Workaround for "turning off" the TAB key creating a table instead of a regular TAB in OneNote

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As you may know, pressing TAB in the middle of a line in OneNote 2007 creates a table. There is no way to turn off this behavior, but if you want to create a regular TAB instead, you can use this workaround:

Create an Auto-correct rule that turns your chosen character sequence (e.g. "\t") into a regular TAB:

  1. Open Notepad and type one TAB. Select it and copy it.
  2. Go to OneNote and click Tools > Auto-correct Options...
  3. In the dialog, put your desired sequence of characters (e.g. \t, or \tab, or TAB, or <t>, or whatever you like) into the "Replace:" field.
  4. Paste the TAB that you copied from Notepad into the "With:" filed. Click Add.

Now, any \t followed by a SPACE will be replaced by a regular TAB.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 08, 2008
    One of my favourite features in OneNote 2007 is that when you hit tab it auto inserts a table for you,

  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2010
    Actually if you don't want to create a rule and have to remember the short cut you can simply highlight what you want to tab then press the tab key.  It is a little backwards to what we are used to but works pretty well in a pinch.

  • Anonymous
    September 26, 2010
    The problem with the highlight-than-tab solution is that it tabs the entire paragraph while you might want to create a tab after you have already typed something. Still a very good hint, I use it often.

  • Anonymous
    July 27, 2011
    You can insert a normal TAB by usint ALT+9 (you must use 9 on the numeric keypad and Num Lock must be on).

  • Anonymous
    September 20, 2011
    Thanks for this workaround.  Oddly enough I've never missed the Tab key.  I love that Tab creates a table.  I've always used the Increase Indent Position button. Alt+9 is great to know TY Perilous.

  • Anonymous
    January 26, 2012
    It is unreasonable to change the behavior of a standard keyboard feature such as the tab key without the ability to turn the functionality off and on.  I like OneNote and use it daily, but this change is very frustrating and needs to be fixed.  This workaround requires multiple clicks for what should only take one; once again this is unreasonable.  Please fix the tab key in OneNote

  • Anonymous
    February 29, 2012
    Seriously for the life of me i could not even use a normal tab.  My laptop does not have a standalone numpad so using alt+9 is annoying. Thanks for the workaround tho. MS should let us turn off the functionality

  • Anonymous
    March 13, 2012
    I would be careful using OneNote. I'm loosing notes in this folder system

  • Anonymous
    April 08, 2012
    I agree with the statements above that TAB should be a tab and not insert table.  I use OneNote daily as well and not being able to use standard keyboard tab feature without inserting a table is absolutely frustrating!  Either allow users to enable/disable this feature or go back to Tab being tab with a different way to insert a table quickly.  Sorry to those who like that TAB = insert table group but the changing of a standard keyboard function should not have been done.  Find another solution!

  • Anonymous
    July 04, 2012
    Thank you Perilous!! I know this is a year later but I only just ran into this problem...

  • Anonymous
    October 12, 2012
    I too find this non-standard use of the Tab key to extremely irritating.  Why can it not be turned off, for cryin' out loud?!  If I want to insert a table, I know how to do that through menu.  What's next....  the Enter key can only insert pictures?  The space bar enters smiley emoticons flipping me off and laughing?

  • Anonymous
    February 21, 2013
    Even better:  Autohotkey macro: ; ; Puts a real tab into OneNote ; Tab:: if WinActive("OneNote") {    send {Alt down}{Numpad9}{Alt up} } return

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2014
    just copy tab & paste using (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V). This is Best!!

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2014
    Just use copy & paste for real TAB using Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V.

  1. put real tab
  2. copy it (it is invisible)
  3. paste (that's it)

  • Anonymous
    February 18, 2014
    Alas, inserting tab characters looks good in OneNote (the application) but are ignored when looking at the notebook using the web UI.  That is, if you log into your Hotmail/Live/Outlook.com account, go to SkyDrive, and open the online copy of the notebook, the web app for OneNote will ignore tab characters (showing them as just a space character).  If you're creating local notebooks on your host then this workaround is doable.  If you are saving your notebooks at SkyDrive, the tabs you spent the time to insert are ignored when opening them using the OneNote web app (i.e., via your web browser).

  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2014
    Do you know if anyone has created a clone of "MS Notepad" where you can copy and paste "tab" characters into text? Microsoft could get rid of Notepad at any time.

  • Anonymous
    July 24, 2014
    Press [Alt] + [Shift] + [Right Arroew], or  [Alt] + [Shift] + [Left Arroew]. That is the tab. Copy entire page and paste into notepad. You can see it is actually a tab.

  • Anonymous
    September 25, 2014
    I am in total agreement that changing the default action for TAB, without a means to turn that off, is unacceptable.  How this got through the focus group user testing is just bizzaro!!  

  • Anonymous
    December 09, 2014
    Thanks, Ray. I had to use the IfWinActive ahk_class Framework::CFrame feature instead of if WinActive("OneNote"), but otherwise, perfect. Exactly what I was looking for! Here's mine: ; Puts a real tab into OneNote ; Tab:: IfWinActive ahk_class Framework::CFrame {   send {Alt down}{Numpad9}{Alt up} }

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2015
    Tim, I noticed that I have to hold down Alt, press 9 on numeric keypad (with NumLock on) and then release Alt before the tab is inserted. I found this when I tried to enter multiple tabs by pressing 9 repeatedly with the Alt key held down, it produces some unusual characters. I fully agree with the comments about reassigning the use of such a basic key, it is the create table option that should have been a key combination instead. I have also noticed that OneNote does not keep the same tab positions depending on the level of indentation of the paragraph: when I was entering two columns of information with tabs separating them, I found that the tabs on the second-level indent went to different positions compared to the first-level and non-indented text. To clarify, I was originally using the Alt-H -> AI menu option to indent paragraphs, later I used the Alt-Shift-Right and Alt-Shift-Left to indent and un-indent, after seeing it mentioned above. As today's young people would say ... Sad Face. Nick

  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 25, 2015
    Breaking such a basic convention and making it so hard to get it back is beyond broken design. Please complain here: onenote.uservoice.com/.../6561921-don-t-override-tab-key-behavior

  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2015
    this is the most ridiculous feature ever on anything

  • Anonymous
    October 26, 2015
    8 YEARS later, still no option tho turn it off...

  • Anonymous
    November 06, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 09, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 25, 2015
    Insert > Page Templates > Blank Then set that as default for the Section. TAB Works :) Tested in OneNote 2013

  • Anonymous
    November 25, 2015
    Or After the table is 1st created, click on Layout and click "Hide Borders"