Complete Guide to OneNote [Paperback]

W. Frederick Zimmerman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590592166 | ISBN-13: 978-1590592168 | Publication Date: November 18, 2003 | Edition: 1

OneNote is a new member of the Microsoft Office family that will be released in mid-2003. The Complete Guide to OneNote is aimed at making users more productive by helping them organize what are today ephemeral and disconnected scraps of personal information gathered prior to the creation of formal work product. Major sections of the book are devoted to:

- Explaining this new category of software and its user paradigm

- Detailed discussion of features

- Interoperability with other programs and services from Microsoft and from third parties

- General and domain-specific guidance on how readers can use OneNote to increase personal and enterprise productivity

Information about customizing OneNote, including information for Office XP developers

Throughout the book, the author draws on his extensive experience with Microsoft emerging technologies and his deep understanding of how professionals use software in their workflow. The book’s perspective on OneNote will be enriched by interviews with high-quality experts like Louis Rosenfeld, author of O’Reilly’s "Information Architecture"; Dan Woods, author of "Education of a CTO" (forthcoming, Addison-Wesley); John Viviano, Senior Architect for MDConsult.com; and many more. The book also leverages the contributions of early adopters who have joined the author’s independent community website, OneNoteInfoCenter.com.

The result is a practical book that will appeal both to casual OneNote users and beginners, yet be essential for power users, Office developers, and anyone who wants to take full advantage of this innovative new application.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"the best thing about Fred's OneNote book is the first chapter where he ... puts the product in perspective." -- Chris Kunicki on OfficeZealot.com

... highly readable, informative and gives both the "big picture" and the "runway" levels. Excellent read and resource... -- Honore on Usenet news:microsoft.public.onenote

From the Author

Electronic companion resources available online, including:
* OneNote references in Feedster, Google News, MSFT KB
* stationeries
* errata
* ActiveWords wordbase (requires AW Plus)
* interview with fantasy novelist George R.R. Martin in OneNote with audio

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (November 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590592166
• ISBN-13: 978-1590592168
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have worked at the intersection of computers and publishing for most of my adult life, beginning with a stint as Staff Writer for Sextant, the magazine for Heathkit personal computers, and most recently in product development for LexisNexis, a unit of the professional publishing giant Reed Elsevier plc.

I founded Nimble Books so that I could give myself the "green light" to launch new and interesting publishing projects.

Nimble Books publishes timely, relevant "living books" on a wide variety of subjects ranging from Harry Potter and Dan Brown to health, science, politics, and sports.

I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA with my beloved wife Cheryl and treasured children Kelsey and Parker.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not for the new onenote 2007, April 5, 2007

By 

S. Turner "petesmom01" (powhatan virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Guide to OneNote (Paperback)

i bought this assuming it was for 2007 microsoft onenote since the publication date on the amazon listing showed february 2007, but this is the old book for the old 2003 microsoft onenote. both the amazon new and used listings need to make it clear that this book is for the earlier edition.

69 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing heavily padded book...., January 16, 2004

By 

I. D. Smith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Guide to OneNote (Paperback)

Why is it that computer books never get proper proof readers?!! On the surface this looks to be a book that should have a large audience - OneNote is a powerful tool with very little information available to help unleash its power. The problem with this book is that it can't make its mind up whether it's written for the Windows newbie (painfully showing screenshots for every little action required) or for the Power User (too slow and time-consuming to plough through).

Ultimately it leaves both high and dry. Screenshot examples are inconsistent even at the most basic level (text talks of blank page backgrounds, but corresponding step-by-step screenshots show stripey pages; a list of Jazz author's keeps changing the order of the authors in subsequent screenshots without any rhyme or reason, there's no understanding of what non-US readers will see in terms of metric units etc etc). What should be a simple explanation of how to create a table (page 101) just doesn't work (this may be a software bug, but if so why describe something that doesn't work?!).

The long winding introductory chapter about note taking systems all the way since the mainframe is hardly relevant, nor is a long interview with Dr Miller about "the personal knowledge base". Frankly the chapters smack of "self indulgence", although they do help turn the book from an over-priced pamphlet into something resembling a real book.

Chapter 2 which labours the installation process to the point of tedium makes one think the book is aimed at the complete Windows novice and we're a quarter of the way into the book before a simple introduction to OneNote starts - with examples that just don't work on the production release (see tables example on page 101) or contain terminology that just confuses (the definition of what's a container can't make up its mind what's one container and what's two containers inside another container). Put simply, the book confuses rather than explains. The book is not cheap and frankly poor value for money. It may be that a good book is hidden away inside what's here and that a half-decent editor or proof-reader could sort it out, but I hadn't the patience to persevere with it after the first few chapters. Avoid!

32 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique perspective you won't get elsehwere, July 3, 2004

By 

Chris P. Kunicki "ck" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Complete Guide to OneNote (Paperback)

I have written a favorable review of this book up on my blog (blogs.officezealot.com/chris) and really like it. First, let me say the book is clearly a reflection of the product. OneNote is a version 1.0 product and guess what, there are a lot of things about it that fall short. Because of this Fred has to spend a lot of time providing work arounds to help you squeeze OneNote in its weak areas.

I felt that there were so many work arounds it was annoying, though this is not Fred's fault, its clear weaknesses in the product. The thing I like about reading Fred's work arounds is that it confirmed I wasn't "crazy" or "missing" something. Sometimes you spend a lot of time trying to get a product to do something it just doesn't do, but you don't know that until hours are wasted. Fred's book has reduced my wasted time with OneNote. I now know where it fits and where it doesnt.

The thing I like the most about this book is that Fred doesn't just discuss OneNote but discusses the whole concept of Digital note taking, its history and even in light of other products. You can buy this book to learn about the product and you also get the side benefit of understanding at a higher level its place in the digital note taking world. I do hope Fred continues to update the book for SP1 and V2.

Chris
www.OfficeZealot.com