Super OneNote power user tip: Moving outlines one pixel at a time

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  • Kim sent me an email wanting to know if it was possible to fine tune the position of outlines on a page. She wanted the fine tuning to be one pixel at a time, and she also wanted this functionality to be accessible via the keyboard. After poking around a bit, here's how to do it.

  • First, turn off the "Snap to Grid" feature in OneNote. This is on the Edit menu, near the bottom:

  • (If you want to use the mouse instead of keyboard, you are done!)

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  • Next, press ctrl+a a few times (the exact number will vary) to select the contents and the outline itself. It should look like this:

  • Notice how the background of the outline is light blue in addition to the text being highlighted? That's the key.

  • Now if your keyboard has it, click the Context menu key. On my keyboard, it is near the right Windows key. It has an icon on it that looks like the drop down menu from a dialog. If you do not have that key, SHIFT+F10 will do the same thing. When you press it, you get the same action as a right click - the context menu for the selection opens:

  • Type M to select the Move command. Now CTRL+UP ARROW moves the outline up one pixel, CTRL+RIGHT moves it right one pixel and so on (thanks Kim for this critical step!).

  • Thanks to Kim for suggesting this and figuring out that the CONTROL key has to be pressed to get the single pixel resolution and thanks to Olya for remembering the shortcut key for the context menu.

  • I hope this helps!

  • Questions, comments, concerns and criticisms always welcome,

  • John