Each time you print a document to OneNote, all the pages of that document will be inserted into one page of your OneNote notebook (unlike other solutions available for this problem). This is a feature that OneNote is supposed to have and makes navigating and using printouts much easier.
This solution is very easy to set up and will have you printing to OneNote in a matter of minutes.
First download and install PDFcreator (free)
Remember to "Run as Administrator" if you are using Vista/Win7
(...you don't have to install the toolbar)
After installing PDFcreator you will have a new printer in your Printers folder (PDFcreator). If you wish rename it you can do so now.
I renamed mine "Send to OneNote 2007"
Now it is time to configure PDFcreator to work with OneNote.
Navigate to Start>Programs>PDFcreator>PDFcreator
After opening PDFcreator click Printer>Options or press Crtl+O
First we will set up the format we want our printouts to be saved as.
Choose "Save" and then select TIFF for Standard save format
Now choose "Auto-save" ... Enable Auto-save ... again change format to TIFF ... Change filename to sendtoonenote (doing this will rewrite this file each time you print something to OneNote, thus avoiding a bunch of extra copies. Don't worry, the printouts will remain in OneNote) ...
Below where it says "Use this directory for auto-save" select the ellipsis and choose a location. I chose the Documents folder of my user account named gateway.
Now choose "Actions". This is where you need to be very careful and enter everything according to where you have chosen to auto-save.
Enable "action after saving" ... Below "Program/Script" click the ellipsis and find ONENOTE.exe. This is usually located under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\ONENOTE.EXE
Below "Program parameters" enter the text
/insertdoc "C:\Users\gateway\Documents\sendtoonenote.tif"
You will replace the data between the quotes with data pointing to where you chose to auto-save. Make sure you enter this very carefully. Note that the sendtoonenote file extention (tif) only has one f.
If you use multiple login accounts, you will want to make sure that each user has permission to write to this location.
It should now work. Test it by printing something choosing "PDFCreator" (or whatever you named it) as the printer. It will insert the printouts on the active page open in OneNote. OneNote does not have to be open for this to work either, it will open OneNote automatically after you print something.
You may need to reboot the system. If something doesnt work go back and make sure you entered the data from the last step correctly.
There is one more (optional) step for those who wish to have higher quality print outs.
Open PDFcreator ... go to Options ... Select "Ghostscript" ... below "Additional Ghostscript parameters" enter
-dTextAlphaBits=4 -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4
Press Save.
The only caveat to this solution that I have experienced occurs when trying to print very long documents to OneNote. I think it have something to do with the size of the TIFF file becoming to large. If you have this problem just print the document in sections. (Print pages 1-100 then 101-200 etc...)
Congratulations. You now have a fully functional print to OneNote solution.
BTW this does not fix the "Insert File as Printouts" option from being greyed out in your copy of OneNote. But this is not a big deal as you have just learned how to print directly to OneNote.
A tip when printing from PowerPoint is to print slides at handouts. Typically I print either 2-3 slides per page. 3 per page is useful for people with tablet PCs, as it puts the slides on one side and lines on the other for writing notes.
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