Locking the notes in place

Question

Is it possible to lock a note container (hereafter: a note) in place, so it is not movable any more unless I want it? In my daily work I create lots of notes to organize my ideas and arrange them in an order.  When I insert a new note anywhere in the middle of a row of notes already put into order, the ones below my pointer move downwards. Okay, let it be. The problem is, it does not happen the other way round: when I cut some text or a note in the middle of a row, the notes do not move upwards but stay where they are, creating an annoying blank space. I move them manually but often during the process the notes from the second row get disordered, etc. This disturbs me a lot and I hope locking them for good to prevent any movement may serve at least as a partial remedy. Of course, if there is any better solution to my problem, feel free to share it with me.

Answer 1

You cannot lock notes in place.

But you can add space to move all together or you can delete free space, as you asked:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote-help/add-space-to-a-page-HA010231417.aspx

Despite this description you can use the same feature for deleting free space. Move the cursor correspondingly. Try it out with a test page.

Bernd

Answer 2

The Insert->Extra Writing Space trick did not let me to delete any free space above the first or the third note. I tested this feature a little bit more and I would say that it is page-wide only,

That's correct: page wide.

In other cases you have to arrange the notes by hand; including the Lasso tool.

Bernd

Answer 3

Dear Bernd,

Thank you for your reply. 

I created a test page and inserted three identical 10-line text notes, just a little below the title box, in three rows (i.e. next to each other). Then I inserted another note above the second one. Not only the second note but also the first and third one moved downwards.  (I can understand why in such cases the second note moves and even the third one - as the pasted text may be too wide, i.e. wider than the width of the second note. Still, I do not have a slightest idea why the first note moves as well.)

The Insert->Extra Writing Space trick did not let me to delete any free space above the first or the third note. I tested this feature a little bit more and I would say that it is page-wide only, whereas I am looking for a column-wide (width-of-a-note-wide) one. Or any other practical solution to prevent my carefully arranged notes from getting disordered once and once again.

Simon