MarginNote – Adjusting Vertical Position of Margin Notes

Question

I want the first line of my margin notes—which are set in \small size—to be at the height of the baseline of the body text, like this:

My problem is that using something simple like

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{marginnote}
\renewcommand{\marginfont}{\small}
\begin{document}
What can I do to align the first line of the marginnote?\marginnote{D-D-D-Drop the baseline!}
\end{document}

results in

Answer 1

You can write your own with the tabto package. EDITED to flip \mynote margin on every page. You can choose to fix the \mynote in a single margin (left or right) by eliminating the \AddEverypageHook and setting \pagesense to R or L as desired.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{marginnote}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{tabto,everypage}
\def\pagesense{R}
\AddEverypageHook{\if R\pagesense\gdef\pagesense{L}\else\gdef\pagesense{R}\fi}
\renewcommand{\marginfont}{\small}
\newcommand\mynote[1]{%
  \if R\pagesense%
    \tabto*{\dimexpr\textwidth+\marginparsep\relax}%
  \else%
    \tabto*{\dimexpr-\marginparsep-\marginparwidth\relax}%
  \fi%
  \smash{\parbox[t]{\marginparwidth}{\small#1}}%
  \tabto*{\TabPrevPos}%
  {}%
}
\textwidth=3.9in
\begin{document}
Original marginnote\par
What can I do to align the first line of the marginnote?\marginnote{D-D-D-Drop the baseline!} Here I continue the text.
\vspace{.2in}

Revised mynote\par
What can I do to align the first line of the marginnote?\mynote{D-D-D-Drop the baseline!} Here I continue the text.

\lipsum[1-5]

Another test.\mynote{I should be to the left}

\lipsum[6-10]

Last test.\mynote{I'm back on the right}
\end{document}