks for each client.  😁

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Let's Talk about Automations

There are a few easy ways to get started creating automations for your OneNote Notebooks.  Suppose your Notebooks live in your OneDrive for Business. In that case, a link at the top called 'Automate' will pop up some suggested automations.

Keep in mind that these automations are for OneDrive for Business files in general (the reason I keep saying 'OneDrive for Business instead of just 'OneDrive' is because there's a OneDrive that's NOT for business.  So when you get more into automating, you'll see both, and I want to make sure you're picking the right one.)  So, if you go down *this* rabbit hole, you're creating a Power Automate flow that works with OneDrive for Business files, these files just happen to be OneNote Notebooks.

You can also go to Power Automate for the cloud and search the available templates that some kind soul has already created.

These are a great way to get a starter flow and build on it as you learn more.

And finally, we can ask our dear friend Copilot to build one for us.

One item to note with our dear friend Copilot in Power Automate – the more grandiose your dreams, the more it will ask you to start with a template.  The goal is to use everyday language to get a simple flow started.

Aaaaaand, one more thing – each of the 'Connectors' in Power Automate (basically the applications that you're hitching your automations to) have a Microsoft Learn page.  This is OneNote's.  If you're just starting, I recommend going to the 'Known Issues and Limitations' section for each connector you're working with.  You might have your heart set on a Super Wicked Awesome Flow™️ , but that action isn't available.  These pages might seem confusing at first, but, as always, lean on your GenAI tool of choice to decipher and keep coming back.  Eventually, they'll make sense.

Oh!  I keep forgetting to add (unless I already added it and keep forgetting that I added it) – Power Automate is FREE with your Microsoft 365 subscription.  There are some Premium connectors, but otherwise you don't have to pay a penny until you get fancy. 

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Challenge of the Week!

I figured we're all a competitive bunch, so I thought a little challenge might get some excitement going.  I'm going to provide two challenges, and you can do one, both, neither, your own challenge, and so on.  It's up to you!

Challenge #1 – Create a Page Template for the most essential information at your job/firm that never seems adequately captured.  Bonus points – share it with your team. 

Challenge #2 – pick one of the Power Automate OneNote templates and practice setting up a flow.  If you want a quick (ha!) and free 2 ½ hour tutorial from a learning platform I use, here is a YouTube tutorial from Pragmatic Works.

Thanks for hanging out, everyone!  Let me know in the comments what Microsoft application you'd like me to cover next.  If no one says anything, we'll all be learning about Bookings because that's what *I* need to do a deep dive into.  😅

Happy Chatting!