How to Search Your Notes and Use Tags in OneNote

OneNote can search typed text, handwriting, and even words inside inserted images — and tags let you mark notes so you can round them all up later. Here’s how to use both.

Why: Searching is how you find one note among thousands; tagging is how you find a category of notes (every to-do, every “important” flag) even when they’re scattered across notebooks. They work together: tag as you go, then search the tags.

Step 1: Search across all your notebooks

The search box sits at the far-right end of the section tabs, next to a magnifying glass.

1. Press Ctrl+E to put the cursor in the search box with the scope already set to All Notebooks.
2. Start typing a word or phrase. Results appear as you type, grouped by page.
3. Click a result to jump to that note. Press Esc to close the search.

To search only the page you’re on instead, press Ctrl+F.

Step 2: Narrow the search scope

If “All Notebooks” returns too much, limit where OneNote looks.

1. Click the small arrow next to the magnifying glass in the search box.
2. Choose a scope: Find on This Page, This Section, This Section Group, This Notebook, or All Notebooks.
3. Type your search term — results are now limited to that scope.

OneNote also searches handwritten notes and text inside images automatically, so a photographed receipt or a scanned page is findable too.

Step 3: Add a tag to a note

Tags are small labels (To Do checkbox, Important star, Question mark, and more) you attach to a line of notes.

1. Click in the line of text you want to tag.
2. On the Home tab, pick a tag from the Tags gallery — for example To Do (Ctrl+1) or Important (Ctrl+2).
3. The tag icon appears beside that line. For a checkbox tag, click the box to mark it complete.

Tags only attach to typed or handwritten notes — they won’t appear in a tag search unless they’re sitting on actual note content.

Step 4: Find all tagged notes with the Tags Summary pane

This is the payoff: collect every tagged note in one place.

1. On the Home tab, click Find Tags. The Tags Summary pane opens, grouping notes by tag.
2. Click any item in the pane to jump to that tagged note.
3. To control how much is searched, open the Search drop-down at the bottom of the pane, choose a scope, then click Refresh Results.
4. To turn the list into its own page (handy for a meeting follow-up), click Create Summary Page at the bottom of the pane.

FAQ

My tag isn’t showing up in Find Tags — why? The tag has to be attached to typed or handwritten note content. A tag on an empty line, or one applied to a file attachment, won’t appear in the Tags Summary.

What’s the difference between Ctrl+E and Ctrl+F? Ctrl+E searches across all notebooks; Ctrl+F searches only the current page. Use Ctrl+F when you already know which page the note is on.

Can I search words inside a picture? Yes. OneNote runs text recognition on inserted images, so words in a screenshot or photo are searchable along with your typed notes.

Sources: Microsoft Support — Search notes in OneNote · Microsoft Support — Search for tagged notes in OneNote