Power Up Your OneNote Workflow with Keyboard Shortcuts

February 25, 2026

Picture of a keyboard

We're excited to announce a game-changing feature that will transform how you use Onetastic: Customizable Keyboard Shortcuts. This powerful addition lets you assign your own keyboard combinations to your favorite Onetastic features, making them instantly accessible without touching your mouse. Whether you're running macros, applying custom styles, navigating between your favorites, or using image utilities, you can now access everything at lightning speed.

Why Keyboard Shortcuts?

If you're like most Onetastic users, you probably have a handful of features you use constantly—maybe it's your Search & Replace macro, your favorite heading style, or the image rotation tools. Until now, accessing these required navigating through menus or ribbons. With keyboard shortcuts, you can invoke any Onetastic feature with a single key combination.

But here's what makes this feature truly special: intelligent conflict handling. Onetastic's shortcut system works seamlessly alongside OneNote's built-in shortcuts, giving you complete control over how they interact.

Getting Started

To configure your shortcuts, open the Onetastic Options dialog via Tools and Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts in the Home ribbon tab.

Tools & Settings - Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Options

You'll see a comprehensive list of all available Onetastic features that can be assigned shortcuts, organized by category:

Setting Up a Shortcut

Assigning a shortcut is incredibly simple:
  1. Find the action you want in the list (use the search box or category filters to narrow it down)
  2. Double-click the action, or select it and press Enter
  3. In the Key Capture dialog, press the key combination you want to use

Key Capture Dialog

The Key Capture dialog shows you exactly what you're entering and instantly alerts you if there's any conflict with existing shortcuts. You can use:

For example, let's say you frequently use a "Search & Replace" macro. You could assign it Ctrl + H, the same shortcut that many text editors use for find and replace.

Understanding Shortcut Scope

Here's an important detail: Onetastic shortcuts are local to OneNote. They only work when OneNote has focus and won't interfere with other applications.

If you assign Ctrl+H to your Search & Replace macro, it will work perfectly in OneNote, but when you switch to Notepad or Word, their Ctrl+H shortcuts will work just as they always have. You don't need to worry about Onetastic shortcuts taking over your entire system. This gives you the freedom to use familiar key combinations without any conflicts outside of OneNote.

Smart Conflict Detection

When you assign a shortcut, Onetastic immediately checks for conflicts with:

If there's a conflict, you'll see it right in the interface: Shortcut Conflicts

The Conflict column uses visual indicators:

Override or Augment: Your Choice

Here's where things get really interesting. When your shortcut conflicts with a OneNote built-in shortcut, Onetastic gives you two options:

Key Capture Conflict

  1. Override OneNote's shortcut: Your Onetastic action completely replaces OneNote's behavior for this key combination. For example, if you prefer your custom numbering macro over OneNote's Ctrl+1 tag shortcut, you can override it.
  2. Execute after OneNote's shortcut: Both actions happen in sequence—OneNote's action first, then your Onetastic action. This is perfect when you want to build on top of OneNote's functionality. For instance, you could create a macro that runs after OneNote applies a tag, adding your own custom processing.

This level of control means you're never locked into OneNote's defaults, but you also never lose functionality if you don't want to.

Powerful Organization Features

Managing shortcuts for dozens of actions is easy thanks to built-in organization tools:

Filtering

Filtering Shortcuts

Sorting

Click any column header to sort by:

The interface remembers your preferences—your selected filters, search terms, column sort order, and even window position—so everything is exactly how you left it the next time you open the dialog.

Quick Tips for Effective Shortcuts

Here are some suggestions for getting the most out of this feature:
  1. Use mnemonic shortcuts: Choose key combinations that match the action (e.g., Ctrl+Alt+H for Insert Horizontal Line)
  2. Reserve Ctrl+Alt combinations for your most-used features: These are generally unused by OneNote and easy to remember
  3. Don't be afraid to override: If you never use OneNote's Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+6 tag shortcuts, those are prime real estate for your macros
  4. Group related actions: Assign sequential shortcuts to related macros (like Ctrl+Alt+1, Ctrl+Alt+2, Ctrl+Alt+3 for different formatting macros)
  5. Use function keys for quick access: F2-F12 are mostly available and perfect for frequently-used actions
  6. Check the Conflicts Only filter: Periodically review this to ensure you're comfortable with all your overrides

Real-World Examples

To give you some inspiration, here are some practical shortcut configurations:

A Productivity Game-Changer

This feature represents a major step forward in making Onetastic an integral part of your OneNote workflow. Instead of breaking your concentration to hunt through menus, you can keep your hands on the keyboard and your mind on your work.

The combination of customizability, conflict detection, and intelligent handling of OneNote's built-in shortcuts makes this one of the most powerful productivity features we've ever added to Onetastic. We can't wait to see how you use it!

Try It Today

Keyboard shortcuts are available in Onetastic version 8 and are available to active Pro and Dev license users. If you haven't updated recently, head over to the Onetastic Options dialog and check for updates, or download the latest version from the download page.

Set up your first few shortcuts today, and within a week, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. Happy shortcut-ing! If you have questions about keyboard shortcuts or suggestions for improvements, join the discussion below or reach us out via email.

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