Kelly LaForest (Alumni)
In June 2014, I posted a blog posted about “Microsoft OneNote – The Magic of the “Copy Link to Paragraph” button“, and had a few unanswered questions I wanted to explore. I recently answered a couple of my original questions here: Changing Paragraph Text and Moving Paragraph Text.
Here’s the results of my most recent experiment and answer to the next question:
“Will the link break if the page the paragraph text lives on is moved to a different section or a different notebook?”
Reminder: Everything written here after is applicable to OneNote 2013 and OneNote 2016::
(What about the OneNote App and OneNote Online? Read this to understand why the following is not applicable).
Let’s give it a try!
In the exact same way I setup the two previous experiments – I started by pasting several paragraphs of ipsum veggie text on a blank page, created a paragraph link, pasted it on a separate page, and tested the link to ensure it worked.
Next, I used the Move/Copy button to move the page containing the paragraph the link was created on to a different location. I then returned to the original section and clicked the paragraph link.
Success – sort of! It took a half second, but OneNote switched me to the correct page in the new section. What it did not do was highlighted the correct (or any) paragraph in gray highlighter. I used the Move/Copy button to move the page to an entirely different section and once again the link worked, but no gray highlighter. Next I used the Move/Copy button one last time to move the page back to the original section. Link worked, but no more beloved gray highlighter.
Ok, time to repeat the experiment, but move the page to an entirely different Notebook. Same results as before.
Some notes:
- If you press the undo button, and go back to the beginning before you moved the page to begin with, gray highlighter will not return. You have to delete the Paragraph Link and recreate it.
- You CAN move the page with the paragraph text to any location in it’s original section without issue. The gray highlighter will still work.
- You CAN also move the page with the paragraph link on it to any location in the original section, in any section in the same Notebook, and any other Notebook and the link will work and the gray highlighter will stay working!
Summary: If you are going to move pages that contain paragraph links, move the pages with the links, not the pages that the links take you to.
I have been working with this issue. I have noted that, if I move the page with the links to another notebook, they will still link back to that notebook, as long as it is open. If it is closed, I get an error.
I have noted the following change in the link. When first created, the link looks like: onenote:///\\SFP.IDIR.BCGOV\s105\s05036\TRCB\collections\RMB%20Branch\CSI\CSI-GK-Drafts\LAN%20Maps\BA%20SP.one#Admin%20100-499§ion-id={ECA7FDFC-0BB6-45FE-8FEB-D8D801BFB2FD}&page-id={5BF175CD-8CA3-476D-ADE7-E6666FAE296A}&object-id={73CAA7DD-3468-4A10-8C40-A4B9AC78F4A8}&21
AFter I move the page to a new Notebook, it looks like:onenote:#Admin%20100-499§ion-id={ECA7FDFC-0BB6-45FE-8FEB-D8D801BFB2FD}&page-id={5BF175CD-8CA3-476D-ADE7-E6666FAE296A}&object-id={73CAA7DD-3468-4A10-8C40-A4B9AC78F4A8}&21&base-path=SFP.IDIR.BCGOV\s105\s05036\TRCB\collections\RMB%20Branch\CSI\CSI-GK-Drafts\LAN%20Maps\BA%20SP.one
I have no explanation for why this transformation happens.
I have a strange requirement. There is a template in which I have put in some links to paragraphs. I need to copy the template every day to make dated copies in which some other additions/changes happen. I need the links in these copied pages to point to the same paragraphs in the copied page rather than the template. It is not possible. But is there a roundabout way to achieve this?