How to Create an I.T. Note Library with OneNote

As a person with awful handwriting, I've never been able to take manual notes and actually expect to use them down the road. Finding OneNote changed all that, and now I take notes for almost everything I read. It also provides me a reference library for the future.

Before I get going, I'd like to mention that I'm using OneNote for Win 10 currently, so instructions might be a little different for users of other OS.

With that in mind, let's get into it.

I create notebooks that mirror actual books or study courses. Here's a snip of the notebooks I currently have open:

Breakdown from there is simple. I take all the chapters and divide them into sections, and divide those sections into pages. It's easiest when the book or course is divided up by 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 or with a repeating structure like that, but I always find a way that makes sense to me.

It's also possible to make sub-pages within a page by right clicking on a page and selecting "promote/make subpage", so this can keep going as far as you need it to go. I've provided two examples, one broken into pages, and another using sub-pages.

Design is important. I opt for replicating the book, because it best mirrors the physical opening and searching through a book. Find a way for you that makes sense for you and do that.

Note-taking itself is what makes this most useful to you. I can't tell you how to take notes, but I can provide a few things to make your note-taking more effective. Here's an overview of what my notes look like:

I do long form notes. I am fine writing down entire definitions because for me that maximizes what I get out of a book or course. It often leaves me with much more than I personally need, but it gives me that liberty of going back and never having to pull the book itself out again.

There are a few shortcuts I use which makes this part a little faster. Using Ctrl + . creates a bullet, and I use that ruthlessly. Hitting enter after a paragraph and then Tab indents the bullet to the right. To create a table quickly, just hit Tab at the end of a word or sentence.

For categorization, I use two primary tagging methods. I use Ctrl + 2 for important, which is reflected as a little star on OneNote, and Ctrl + 5 for definition, which is a built-in method of keeping definitions. Both are searchable tags which can be used with the "Search" tool (Use Ctrl + F).

This categorization is especially useful when you want to look through an entire book for a term. If you're looking through multiple notebooks, there might be multiple definitions for the same term. You might think, "why would I need that?" Good question.

If you plan on taking tests with different certification authorities, like ISC(2) and ISACA for example, you might find slightly different takes on similar terms. In test taking it's important to use the term of best fit for the certification authority. For example, if I was going to take the ISACA CRISC exam later in my career, I could reference my CISM definitions and go from there.

Using these categorizations also allows you to look through every definition in the book by simply typing "definition" in the search bar. For example:

More specifically though, the search feature allows you to look through vast amounts of notes in a single take, which is a powerful tool for you to refresh yourself on topics you've covered before.

As you can see above, I can find the term "IOPS" mentioned in a lot of places and go from there. In this example, if I'm looking for performance considerations, I might opt to look in the SA Handbook notes.

Finally, OneNote allows me to draw what I can't snip or copy + paste, and do so easily. I personally have a Surface with a pen, which allows me more control, but you could do it with your finger on a touch-device or with your mouse on a normal laptop if you had to.

It might look like hieroglyphics to you because of my handwriting, but rest assured I can read it and use it down the road for my personal use! Try it out if you haven't already with OneNote.

There are so many ways to use OneNote and honestly, I haven't scratched the surface of all the capabilities it offers. This way works for me and I encourage you to find your own way of using it.

In time, if you commit to doing it, you'll build a library of notes that is easily accessible on any device with a Microsoft account which will serve you for years to come. And if for some reason you can't use OneNote, or would prefer to print them, you can just turn your notes into a PDF and enjoy them that way.

Thanks for your time, and I hope this method helps you keep more accessible notes for years to come!