Hello! By MS-ONE every note tag has a property ActionItemType(paragraph 2.3.85). It is described as "an ActionItemType element (section 2.3.85) that specifies the identity of the note tag". We cannot understand what does it mean... For tasks tags the meaning of ActionItemType is clear: But for normal tags it is just stated that the value must be from 0 till 99 and it means "a numeric identifier of the note tag." I investigated our sample documents and found: There are two documents having a tag with 'Home' icon but with different ActionItemType from document to document: 7 in one of them and 8 in another one. That is ActionItemType is the same across the document but is different from document to document. There is a document having a few tags with 'BlueCheckBox' but with different ActionItemType: some have value of 0 but others have value of 99. That is ActionItemType is not the same across the document. So it would be great to get clarification regarding the questions below: What does this property mean regarding normal tags? If we read a OneNote document with a tag and store this document without preserving tag's ActionItemType then what consequences can happen? Let's suppose we generate a new document with a normal tag. How we should choose a value for tag's ActionItemType? Thanks! Sincerely, Alexei.

Hi Alexei, Here are my answers inline: What does this property mean regarding normal tags? The 0-99 are considered custom ActionItemTypes used by OneNote when you create a new tag. They are assigned in a document but not unique or consistent between documents. If we read a OneNote document with a tag a store this document without preserving tag's ActionItemType then what consequences can happen? If it’s already set, you should preserve it. Let's suppose we generate a new document with a normal tag. How we should choose a value for tag's ActionItemType? The choice of custom AIT's is arbitrary and the only requirement is that they be unique at the paragraph level, i.e. don't use the same one more than once on a given paragraph. I hope this help guide your implementation. Tom

Clarification regarding ActionItemType for OneNote 2010 format

Accepted answer

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-09-03T18:56:28.443+00:00
Hi Alexei,
Here are my answers inline:

What does this property mean regarding normal tags?

The 0-99 are considered custom ActionItemTypes used by OneNote when you create a new tag. They are assigned in a document but not unique or consistent between documents.

If we read a OneNote document with a tag a store this document without preserving tag's ActionItemType then what consequences can happen?

If it’s already set, you should preserve it.

Let's suppose we generate a new document with a normal tag. How we should choose a value for tag's ActionItemType?

The choice of custom AIT's is arbitrary and the only requirement is that they be unique at the paragraph level, i.e. don't use the same one more than once on a given paragraph.

I hope this help guide your implementation.

Tom
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AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2021-09-03T19:34:38.987+00:00

Thanks!
Looks pretty clear.

One more clarification: "don't use the same one more than once on a given paragraph".
What does it mean?

Do I understand right that AITs must be unique for every tagged item?

For example, I have document with one RichText, one Image, one Table and one AttachedFile. Every node has two tags: Important and ToDo. All of them are placed into the same Outline.
The structure of document: Document - Page - Outline - OutlineElement - {RichText, Image, Table, AttachedFile}.

Do I understand right that the assignments of AITs below are valid?

RichText { Important: 1, ToDo: 2 }, Image { Important: 1, ToDo: 2 }, Table { Important: 1, ToDo: 2 }, AttachedFile { Important: 1, ToDo: 2 }

RichText { Important: 1, ToDo: 2 }, Image { Important: 2, ToDo: 1 }, Table { Important: 1, ToDo: 2 }, AttachedFile { Important: 2, ToDo: 1 }

RichText { Important: 1, ToDo: 2 }, Image { Important: 3, ToDo: 4 }, Table { Important: 5, ToDo: 6 }, AttachedFile { Important: 7, ToDo: 8 }

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-09-03T21:39:05.917+00:00

Paragraph would be the lowest level of tagging. Not sure if that's the best way to put it but your statement:

"Do I understand right that AITs must be unique for every tagged item?"

Is accurate. That might be a better way to think of it.

Yes, I believe the AITs you list would be appropriately assigned.

Having said this, there are version specific implementation details around tags and AITs in general but the [MS-ONE] specification only addresses OneNote 2010 implementation. I believe that the information I've provided will work for other versions as well (i.e. compatible).

AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2021-09-06T08:50:11.687+00:00

A few follow ups if you don't mind.

I attached two generated OneNote 2010 documents.
Both of them have the same content: text "Hehe" with two tags: YellowStar with "Important" label and YellowStar with "NotSoImportant" label.
The difference: in TwoTags_0.one AIT is 0, in TwoTags_1.one AIT is 1.

In OneNote app YellowStar tag is known as Important tag.

If we open TwoTags_0.one and press Important tag button then OneNote app adds one more tag to the text. The following press removes added tag(i.e. we have only original two tags).
But if we open TwoTags_1.one and press Important tag button then OneNote app removes one tag from text. Pressing one more time removes the second one. The following presses adds/removes the tag.
So it looks like OneNote app shows well tags with any AITs but processes well tags with AIT 1 and ignores tags with AIT 0.

What is the reason of such behaviour?

May be there is more rules to assign AITs for tags?

OneNote app allows to place only one instance of any tag type. Does this mean that we also should stick to this restriction?

Sample files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikt4k79b1b3hleh/TwoTags_0.one?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ina0w2eab1noqts/TwoTags_1.one?dl=0

AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2021-09-06T08:55:07.443+00:00

As I mentioned in the comment above the tags have labels "Important" label and "NotSoImportant".
Iif we open TwoTags_1.one and point out the mouse over first tag we will see label "Important" but the same label is displayed for the second tag.
If we press Important tag button and remove one of the tags then label of the second one will be changed to expected "NotSoImportant".
Can you comment regarding this situation?

The text also can be tagged by task tags(i.e. tags associated with Outlook tasks).
It looks like OneNote app allows to place only one task tag on the item.
Should we stick to the same restriction?

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-09-10T21:21:30.11+00:00

Hi Alexei,

Sorry for the delay in response. In your TwoTags_1.one, you actually had AIT=0 assigned to both Important and NotSoImportant. That would be a problem and cause some of these issues. Another thing to note is that in the UI will check the string, icon and AIT to identify the tag. This will also confuse OneNote. So you should make sure that you are dealing with a unique set of string/icon/AIT.

Tom

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-09-10T21:23:57.277+00:00

Just to add detail to above, from our OneNote team:
Both jcidNoteTagSharedDefinitionContainers (for Important and NotSoImportant) have ActionItemType = 0. If these are both set on the same jcidRichTextOENode, then these AITs need to be different.

Tom

AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2021-11-26T10:41:31.523+00:00

Hi, Tom!

Sorry for the delay.
I hope we can continue this thread.

I discovered another issue.
I attached two sample files: sample_SendEMail_24.one sample_SendEMail_25.one (https://www.dropbox.com/s/60f0qa3z53xip0x/SendEMailTags.zip?dl=0)
Both of them has the same content: single RichText tagged by "Send in email" tag(available in Home - Tags list of OneNote app).
The only difference: in sample_SendEMail_24.one the tag has AIT equals to 24 and in sample_SendEMail_25.one the tag has AIT equals to 25.

OneNote app processes these files differently:

If I open sample_SendEMail_24.one and keep pressing "Send in email" button in "Home - Tags" then the tag appears/disappears as expected.

If I open sample_SendEMail_25.one and keep pressing "Send in email" button in "Home - Tags" then the initial tag stays unchanged but the new "Send in email" tag appears/disappears. It is unexpected.

If I open sample_SendEMail_25.one and press "Schedule meeting" button in "Home - Tags" then the initial tag disappears but the new "Schedule meeting" tag appears. It is unexpected too.

It would be great to get a clarification regarding this behaviour.

KristianSmith-MSFT 121 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-11-26T18:04:29.167+00:00

Hi AlexeiSo-5879,

Thank you for your request. One of our team members will review this and follow-up with you soon.

Regards,
Kristian S.
Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Open Spec Protocols

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-11-27T03:17:47.5+00:00

hi Alexei,

Thanks for reaching out to us. I will look into this on Monday.

Best regards,
Tom Jebo
Sr Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Open Specifications Support

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-11-30T19:36:19.117+00:00

@AlexeiSo ,

In these two sample files, were the AIT values added by OneNote or by your code or other code?

Tom

AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2021-11-30T21:20:31.033+00:00

AITs in both files are added by my code.

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-11-30T22:15:08.49+00:00

I thought we stated last time that code adding custom AIT's should be checking for overlap in image and description (name).

From my Sep 10 2021 at 2:21 PM post:

"So you should make sure that you are dealing with a unique set of string/icon/AIT."

Does that not work or is there some other constraint or issue that makes this infeasible?

Tom

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-11-30T22:27:23.147+00:00

I meant to ask also, how were these two .one files made? Is one from OneNote Online and one from desktop OneNote?

Tom

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2021-11-30T22:46:12.657+00:00

i see in one place in our code that 25 looks like it's the custom cutoff instead of 98. I'm going to have to ask the OneNote team to see if that is correct or if it's a bug.
I'm assuming that if you were to use 23 and 24, they would behave the same, is this correct?

Tom

AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2021-12-01T07:07:19.43+00:00

Every document contains single RichText with a rag. So there is no overlap in image and description (name).

AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2021-12-01T07:09:15.357+00:00

These files were generated by my code from scratch. I didn't use neither OneNote desktop app or OneNote Online service.

AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2021-12-01T07:26:54.26+00:00

If I use 24 then OneNote app processes generated file as expected.
But it is not the case for 23 and 25. I attached the sample file with AIT = 23: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0idcet1arundj7o/sample_SendEMail_23.one?dl=0
You can try to press Home - Tags - "Send in email" button and after that press Home - Tags - "Discuss with manager".

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2022-01-27T20:03:43.197+00:00

Hi Alexei,

I finally got back to this and have found some interesting results from debugging with your test files. I have to confirm these with our OneNote team but it looks like we may indeed have different formats for the ActionItemTypes (AIT) and persistence lists for those. I noticed that in the case where it adds the second icon, the code seems to believe that there is no tag on that outline element before adding your AIT 25 property. But the code also indicates that there have been versions of this property persistence for other versions of OneNote. The MS-ONE specification is tied to the descriptions of OneNote 2010. These others may not be described and may be causing part or all of this behavior.

If you generate a file with 2010 only, then likely this won't happen.
I'll let you know what the OneNote team says.

Tom

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2022-01-27T21:49:05.553+00:00

So the versioning I found looks like it only affects pre 2010 version files and I don't think I see it's effect in the flow during this test.
What I do see is that there are several properties that are compared (I've mentioned this before but maybe we missed one?).
The one that appears to be causing the existing tag and the new tag to be applied to not compare equally is the "highlight" property.
There are four comparisons:

highlight

font

label

note tag shape

In the test with your .one file that adds the extra icon, it's the highlight property that is causing this. I think this would be the NoteTagHighlightColor property in MS-ONE 2.1.9.

Can you check this out and confirm?
Thanks,
Tom

AlexeiSo 81 Reputation points

2022-01-28T13:02:39.427+00:00

Hi, Tom!

Thanks for the reply.

I tested and it looks like everything works fine.
I made two changes:

Skip saving Empty color as value for Highlight property.

Hold the rule "Every quadruple (Note Tag Shape, Label, Font Color, Highlight Color) -> unique AIT value".

After that OneNote desktop app handles generated documents in the expected way.

Thanks!

Tom Jebo 1,996 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2022-01-28T21:23:57.017+00:00

Glad to hear it worked!

Tom
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