Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote 2003 is an application designed from the ground up by Microsoft as a note-taking and information gathering tool. While it is at its best on a Tablet PC where the Tablet's pen and ink capability can be brought to bear it is also a powerful tool on a notebook or desktop computer. Since its introduction, Evernote has become a competitor. On the Mac, AquaMinds makes a notebook program with Services integration (which OneNote lacks), but no autosave.
In terms of history, the free Treepad and Infomagic for Windows came close to OneNote's idea of free-form information management, although unlike these early programs, OneNote does not use a database system, and these early systems relied on text, not text boxes as OneNote does.
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Key features
- Simple section/page metaphor which vaguely resembles a spiral binder notebook.
- Full text, cross section, search capability.
- Quick Notes which allow the user to quickly pop up a small window to take notes whenever stricken with thoughts.
- Drag and drop content from Internet Explorer to OneNote preserves most formatting and automatically builds a reference link back to the source website.
- Outlook integration for creating task items from OneNote notes. Also possible to e-mail OneNote notes as HTML documents so they can be read even by people who do not have OneNote.
- Audio recording capability so that one can record the meeting or lecture along with one's notes.
Key shortcomings
- Office integration requires Office 2003—ideally with Service Pack 1. No exporting capabilities to anything other than Word at present.
- Very limited integration with personal digital assistants.
- No built-in drawing tools.
- No table support.
- Not a full word processor
- Reliance on folders a drawback for some users.
- No way for users to get quickly adjusted to OneNote's notebook environment until SP1's "Tips" tab.
- No Mac support.
In August of 2004 Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for OneNote which fixed several shortcomings and added a number of significant new features such as date/time stamping, import of notes from Pocket PC and video recording, as well as shared sessions and a button to Transfer a 'page' of notes to Word 2003.
Platform Support
Microsoft OneNote is only supported on Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or later, or Microsoft Windows XP. It will run on any hardware that support the required operating systems however it is always a good idea to have as much RAM as is practical for optimal performance.
Many Office apps support importing/exporting multipart HTML (.mht), including Onenote, Word, and Internet Explorer. This should make any modern browser that recognizes the .mht extension a suitable platform for viewing OneNote's files.
Microsoft may make a standalone version, and a Mac and Pocket PC version in the future.
External Links
- The Official Microsoft OneNote Website
- Microsoft OneNote Frequently Asked Questions
- Chris Pratley's OneNote WebLog