Hi, Elizabeth here, and today we are going to take a look at how to use templates in OneNote. OneNote is a wonderful free app that allows you to take notes and organize your thoughts in a virtual three-ring binder. But sometimes it could be a bit overwhelming to start with a white blank sheet of paper. So let’s take a look at how templates might be able to help you keep organized. OneNote defaults to blank white backgrounds on each page of your notebook. This gives you a lot of flexibility to design your notebook the way you want. However, depending on your notebook’s needs or your personal preference for design, OneNote offers templates to get you started. First, go to the insert ribbon at the top of the screen and then select page templates. If you do not see page templates as an option, you likely do not have the latest version of OneNote. You can get the latest version for free at OneNote.com/download, and you can either download the app or use the web-based version. OneNote has the templates broken out into five categories. We’re going to walk through each category to look at what they offer and how you can make the most efficient use of these templates. Let’s begin with the academic tab. These templates are geared towards those who want to keep notes. Specifically, these templates are for lecture notes or class notes. But if you like a particular template, it could be easily altered to use for any type of notes. Let’s say that you like the look of the lecture notes and study questions, and you plan on using this for each day that you’re in your class. Instead of repeating the process each time that you add a new page, you can scroll down to always use a specific template so that you can set this particular template to be used for all new pages in this current section. Under the drop-down menu, select lecture notes and study questions. Now, each time that you create a new page within this section, you will have this template applied. Now let’s take a look at the next section of templates, the blank ones. The primary point of these templates is adjusting the size and background of the paper. Similar to a Word document, you can change it to various dimensions. If none of these paper sizes are what you are looking for, you can go to the View ribbon and select Paper Size. Here you can adjust the paper sizes and the print margins. If you want to use your custom page dimensions moving forward, click on Save Current Page as a Template. You will then be given the option to name your template and to choose whether you want all pages in a particular section to default to this template or not. Other options include changing the grid lines or rule lines on the background of your page. You can also adjust the background color. Additional options could be found under the View ribbon. Here you have additional options for page color, rule lines, and grid lines. The business templates, similar to the academic ones, provide you with multiple options for note taking. If you find a template that works for you, you can always make changes to it in order to customize it to your specifications. For example, if I want to change one of the headers and I want to use this moving forward as a customized template, I can go ahead and click on Save Current Page as a Template. This allows me to save my edited template and I’ll be able to use this moving forward without having to recreate my customizations. Decorative templates are going to provide you with a bit more of a creative design element. Although none of these templates are going to provide you with any formatting in terms of text or sections, you will have a lot of beautiful designs to choose from. Under the last section are planners. Here you’ll have three template options, a simple to-do list, prioritized to-do list, and a project to-do list. Remember, you can edit all of these templates. One template that OneNote does not currently offer is a calendar. However, you can make one yourself in a few easy steps and then save it as a template to use later on. You can create your own calendar template by going to the Insert tab and creating a 7×7 table. Although this is not the easiest process, it does allow you to create a calendar directly within the OneNote application. You can add shading or design elements and create your days of the week. Once you’ve created a calendar that you’re happy with, you can go back to the Insert tab, Page Templates, and save this current page as a calendar template. Another option is to use a template that was already created by a third party. One that I have enjoyed using is from Calendar Labs. You’ll find this link under the comment section. Here you can download individual years of OneNote calendar templates. You can also choose to customize the template before downloading it. Once the file has downloaded to your computer, you can open with your OneNote application. You’ll then see that you have wonderfully designed calendar templates added to OneNote that you can edit to your specifications. If you want to copy these calendar templates to an already existing OneNote, simply select them, right-click, and select Move or Copy. This then allows you to move the calendar template to an already existing OneNote. If you don’t want to go through this process each time, remember you can save this as a template and then use it anytime you wish across OneNote. If you have created a template that you want others to be able to use, you can export the template and share it. First, go to the section or page that you want to export as a template. Then, go to File and select Export. In this case, I am going to export my January calendar. Go ahead and select Page or Section and click on Export. When you’re ready to save it, make sure you save it as a OneNote single file package, and then click on Save. Once your template is saved to your computer, you can then share it with others using any method easiest to you, such as attaching the template as an attachment in your email or saving and sharing via a cloud storage app. When someone goes to open up the template, they will be prompted to create a new notebook. Then, they’ll go ahead and have your template available for their personal use. Now, let’s take a look at what happens if you want to share your entire notebook as a template. If you have created a notebook, either with or without templates, that you want to use as a standard layout for any notebooks you create in the future, or share with others to use, you don’t need to recreate it each time. The first step is to make sure you know where your notebook is saved. Right-click on the notebook and select Properties. Here, you can see that my OneNote notebook is saved to my OneDrive account. Go to the location where your notebook is saved and then right-click. Select Copy To. You can either choose to save it in the same folder or a new one. If this OneNote is saved to your computer, you can simply copy and paste the OneNote file. Once the notebook has been duplicated, you can then right-click and change the name. You’ll then have an identical notebook that can be used in the future or share with others. I hope that taking a look at some of these templates helped to spark your creativity. Please don’t forget to subscribe to our channel, and also check out our other useful videos on OneNote. I’ll see you next time.