How to Create a Wiki in Microsoft OneNote

Do you have lots of information you need to keep track of? Maybe you have paper notebooks strewn around the office, along with Post It notes, bits of random lists on your phone, and some wishful thinking! If so, you might want to think about using Microsoft OneNote. On the other hand, if you’re already doing so, I’m going to give you some ideas on how to use it even more effectively. Either way, it should be worth a look.

In this article, I’ll show you how to use OneNote to help with your Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and organise your processes and information in a way that makes it easier to locate and navigate.

What is a OneNote Wiki?

A OneNote Wiki allows you to create and manage wikis using OneNote. It’s not a specific or dedicated application, but it offers some features that are found in them, including the ability to create a hierarchy of pages and content. You can link to other notes in the same section or notebook, or other notebooks.  It’s a simple and very intuitive way to find your way around a large amount of content.

OneNote is a great tool to help you create a simple wiki without needing to learn yet another application! Let’s get started.

Steps for Building a Wiki in OneNote

1. Create a Homepage for your Wiki (use a title that describes the purpose).
2. Add a rough outline of your content (Think of this as a Table of Contents).
3. Link to a Page or Section using Wiki syntax.

In the example below, I have a section called Wiki. I also added a page with the heading “Table of Contents”, along with a few headings. If you look at the page pane on the right, you can see I already have some content; this is where I wrote the chapters for my OneNote Introduction course.

I want to link to the various chapters so I can quickly move around and find what I need. The headings in my Table of Contents correspond to the page names on the right.

Here’s what to do:

1. In my wiki page, select the OneNote Orientation heading.
2. Right click on the selected heading, then from the drop down list, select link.
   
   
   
   
3. In the link dialog box, I need to click on the specific section and page I want to link to.
4. Click the OK button when done.

The link now displays just like a typical hyperlink you see on websites, with blue text and underlines. Clicking the link takes you directly to the page you need.

But wait, there’s more! I’m going to explore a different method of linking as I go. This is one I like to use since it’s a bit quicker than using the link dialog box.

I have a page called “Working with Linked Notes” that I haven’t yet linked to, and I don’t even have the heading in my Table of Contents. Here’s how I go about adding a link.

1. Clicking at the end of my Table of Contents, I’ll start by opening two square brackets.
2. Type the heading as it appears in the page panel on the right.
3. Use two closing square brackets to finish.

As soon as I close the square brackets, the link is created and ready to use. Brilliant!

Bonus tip: I added a new page to my Table of Contents as I was building it by opening double brackets, typing a new heading, then closing the brackets. This created a new page, then automatically linked to it.

You can see the link has a dashed underline. This indicates that the page doesn’t have any content yet.

Enjoy!