Customer Reviews

Microsoft OneNote 2003 [Old Version]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have tested Microsoft OneNote and here are my impressions. I have thought of this kind of software years (12 years ago) before Microsoft, but I didn't know how to program. This is when Apple and other Pen Computing companies were coming out with "Tablet PC". I am glad that Microsoft is developing this software now. It is a good piece of software, perhaps better than MS WORD in years to come. However, $199US is too expensive to charge consumer especially it doesn't have enough features as MS WORD. I think $39-$69 is more realistic for it's first version. I hope the programmers of OneNote take notes on these good and bad points.

First the good points:
- I like the interface; very flexible and easy to learn.
- I like being able to type, write anywhere and cut and paste from the webpages.
- I like the research tools both in the documents and websites.
- I like "extra insert writing space" that allow you to stretch your document as much as you want**

The bad points:
- No security protection on your documents
- Too easy to delete documents
- Doesn't allow OLE objects like video, MP3 audio, Flash, etc., to be inserted into documents. Only links. But even with this link feature, it is still user "unfriendly."
- No interlinking feature that allow documents to cross reference within the documents.
- Audio feature is primitive. No very fexible.
- No indexing feature- like automatic table of content, or indexes at the end of each section.
- Inflexible templates; pre-made templates doesn't really allow users to make their own
- Need to add drawing features like MS WORD
- Need to be to convert to PDF file, and import/export into WORD docs

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** Unrated/questionable points:

- Tablet pc is needed to optimized the use of this software.
- Unknown amount of paper size (I don't know if it can store unlimited amount of electronic inks without crashing the system). Microsoft never point this out on their website.

- THERE ARE LOTS MORE POINTS BUT THERE AREN'T ENOUGH ROOM TO LISTED HERE. HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR ONENOTE.

s.c.,
www.smarten.net

I've been using OneNote since the beta, and have come to really appreciate it as a research tool. As a writer/analyst and principal for Radar Marketing, I find OneNote ideal for gathering all of my information into one area, organized by tabs. One very strong feature is the ability to copy and paste, or drag and drop, web pages into OneNote. From here, it's easy to further annotate the pages with boldfacing or flags and to organize entire sections into tabs.

The search feature is very nice and seemingly much faster than Word. You can search through a single tabbed topic or across your entire notebook very quickly, with OneNote highlighting the words and showing where everything is to be found in the task bar on the right. It's almost like having your own private Google based on your research notebook.

Creating outlines, and expanding and collapsing them is quite easy and intuitive, more so than Word. It's up to you whether you want to use outlining, though. OneNote gives you so many ways to organize your material that the choice is up to you.

FOr a first release, Microsoft has done a good job. Some things need more attention. Other reviewers have pointed out lack of internal links and basic word processing features. What I would like to see is more support of drag and drop for organizing pages and tabbed sections. Moving these around isn't as simple as it should be. Finally, as others have said, it's not worth $200, but I doubt anybody is going to need to pay that much based on the discounts I'm seeing. I'm going to recommend this to my www.radarmarketing.biz clients whenever the need for a quality research tool comes up.

This is the ultimate project planner for me. Instead of having pieces of my work in Word, Excel and HTML, everything nicely fits in OneNote. I downloaded the trial version. But it has become so indespensible I'm going to have to buy a copy. Having said that, this is version one. And I suspect Microsoft will have many improvements to make in future editions.

Above all, a notetaking program is supposed to make it easy to organize and find notes. With that purpose in mind, certain omissions in the program startle.

Ordering notes within a section is as easy as it should be, but why did Microsoft make it hard to organize across sections and even harder to organize across folders? You can transfer a note from one section to another, but you cannot transfer it to a specific location within the section in a single operation. To transfer between folders, you have to use ordinary drag and drop. Software is supposed to make these processes easy, not complicate them with an anachronistic imagry of paper sections.

Organizing and reorganizing is of the essence for notetaking, and the Office suite, of which OneNote is part, has a multi-clipboard. Why did Microsoft omit giving OneNote access to the Office clipboard, when OneNote is the Office product that needs it most. The functionality is already present in Office; Microsoft had to go out of its way to omit this functionality for OneNote.

The saving grace of OneNote is that the underlying technology is very powerful. It gives you the ability to take notes by various means and to put them anywhere you want on the page. The core technology is powerful, but the feature set MS has chosen to develop lacks a rational foundation and appears impulsive.

Being a college student on the go, a notebook computer is essential to my academic success. I have been fortunate enough to be a Beta Tester for Microsoft OneNote, and this program is amazing. Designed for Tablet PCs, it still works great on my Desktop and Notebook.

I am capable of typing all my notes as the professor lectures. Many students enjoy paper and pen due to the ability to draw and sketch as needed. OneNote allows you to use mouse or touch pad to enter charts, graphs, or sketches right into the notes. Notes are easy to print, save, share, and sort with OneNote.

In the past I always wrote my notes and had to try to pay attention to the professor, read the overheads, and write straight and legibly so I could read the notes for later. I always had to try and read three different things at a time. Now, I can just type away while looking at the professor and overheads allowing me to pay better attention to the professor.
Why is this better than Word? Because it is designed with the power of Word, but with all the easy to access tools needed for Note taking. Colored Pens tools, fonts, bullets, outlines, all easily accessible from the Menus.

While I love my Notebook computer, I love it even more with OneNote!

Microsoft OneNote, making College Students Life easier!!!

I also am a law school student and am using this software instead of Word to create my outlines. I have noticed some things that are missing. For example: No find and replace, limited autocorrect functionality, no save as (backup is automated and somewhat limited), no support for inserting Tables. Everyday I find something new.... Also, you can't easily see the formatting, so every once in a while I end up with a 1 inch wide column of text that I cannot correct.
The interface is really nice and I love having all my notes in one place and organized by tabs. I'm using it on a normal laptop and find it helpful, but like someone above, I think in it's current state it's only worth $30-50, Not $200.

OneNote is a great idea and a generally well executed piece of software. It's good but there's far cheaper shareware out there (such as Treepad) that aren't as cute or pretty but every bit as good and more functional in other respects.

If you're a student and can afford to pay for this out of your pocket (or your parent's) then you might want to think your spending habits.

The ability to import and export is very limited which came as a great surprise to me. I figured that the price tag would bring a wide range of export and import capabilities with it.

The Research Tool is a nice touch but I am a little suspicious of how OneNote limits you to certain services that add another charge on top of the fixed price. In fairness, you can use the basic MSN Encarta resources for free but I do not think that a product such as this should dictate what services you can use. Furthermore, if you are an undergraduate (or higher) student, the resources available to you would not be suffice to put together a respectable report

There appears to be advantages here for tablet PC users but I can't tell how well the software works with this technology.

Overall, if I had mad money, or my company's money to spend on this (and not feel guilty) -- I would. If you don't, I'd try out Microsoft's OneNote trial software and then seriously think about how it would help your workflow versus all of the other alternatives out there.

OneNote is amazingly versatile. I keep all of my project notes in OneNote, attach emails, spreadsheets, and quick voice memos. Drag and drop with some applications helps. It takes a few days to set it up in a way that works for you personally, but once I got used to it, what a great system it is!

First of all, I am not a big fan of most microsoft software. I do like their operating systems but I feel that almost every other microsoft program has a superior and cheaper competitive software package. However, they have really done something with One Note.

One Note is a program designed for taking notes. I think microsoft had students in mind because as a student, I got a copy for free. So, I thought I would try it. I never thought taking notes on the computer would be so easy and so helpful. I don't actaully use it for class (prefer a notebook), but I use it all the time for other computer related items.

One Note has an infrastructure to allow a complicated system of organized notes, if you want. Or, if you just want to jot a bunch of information down in one place on your computer without worrying about margins, printing and formatting, then it easily does that too.

I use it for internet shopping and research. As you browse the web, you can easily copy text and screen clippings with One Note. If you are going on a trip, and have flights, hotels, car rentals, meeting agendas, maps, directions etc - One note is a wonderful place to consolidate all that information in one place organized however you want it to be.

My favorite thing about One Note is that you can format the information however you want without the program trying to format it in the way it wants (Other microsoft programs are notorious for this). Anywhere you click on the workspace you can add information to that very spot.

In conclusion: This is a program for taking personal notes. It is not good at formatting, printing, or publishing in any form. However, it is very good at letting you organize in your own unique and personal way. If that is what you need, this program is a good choice for you.

OneNote is exactly what the name says. Its a note taking application that is used to gather notes. Its also a great companion for the Tablet PC, because of its tight integration with hand-writing recognition, which on the Tablet is called "Ink".

Some say that OneNote sounds like a great application in theory, but does it have all the potential in practice? Well, I think so, its a great organizer for persons who take a lot of notes and really want to get that information centralized and organized in one place. The tight integration once again with Office is always a winner. But, its the connection with hardware such as Tablets that give it a further boost. The handwriting recognition technology makes it a great companion for Tablet Users. OneNote, also being a 1.0 application has a long way to go, lack of such built in features such as a ruler and Office Drawing tools, make the application seem limited in some sense.

The applications still retain some advantages, with features for recording 7 min voice clips to add to your notes, so if you are a student in Class or a employee in a business meeting, this is a excellent feature for capitalizing on your information more effectively.

OneNote has tight integration with the web, and there is place for it on the desktop PC too. Users can drag tiny snippets of information they needs from Internet websites into the QuickNotes panel, which sits in the System Tray of Windows. All that information is stored in the My Notes folder in your My Documents folder. I personally consider this wonderful flexibility and ease of use. Users can later aggregate the information, annotate in a easier way when fully opened into the OneNote Application.

So, OneNote does have its place on both the Desktop, Laptop and of course the Tablet. So, for users who want to be more personal and up close with their information, this is the opportunity.