Share a notebook on a SharePoint site

If your organization uses SharePoint, you can use it to store your OneNote notebooks in a central place for your whole team. Whenever you or someone you work with changes the content in a notebook, OneNote automatically saves and syncs the notes on SharePoint.

Important:  You and your teammates need read/write permission on your SharePoint site. Contact your system administrator if you don't have those permissions.

2016, 2013, 2010 2007



When you have permissions, do the following:

1. In OneNote 2016, click File > New > SharePoint.

   Note: If you don't see SharePoint in the list, you may not have permissions or your team site might have a different name. Look for the SharePoint logo or look for your team SharePoint site under Other Web Locations.

2. On the right side, under SharePoint, click Browse.

3. Go to the document library on the SharePoint site where you want to store your team notebook.

4. Type a meaningful, descriptive name into the Notebook Name box and then click Create.

After you create the notebook, you can email teammates and colleagues a link to the notebook. Anyone with write permissions on the SharePoint site will also be able to view and edit the notes.

If you'd like to be notified whenever someone updates the notes on SharePoint, do the following:

1. In your browser, go to the document library that has your notebook.

2. Next to the notebook folder, click the arrow to open the drop-down menu, and then click Alert Me.

3. In the New Alert dialog box, choose the notification option that works best for you and your team. For example, you can choose daily alerts if you don't want to disrupt your teammates with too many change notifications.

In this article

Using shared notebooks with SharePoint sites

Create a new shared notebook in a SharePoint library

Using shared notebooks with SharePoint sites

Using a shared notebook with a SharePoint site enables you to share your information with others. For example, your team can use a shared notebook to do the following:

• Brainstorm on a project

• Collect reference material

• Record and share meeting minutes

• List action items

When Office OneNote 2007 notebooks are stored in a shared location, such as a SharePoint library, multiple users can simultaneously access shared notes and contribute to them on an ongoing basis. A library is a central location on a SharePoint site where people store and manage their files.

When you share a notebook on a SharePoint site, you can use the features of a library to manage and share your notebooks. You can manage who has permission to view the notebook or contribute notes. You can store additional information about the notebook or its pages, such as the department name or project number. You can also track versions of the notebook, so that people can view or restore an earlier version if needed and receive updates when the content changes by using alerts or RSS Feeds.

Note: To use the features of a SharePoint site, you must have permission to use those features on the site. For more information, see your site owner or administrator.

The New Notebook Wizard in OneNote guides you through the steps for creating a shared notebook that you and your team members have access to. When you use the wizard, you have the option to send an e-mail message to others that contains a link to the location of the new notebook.

When you share a notebook, everyone with permission to contribute to a SharePoint library can access a shared set of notes at the same time, and OneNote synchronizes everyone's changes to the notebook on the SharePoint site. OneNote also maintains a separate offline copy of the notes on each user's computer. That way, participants can edit notes locally even when they are disconnected from the network. The next time they connect to the shared notebook, OneNote merges their changes with everyone else's.

Find links to more information about shared notebooks in the See Also section.

Top of Page

Create a new shared notebook in a SharePoint library

When you add a new notebook to a library, the notebook becomes a folder in the library, and the sections are stored as files. Adding content to it and revising it are similar to working with your notebook in any shared location.

1. On the Share menu, click Create Shared Notebook.

   Tip: You can also create a shared notebook by clicking New Notebook on the File menu.

2. In the New Notebook Wizard, do one or more of the following:

   • In the Name box, enter a name for the shared notebook (for example, Weekly Team Status Reports or Product Planning).

   • Optionally, select a color for the notebook cover, which will be displayed as an icon on the Notebooks navigation bar.

   • Optionally, in the From Template list, select a default template to be used for the pages in the shared notebook.

3. Click Next.

4. Under Who will use this notebook?, click Multiple people will share the notebook, and then click On a server (SharePoint document library, network share, or other shared location).

5. Click Next.

6. Under Path, enter the Web address of the SharePoint library where you want to store your notebook.

   To locate your library, click Browse, browse to find the SharePoint site and library that you want, and then click Select.

7. To tell others about the notebook, leave the Create an e-mail with a link to this notebook so that I can send to other people check box selected.

8. Click Create.

Note: When you make changes to your notebook, it may take a few minutes for others to see the changes or for the changes to synchronize, depending on the way your network is set up.

Top of Page