Monday, November 2, 2009

Installing and Configuring the OneNote Time Planner Template

I need to go through a couple of things before we get started.

Once you create a new notebook you may find that sections have been changed into alphabetical order, rather than the logical order. This is most obvious in in the way that the months have been re-ordered under the daily planning section. You can manually drag-and-drop sections into your preferred order this will be retained when you close your notebook and reopen it.

Another thing you should do before you start using the daily planner is to create a new year, rather than just starting to populate the template as is. It is much easier when you start next year if you maintain the blank year template.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to copy an entire section group, so the best plan is to create a new section group for the current year and to copy each month manually. To do this right click on the month section and "save as" to a convenient location. Double-click on the saved .one file which will launch in OneNote under open sections. From here you can drag the whole section into the new year section group.

Okay that should be enough to get you started. The following video demonstrates the steps outlined in this post in case you need a little extra help.

17 comments:

  1. Thanks for this, but the zip file is corrupt. Only 1K file when I downoad it via right-click on Firefox.

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  2. An easier way to copy an entire section group is through Windows Explorer.
    A "Section Group" is a folder and a "Section" is a file. All that is needed is to copy the folder and files and rename the folder.
    Here is an example using the default OneNote storage location:
    Open "My Documents", then "OneNote Notebook", then "Time Planner", then "Step 5 - Daily Planning".
    Make a second copy of the "Year 20XX" folder in the same "Step 5 - Daily Planning" folder and don't rename it yet.
    Go to OneNote, Open TimePlanner notebook, and Press Shift F9, or go to File, Sync, Sync This Notebook Now.
    Right-Click the newly copied Storage Group, select "Rename", and change it to reflect the year you would like.

    The reason to not rename it in Explorer is because OneNote may have the folder open already and Explorer won't be able to change it.

    I found this method takes fewer steps and is much quicker.

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  3. OneNote 2010 allows you to copy a section
    Right Click on the Section.
    Then click Move or Copy.
    then highlight the Section Group you want to copy that section to and click Copy.

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  4. Thanks dude.. Astonishing template.

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  5. is this mac compatible? I have office 2016

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  6. Have you answered Anne Johnson? I'm curious to know if you have a mac compatible version?

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  7. I have the same question as Anne Johnson and David Shepherd. Is this mac compatible? I have office 2016. Do you foresee creating one?

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  8. I've created a page that I want to use daily as a template in OneNote but I can't figure out how duplicate it in a notebook so I can keep the pages uniform.

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  9. Where it is possible to get the template ?

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  10. Are these templates still available?
    I'm looking for any decent OneNote templates that will help me get more organized and productive at work. I'm an IT Pro and it is very hard to stay organized and on track at times. I live in OneNote and want to master it.

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  11. The template is available. However I cannot open it since I have OneNote 2016 on Windows 10. Any ideas on how to open or convert the .onepkg file???

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    1. I was able to open the template w/ no issues at all. In order to save it to use again or to modify, you must convert the Notebook to the 2010+ format. Open the file in OneNote in any section. Click the name of the notebook, then select the Properties option under its name in the list of Notebooks that displays. Once there, tick the box to Covert to...

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    2. When I tried to convert the file as you suggested, the box to convert is not highlighted and I can not click to convert.

      Please let me know if you have this notebook template in a sharable format. I can see the tabs names but the sections are empty. I have tried in the past to email and contact Dean to no avail. I have had the template for quite some time but have wanted to revisit it for a refresher.

      Please share privately if you are unable to post a template. Thank you in advance.
      bejohnson247@gmail.com

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  12. Dean, I am grateful that you've created this great tool and shared it. Thank you for all that time and energy!

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  13. After trying to install this and not being successful, I found that the new "App" version of OneNote in Windows 10 cannot import or create templates. You have to install OneNote 2016 which is available, but no longer supported. From Microsoft employee responses on a few forums, Microsoft has no intentions of adding template functionality back in to the App version at this time.

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  14. Absolutely LOVE THIS! Thanks so much for putting this together. I just started a leadership development course and this is perfect for documenting my progress as I prefer an electronic format

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    Replies
    1. how did you download? it gives me error, needs authorization.
      thanks

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