Keep OneNote To Do Lists Tidy Using the Subscript Keyboard Shortcut

There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts to explore. I recently happened upon one by accident that has changed how I work with To Do lists in Microsoft OneNote. I use the To Do tag to place a checkbox beside each item in my list so I can mark a task complete when I’m done.

Next I hold down the Ctrl button and press the dash (-) key to cross out the item. It gives me the same satisfaction I experienced from crossing off a finished task back when I used paper and a pen.

The challenge begins when the ratio of completed tasks starts to exceed the remaining items. Lots of clutter makes it hard to keep things tidy. A simple solution is to use hold down the Ctrl key and press the equal sign key (=). This is the keyboard shortcut to convert text to subscript. The effect is akin to reducing the font size to size 8 -but without all the extra clicks! The list shrinks, taking up less space. The key benefit is it allows the eye to focus on the remaining tasks.

8 responses to “Keep OneNote To Do Lists Tidy Using the Subscript Keyboard Shortcut”

I’m so glad I found this on Google! What I wish OneNote had is a way to take your To-Do tagged items that are checked off as completed, and move them to another page or Tab. Even cooler would be marking things with a date stamp for when you checked it off as completed. I wonder if there’s some kind of a script for that?

Kelly Marshall says:

July 16, 2015 at 1:41 pm

Thanks for the comment and question, Susan!

Checked Off To-Do Tags:
I agree that a feature to auto-move completed to do items would be neat.
I prefer to see my list of completed accomplishments for a couple days before I manually cut and paste the text onto another page that I’ve titled “Complete”.

You’re asking for an automatic feature, not a manual process, so I will go explore the Macros available at Onetastic (http://www.omeratay.com/onetastic/) to see if someone’s built a macro script for either of those requests.

Date Stamp:
There is a date stamp tool in OneNote: Insert Tab > Time Stamp Group > three options – Date, Time, Date & Time. Again, it’s manual, so a built-in feature that auto-inserts a date stamp would be helpful. Personally, I’d prefer to have the “completed date” pop up when you hovered your cursor over the to do checkbox.

I highly recommend that you post both your suggestions in the OneNote User Voice forum – https://onenote.uservoice.com/
The OneNote team watches it closely to guide their roadmap for new and improved features.

Question – were the features you mentioned available in Evernote?
1. Kelly Marshall says:
  
  July 16, 2015 at 1:46 pm
  
  I found one that might be useful as a Date Stamp solution!
  
  “Insert Date Created or Completed” –
  Insert “Created:” or “Completed:” and today’s date at the cursor position. Does not work if cursor is next to or in a hyperlink.
  
  http://www.omeratay.com/onetastic/?r=macroland&id=C508798D4FBE4A6B8BE39A2FDDEEB182
  
  I’ll give it a try in the next few weeks and report back.
2. Kelly Marshall says:
  
  July 16, 2015 at 1:53 pm
  
  And I think I just found one that’s even better!
  
  “Un/Complete Tasks” –
  Strikes through all tasks set as done (in entire page) and adds current date & time (greyed) to their end to signify when they were completed. Does the reverse on tasks that aren’t done, to automatically reset a task and remove strike/date.
  
  http://www.omeratay.com/onetastic/?r=macroland&id=A6F91CFC75CF4DBB94DAE9DC81A7D809
  
  I will also give this one a try in the next few weeks and report back.
  1. Kelly Marshall says:
    
    July 16, 2015 at 1:55 pm
    
    Ok, and I just found a third one:
    
    “Tag Complete & Add Date” –
    Completes the todo tag on the selected line and adds the current date/time to the end of it
    
    http://www.omeratay.com/onetastic/?r=macroland&id=1B02CCDC505F4DEFA088855BE6F464F4
    
    I’m going to stop searching until I test all three and write a blog post comparing each. I’ll post a link to the blog post here when I’m done.