Continuing from where we left of in my previous post on OneNote about Getting Started, today let’s talk about the basics for tables and some ways authors can use them.
TABLE USES
Tables have a TON of uses for us authors. They help organize your information in rows and columns. So any information that you need to track or keep organized, this is a good way to do it.
Some examples of how I use tables as an author to help get you started with ideas:
- Monthly Social Media Table – I create a table at the beginning of each month that tracks my plan for blog posts and SOME of my FB and Twitter posts based on what’s going on that month. This really helps me plan ahead and keep on track with my social media.
- Character Table – For each series (or book if standalone) I have a character table. I include information like the physical description, back story, traits, relationships, even a picture of what I think they look like.
- Plot Table – For a book on a chapter-by-chapter basis, I keep track of a few things including pacing, character POV, character development, plot points. All sorts of stuff. I even color code. It helps me to see where my holes are, and where to concentrate in editing.
HOW TO
Tables are one of the simpler tools in OneNote. To create a table you can do one of two things.
Create Table, Option 1 – Tabbing
- Find the page (new or old) that you want to add the table to.
- Type one word and hit the “tab” button on your keyboard.
OneNote will automatically create a table for you. Any time you hit tab it’ll create a new column. Any time you hit enter takes you to a new row. Enter twice will take out out of the table.
Create Table, Option 2 – Insert Table
- Find the page (new or old) that you want to add the table to.
- Go to the “Insert” tab at the top
- Click the little arrow under the “Table” button
- Select the number of columns/rows for the table
- Just click to insert
- Put your cursor in the table
- A tab at the top called “Table Tools, Layout” will appear
- Click the tab
You can add/remove rows and columns, format the coloring/layout of the table, change alignment within the cells. You can even convert the table to a spreadsheet.
- Find the page (new or old) that you want to add the spreadsheet to.
- Go to the “Insert” tab at the top
- Click the little arrow under the “Spreadsheet” button
- Select “New” or “Existing” (If select Existing, you must go find the file you want to insert)
