Where the problem happens is when you move notes that have these files
associated. It doesn't move the files. Taking quick side notes makes this
even more of an issue becaues the vary nature of the side note is that you
will move it.
From your description, it appears that you are using OneNote 2003. You
are correct, OneNote 2003 does not move these "linked-to" files when you
move the text. Everything will work fine if you don't move the text with
the link to a different folder because the link will still point to the
same folder the file is located in. But if you move the text with the
link to a section that is in a different folder then OneNote will not be
able to find the file any more. This is because all OneNote 2003 does is
copy the file to the folder and then create a link to it on the page.
That link just contains the filename with no path information.
When you move the text and the link, OneNote 2003 pays no attention to
what that link may point to. It is essentially nothing more than text in
the form of a standard file link. You could just type similar text on the
page and it would work the same way. It is very similar to a link in HTML
or in an e-mail. They are just text. The file has to be where the text
says it is or the link won't work. If the text doesn't include a full
path name and you move it to a different folder then the file won't be in
the same relative position that it used to be. If you don't know about
relative path names then read this WikiPedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_(computing)
So, anyway, you have three options to solve the problem:
1) You can just get in there and find the file and move it to the same
folder as the section where the text and link are now located. This gets
to be a pain after a while.
2) You can keep all you files in a parallel folder structure organized by
major topics. Then choose the first option "Insert a link to the original
file" when you drag a file onto the OneNote page. Once you link to a file
you can't move it or OneNote will be pointing to the wrong path. You
could update those paths every time you moved a file but that gets
tiresome as well.
Another gotcha to both of these is if you delete the text and link in
OneNote then the linked-to file stays behind. This can build up quite a
lot of unwanted files.
As you can see these are not very good solutions. This is why people
complained a lot and Microsoft used a completely different approach for
OneNote 2007. This version completely embeds the attached file within the
OneNote file. If you cut and paste the text with attached file then the
file moves with it. OneNote doesn't have to update the "link" because
there is no link. The file is truly embedded and it gets moved just like
a picture on the page would.
So, your third, and recommended option, would be to upgrade to OneNote
2007. It is in beta now and is a free download. But, you know what, I
can't find where it is now. I'm sure Patrick will chime in.
One thing to watch out for when moving text with embedded files in
OneNote 2007. You have to make sure that you choose "Keep source
formatting" from the paste options floating menu or it will not keep your
embedded files. Any paste option but this one causes it to drop
everything but text and ink.
