Where's the CTRL+E search in OneNote for mac?

2 min read.

This article explains how to search through all of your workbooks in OneNote for Mac OS. The same thing you can do with CTRL+E on Windows – that is. Because for whatever reason, in OneNote for Mac, it’s hidden.

Background (and problem)

Table of Contents

Oh, OneNote for Mac, my dearest… Why must you be the neglected sibling of the Windows version? It’s like Microsoft gave it a pat on the head and said, “You’ll get there someday, champ.” But someday never comes. And that’s rare! As most Microsoft tools seem to be superior on a Mac. It’s just Visual Studio and OneNote that I’ve found so far to be lacking in comparison (or missing altogether – but luckily JetBrains Rider exists…)

The CTRL+E search in Windows? Works like a dream. A beacon of uncompromising efficiency. A shortcut that Just Works©.

Meanwhile, Mac users are stuck fumbling through a clunky, less intuitive search experience.

Why? Why would something like this just randomly be missing from otherwise equivalent (or better!) office suite?

Yet I come to you bearing good news: there IS such search experience available on OneNote for Mac.

Solution

It’s quite simple, really. There’s a similar search functionality using Command + F (although it’s on the left, not on the right), and while by default it searches for the minimal scope possible, you can expand it by hitting the following shortcut:

Command + Option + F

The problem is, if you’ve searched for something and moved the focus away, this shortcut stops working. You can’t search again until the left-hand sidebar has been used for something else. The shortcut requires you to not have searched, otherwise it won’t take you to the search field.

The good thing is, there are plenty of harmless shortcuts to choose from to “reset” the “sidebar”.

My favorite would be CTRL+G for listing your Workbooks, because it doesn’t really do anything.

You could also try hitting SHIFT+TAB a few times, as that MIGHT bring your focus to the search box. It feels weirdly inconsistent – so I’ll just CTRL+G instead.

But really, that’s it. Happy OneNoting!

Author
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Antti K. Koskela

Developer / Speaker / Consultant at Koskila / Precio Fishbone / Norppandalotti Software Co / Alter - Experience Ideas Ltd

Antti Koskela is a proud digital native nomadic millennial full stack developer (is that enough funny buzzwords? That's definitely enough funny buzzwords!), who works as Solutions Architect for Precio Fishbone, building delightful Digital Workplaces.

He's been a developer from 2004 (starting with PHP and Java), and he's been working on .NET projects, Azure, Office 365, SharePoint and a lot of other stuff. He's also Microsoft MVP for Azure.

This is his personal professional (e.g. professional, but definitely personal) blog.

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