Using OneNote for creating and organizing to-do lists

Creating to-do lists in OneNote

To-do lists are a tried-and-true tool to accomplish tasks. Whether you need to create a to-do list to manage your trip to the grocery, organize what you need to complete at work, or to take control of household chores, lists help make sure you stay on-track. If you’re looking to get more things done, try using OneNote for to-do lists.

All your ideas in one place

Keep your thoughts, content, and lists handy with OneNote

Learn more

Creating to-do lists in OneNote is easy. Here’s how:

• Locate the Home tab and select it.
• Select the To Do Tag button.
• This will create checklist boxes. Type in each objective that you want to accomplish. When you press Enter on your keyboard, a new box will be created.
• Once you’re done with each task, click in the box to check off the task.
• If you want to create a new page for another set of tasks, choose Add Page.
• Right-click each page and Rename to give each page a unique name. For example, you may want to name one page “Grocery Shopping List” and the other page “Wedding Preparations.”

• Not a Microsoft 365 Subscriber?
• Try Copilot in Microsoft 365 with a free trial

• Current Microsoft 365 Subscriber?
• Try Copilot in OneNote now

Organizing your OneNote to-do lists

To get the most out of your OneNote to-do lists, follow these tips:

• Determine where you want to store your to-do lists in OneNote. You can put your to-do lists in the Quick Notes section of OneNote, but the Quick Notes section can’t be renamed. Instead, you can create an entirely new notebook and name it “To-Do.” You can also choose to create a notebook for each to-do list category—for example, a notebook for your grocery shopping, one for your household chores, another for travel plans, etc.
• Make sure that you add OneNote to your other devices and save your notebooks in OneDrive. This allows you to access your OneNote to-do list from anywhere, like your cell phone or tablet. To save your notebooks in OneDrive rather than your computer, right-click your notebook, then select Properties. Under Location, you can see where your notebook is saved. Click Change Location to move it to OneDrive if it isn’t stored there.
• Try color-coding your to-do list by priority. For example, if you create a holiday gift shopping list, use red text for the most important gifts on your list, orange text for middle-priority gifts, and green text for low-priority gifts.
• You can also color-code your notebook’s section tabs if you want to give each to-do list its own section. To color-code each section tab, right-click the tab, then select Section Color and choose your preferred color.
• Make sure your notebooks are synced, especially if you’re creating a list at home on your computer and plan on accessing OneNote on your phone later in the day. If OneNote isn’t synced correctly, you may not be able to find your to-do lists on other devices. To sync your notebooks, select File > View Sync Status. From there, you can choose which notebooks you want to sync, or select Sync All to update all of them.
• To keep your OneNote to-do list relevant, go through your to-do lists at least once a week and delete completed ones. This will keep your to-do lists clean and organized. Having too many to-do lists can be counterproductive.

Creating to-do lists in OneNote will help you accomplish any of your tasks, no matter the size or complexity. Explore all the inventive and easy ways to stay organized with Microsoft 365.