A research note can outlive your memory of which document prompted it. A filename typed afterwards may be ambiguous when several revisions exist. OneNote Linked Notes can keep document context alongside notes taken in a supported desktop session.

Use desktop OneNote on Windows and a Word or PowerPoint document whose Review tab provides Linked Notes. Start with two non-sensitive practice files carrying clearly different titles. This workflow depends on that supported application integration, so a side-by-side window arrangement alone is not enough.

Begin with a deliberate destination

In the source application, choose Review, Linked Notes. In Select Location, choose a notebook location. Selecting a section creates a new page; selecting an existing page adds the notes there. Write in the docked OneNote window while reviewing the source.

Microsoft documents that the session stores a thumbnail, a text excerpt and a link to the source. Hover over an individual note to inspect linked-file details, then click its thumbnail to open the associated file. The chain-link control lists linked documents and provides Stop Taking Linked Notes.

Write one observation about a distinctive passage in the first practice file. Inspect its linked details immediately. Then stop the session before switching to unrelated material. Knowing where linking begins and ends is part of keeping the note's source understandable.

Test the return route and the evidence

Return from the note to its linked file and read the actual passage. Check the document title and revision as well as the familiar wording. A successful open does not establish that a later-edited document still says exactly what you saw originally.

Write your own conclusion separately from any quotation. Record a page, slide or section reference where that helps another person locate the evidence without relying on your desktop session. The automatically captured excerpt is context, not a substitute for maintaining the source material required by the project.

Before using the notebook elsewhere, check that the intended reader has access to the linked document. A link does not grant permission or package an entire source file into an independent archive.

Keep the note destination, source identity and session boundary clear. That makes the feature useful for returning to research without mistaking an automatically created connection for verification of the argument you wrote.

Sources: Microsoft: taking Linked Notes.