Bullet Journals
Bullter journals organize a paper notebook to capture and quickly find tasks, notes, events, and more so that you can stay structured and be more productive. OneNote is ideal for this note-taking method because it’s the closest to looking and acting like a physical notebook. A few basics about the Bullet Journal system:
On each page, you quickly jot down the information you’re trying to capture, which is called rapid logging.Pages can include tasks, notes, and events.For tasks, create a page of the current month’s events (for example, meetings or birthdays) and another page for the month’s to-dos. After those pages, create a daily calendar, moving your tasks from the month list to the current date.Use a check box to denote a task, a bullet for a regular note, an exclamation mark to note a great idea, an eye symbol for research, and a star to mark an item as a priority.Bullet journals have an index page at the beginning of the notebook where you mark the page numbers for different topics. You don’t need to create an index page in OneNote, as the program does the work for you.
Create a OneNote Bullet Journal
Applying the bullet journal discipline to OneNote requires a bit of setup.
Get the Most Out of Your Bullet Journal
With the template and the tags set up, you’re ready to use OneNote as an electronic journal. Here are a few suggestions for making the most of this tool.
Topics and Entries
Use short one-line entries with the recommended notation (the OneNote tags) to keep notes, events, and tasks effectively sorted. If you add general entries, don’t use the date as a title because OneNote does that automatically. This technique works great in tandem with the Onetastic OneCalendar add-in so that you can check each day’s notes with a minimum of clicks. However, if it’s a specific topic, use the title space on the OneNote page. Labeling the page will help when you search for these entries. When it grows into a complex topic (for example, with many spreads or pages), consider creating a section with a different name.
Page Numbers and Sorting
Page numbers are mostly irrelevant if you use OneNote because it’s powerful search (Ctrl+E) does the sorting for you. You can organize your pages by dragging pages in any order you like. You could group pages in subpages to avoid creating sections for topics somewhere between simple (one-page) and complex (one-section) ones. Another useful feature is using OneNote’s internal hyperlinks. Right-click any entry and copy the link to it. Then, right-click and link (or press Ctrl+K) anywhere else and paste it.
Monthly, Weekly, and Daily Calendars
The best way to emulate a Bullet Journal monthly or daily calendar is to use the Onetastic OneCalendar tool. Combine it with the OneNote Tag Summary. To use the Tag Summary, go to the Home tab and, in the Tags group, select Find Tags. A Tags Summary pane appears.
Migration or Irrelevant
At the beginning of each month, check last month’s task entries, migrate tasks to the new month’s page, and mark those tasks as Migrated. This step keeps the previous month’s entries accounted for, so you know you didn’t leave anything behind. If any task is not relevant anymore, tag it so. This way, when you recheck past entries, you realize that these entries will not reappear in the future because the entries lost meaning. To keep a sense of hierarchy, consider grouping sections into another OneNote notebook. Since OneNote searches through every open book, you won’t lose track of entries in different notebooks. Keep the main one (usually the default Personal Notebook) as your regular entry journal.
Go Further With OneNote
OneNote is a powerful tool. Pairing it with the Bullet Journal system is a smart way to organize your notes and schedule. One of the best parts of this system is combining OneNote with Outlook to get reminders for tasks and events. It’s even better if you have a Windows tablet PC with a stylus as you can write in your OneNote notebook just like you would with a paper one—only with the advantages of search, tagging, syncing across devices, handwriting recognition, and similar benefits.
