OneNote Image as Background

OneNote - Image as Background

My online class had a very simple assignment: use their template, provided in PDF format, to create a Strategic Execution Map using a Wall Based Process. You know, the standard "let's whiteboard / sticky-note this solution" process. It works for any brainstorming or ideation or process flow review session where a group needs to create, sort, group, re-sort, re-group ideas (or requirements, or process steps, or...).


I could have marked up a collection of self-stick wall pads with Post-It notes, then taken a photograph of each, then inserted the photo into OneNote, but I wanted a short-cut. (My God Jim, I'm just a country-doctor".)

Why Set an Image as Background

Pictures and color are powerful. Plain white pages, not so much. By setting a image as background you can:  

• Set mood via color, or image
• Set branding - set a logo or a key visual element on every page
• Create Visual maps - adding notes and links right on top of the image

This works in OneNote because containers "float" on top of the background image. So here are the steps - and a couple of variations to make it work:

1. Add a page to any section
2. From the Images category, click the Pictures command
3. Navigate to the image you want to insert, Select, then click OK
4. Right click on the image and click "Set Picture as Background" 

1. Add a page to any section
2. From the Images category, click the Online Pictures command
3. Navigate to the image you want to insert, Select, then click OK 
4. Right click on the image and click "Set Picture as Background"  

1. Add a page to any section
2. Click on an image in your web browser
3. Right click and select Copy, then return to OneNote and right-click and select Paste. The picture from the internet will also insert the source URL.
4. Right click on the image and click "Set Picture as Background" 

Nope, it doesn't work.  None of them. Total #Fail.

Right-Click Menu - Command is Missing (Fail!)

Do you see the outline of the container in the picture above, just inside of the resize handles? (Click to enlarge the graphic for a better view). Collecting images this way works great, but step #4 breaks.

In all three processes above, OneNote creates a container and inserts the image - which seems totally logical. (Remember this is a Microsoft product, so features and benefits usually cut two ways.)

Key Trick: The Image Cannot be Inside a Container

New and Improved Instructions:

1. Add a page to any section
2. From the Images category, click the Pictures command
3. Navigate to the image you want to insert, Select, then click OK
4. Right-Click on the image (inside the container) and select Cut
5. Move your cursor outside of any/all containers (choose a empty portion of the page) and click Paste
6. Size and Position the image as needed
7. Right-Click on the image and select Set Picture as Background

Set as Background command. Success!

Notice in the screen clip above that the container frame is missing. Now your image is fixed to the page, and you can create containers right on top of the background. Insert text, draw lines, highlight key elements, the background stays in place. Some may want to use Visio or PowerPoint functionality, but the learning curve and the overlay rules are a bit tedious.

Fancy Tip

Add a small image onto your background (a circle, diamond, or number) in a regular container. Then Click the Link command in the Link category on the ribbon. Add a URL, but no text. The small image is now a hyperlink.


If you were teaching anatomy, you could put the human body as a background, add numbers 1 through 10, creating hyperlinks to definitions, audio-visual, multimedia, etc.  Sorry, no graphic here, but you can mouse-over the hyperlink to test this Fancy Tip.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

PowerPoint Bonus Tip (Feature or Bug?)

You can also set PowerPoint Slides as a background image:

1. Add a page to a section
2. From the Files category, click File Printout
3. Navigate to the PowerPoint you want to insert and click Insert
4. Size and Position the slide(s) as needed
5. Right click and select Set Picture as Background (Repeat for additional slides)

Yes, in all of the magnificent brilliance of design, this instruction set will print your PowerPoint deck into OneNote (I swear they look like they are in containers) and then let you right-click and set each slide as a background image. (Author: Rubs eyes, mutters quiet condemnation , left eye starts twitching).


Have you ever wanted to take notes right on top of a PPT presentation? There you go. 

Bottom Line

Whether you want to set a background color via templates, or add an image or logo, or PowerPoint presentation as a background, OneNote can do it. Don't think about the logic, just give it a try and start layering your notes on top of your custom background.

~Xolo 

Layout and colors provided in PDF
Text containers layered in OneNote