Command-line switches in OneNote 2016

In this article

• Use a switch once by adding it to the Run command

• Make a switch reusable by creating a shortcut

• Startup switches available in OneNote 2016

Use a switch once by adding it to the Run command

1. In the bottom left corner of the Windows task bar, right-click the Start button, and then click Run.

2. In the Run dialog box that opens, click the Browse button, and then navigate to the ONENOTE.EXE file on your computer's hard drive.

   By default, the ONENOTE.EXE file is located in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16 folder.

   Note: Be sure not to confuse the ONENOTE.EXE file with the similarly named ONENOTEM.EXE file located in the same folder.

3. Click to select the ONENOTE.EXE file, and then click Open.

4. In the Run dialog box that's still open, place the cursor immediately to the right of the closing quotation mark at the end of the text that's shown in the Open box.

5. Press the Spacebar to type a single space after the closing quotation mark, and then type the command-line switch that you want to use. See Startup switches available in OneNote 2016 later in this article.

   For example, if you want to start OneNote 2016 and prevent the splash screen from appearing, the text in the Open box should look like this:

   "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16" /nologo

6. Click OK to run the command.

   Note: If you receive an error message, make sure that you correctly typed the switch text outside of the file path quotation marks, as shown at the end of Step 5.

Make a switch reusable by creating a shortcut

To create a shortcut on your Windows desktop that lets you start OneNote with a preferred switch, do the following:

1. Right-click on any blank part of your Windows desktop, point to New, and then click Shortcut.

2. In the Create Shortcut dialog box that opens, click the Browse button.

3. In the Browse for Files or Folders dialog box that opens, click This PC, and then click the name of the hard drive labeled as (C:) to navigate to the ONENOTE.EXE file.

   By default, the ONENOTE.EXE file is located in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16 folder.

   Note: Be sure not to confuse the ONENOTE.EXE file with the similarly named ONENOTEM.EXE file located in the same folder.

4. Click to select the ONENOTE.EXE file, and then click OK.

5. In the Create Shortcut dialog box that's still open, place the cursor immediately to the right of the closing quotation mark at the end of the text that's shown in the Type the location of the item box.

6. Press the Spacebar to type a single space after the closing quotation mark, and then type the command-line switch that you want to use. See Startup switches available in OneNote 2016 later in this article.

   For example, if you want to start OneNote 2016 and prevent the splash screen from appearing, the text in the Type the location of the item box should look like this:

   "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16" /nologo

7. In the Create Shortcut dialog box, click Next.

   Note: If you receive an error message, make sure that you correctly typed the switch text outside of the file path quotation marks, as shown at the end of Step 6.

8. In the Type a name for this shortcut box, type a descriptive name for the new shortcut, and then click Finish.

Startup switches available in OneNote 2016