Microsoft OneNote Reviews

Pros

The notebook structure was very appealing to me when I first started using OneNote. Once I unbound myself from the concept of creating everything to translate to a printed letter size piece of paper it really took off. You can create your notebook and its contents to directly translate to what if it had to be printed. But you can also transform it to a fully interactive collection. With links to various other locations in the same notebook, other locations and materials on the internet, and even embedding videos and other documents directly in the pages of the notebook you can make the reach of the content presented to extend beyond the boundries of the document itself.

Cons

The different versions - When OneNote transitioned to the web, it was during the focus on the Metro UI in Windows 8 and it suffered for it. The simplicity of what the web version could do was crippled by the ability of the internet browsers at the time. Over time it has increased in parity between the desktop version and the web, however - the Metro UI designed app has lingered and its design has stayed truer to the web version than the original desktop version. It is getting harder to find the desktop version that has content central and navigation to the left, top, and right sides. The web, mobile app, and "for windows 10" versions make navigation subjectively more complex when you have extensively robust notebooks.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft SharePoint, Google Drive, Google Keep and Evernote Teams

Reasons for Switching to Microsoft OneNote

It proved to be the most logical and user friendly to translate hierarchical structures of documentation, collaboration, and communication the way we needed to get the most buy in and participation from the community.

Pros

It is easy to use and you can access your notes from different devices if you can connect to the internet.

Cons

Nothing at the moment that I dislike since it can do what I need it to do; note taking and back up the notes.

Pros

We have a page for each project, the notes are searchable, you can paste images, the checkbox feature helps us see when tasks are completed.

Cons

I'm not sure if tasks can sync w/ Planner - if so that would be great. Sometimes One Note doesn't update so you can't access the notes you made, but that might be on our end.

Pros

Pros: Wide range of functionality. You can convert to different file types and insert files into it rather easily. It has great cloud support and is overall easy to access.

Cons

Cons:
There is great support for onenote on the web, but at least 90% of the searches I've done to troubleshoot an issue or functionality apply to one type of Onenote and not another... for some reason. I've spent many hours troubleshooting options that don't exist for one type or another. Example:
The ink-to-math is not present in this version. The ink-to-draw is not present in the office 365 version. Why?
There is a view option of fitting what's been drawn to the page width which will also show up if printed to a .pdf. What's bad is that there is no option for displaying where the pages end. I saw a comment from a developer about this saying that it would be too difficult. But I know they could figure out a way to do that. There are so many option. Just have the length of each page increase if a user increases the width to the right. That could cause issues if the user wants the content displayed on certain pages. So, have the page separators actually splice the content shown and add whitespace if page width/length grows ... or shrink/grow content of pages accordingly like a picture. Or, when in "page view mode" like this, warm the user if they are trying to grow pages sizes ... or just have a fixed page size in this mode!
My main issue: Why it is so glitchy with an epen. If I tap the screen it wants me to type - this happens a lot when I'm scrolling and not tapping also. The developers didn't input an option to make the pen the default and disable tap to keyboard.

Pros

I like the fact that it syncs across different devices so that your notes are with you wherever you go. It has a good note management system too with the subpages so it makes organising your notes according to categories etc. very well.

Cons

It could have a better UI in complete honesty. A few competitors in the marketplace have a nicer UI which makes it more appealing to use.

Pros

Awesome tool for brain-dumping. You can link between sections, which is super convenient.

Cons

This can get kind of messy, and fast. You can take notes from anywhere on the page, which is convenient - but not neat.

Pros

multi platform useage. Take notes in a meeting on my tablet and can view on my laptop post meeting.

Cons

nothing currently. it does everything i need it to do

Pros

Microsoft one Note is easy to use while noting information.

Cons

Microsoft one note is easy to use while editing information.

Pros

Document Management, Data Storage, and Tool Collaboration.

Cons

Search and or Filter. Never Use this tool.

Pros

Great for collaboration I was able to work with my colleagues from one side of the world to the other

Cons

When using for a business as with any Microsoft product it is fairly pricey

Pros

OneNote beats Evernote in numerous ways, on account of its wide exhibit of highlights, including optical person acknowledgment (OCR), sound and video accounts, ink-to-message transformation, and directing. The best part is that OneNote's administrations are sans altogether. To utilize it, all you really want is a Microsoft account. On the off chance that you are now utilizing Office 365, Outlook, or other Microsoft applications, essentially sign in with your certifications.

Cons

One of the most disappointing parts of this program was the deficiency of data. Yearly program updates would lose information from the earlier variant to the refreshed adaptation. Having difficulties integrating with Outlook when need to transfer data.

Pros

This software came with Microsoft 365 subscription. The features are very convenient to deal with. Taking any notes online is just a work of few seconds. The added task can be managed and the notes can be separated at ease. There is option for distinguishing the notes in arranging by sub order.Also, different types of annotation in different color can be added in files. The OCR is also a great addition to OneNote. The cloud backup is secured and saves a lot of time.

Cons

Sometimes,while taking notes in online meetings,it lags a bit. In working with bigger files,the pen sometimes do not change even after clicking.

Alternatives Considered

Notepad++

Reasons for Choosing Microsoft OneNote

Zoho lacked some annotation features.

Switched From

Zoho Notebook

Reasons for Switching to Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft 365 offered better integration and compact features.

Pros

If you are working in the Microsoft eco system OneNote is a must. Taking notes and keeping track of information is simple since it is tied into every Office/O365 application; Sharepoint, Word, Outlook even when browsing the web. Can be used for note taking during business meetings, training/school, planning vacations, shopping list. Uses are limit less. Best of all you can do it from what ever device you have with you and your notes will be available to you everywhere.

Cons

Onenote is such a powerful tool that it can be overwhelming to get a grasp on all that it can do and how to best use it for your situation.

Pros

In general Microsoft OneNote is my go to and favorite notetaking app as a professional student. I find that the ability to hyper organize by topic and category allows me to keep my notes organized. In addition the ability to utilize both type to text features on top of the ability to use Apple Pencil allows me to truly customize my notes as I see fit.

Cons

The things that I liked Lisa about the software are that once the Notes sizes get to be quite large downloading these notes from the cloud does seem to take an extremely long time. And when they are downloading from the cloud you do not have access to work on those notes. Or changes that you make might not be synchronized when you reopen the app either from another device or once they do download from the cloud. In addition in order to utilize the software you do need to have a Microsoft software subscription to use on safe for example an iPad with the Microsoft OneNote app. For a student who may not be able to afford it it is a pretty big lump sum. However I will say that because of the fact that a lot of universities and corporations supply Microsoft for their students and employees it allows students to continue to utilize it.

Pros

I regularly use (and recommend to my colleagues) the templates for to-do lists within One Note, specifically the prioritized to-do list template which automatically inserts High, Medium and Low priority groupings into a to-do list where you can easily add, move (via drag/drop) and check off items.

Because of the ability to create multiple notebooks, have individual tabs within the notebooks, and then individual pages within the tabs, there is the ability to manage and organize the notes and to-do lists very granularly.

The digital notes sync across all devices so you are able to add/view/update notes from anywhere that you have access to the app.

Cons

The app consistently freezes when doing even the most minor of tasks. I will access it to enter in a new note, the app will freeze and lag sometimes as long as 30 seconds before the changes I've made appear on screen.

Additionally, we have regular issues where users across our organization are seeing entirely disparate versions of the software. It is not as simple as the GUI being slightly different, but that they have an entirely different layout and it appears that they have different levels of functionality which has caused frequent issues with training and adoption. Now, that may be in part an IT issue on our end if users are getting different versions installed when they begin - however, it's a cloud-based service and I don't think it is acceptable that we could have such issues. There should be a way to update from the app to the latest version.

Pros

Microsoft OneNote is loaded with numerous highlights that go past taking notes; it likewise gives you a few different ways to change pictures over to message. For instance, the OCR instrument permits you to snap a photo of an archive, business card, flyer or whiteboard, then, at that point extricate that content. You would then be able to save that content in OneNote, Microsoft Word or Standpoint.

OCR's productivity relies upon a few elements. These incorporate picture quality, the intricacy of the characters it is examining and the intelligibility of the transcribed notes. So consistently make a point to twofold check in the event that it perceives everything effectively. Regardless of whether OCR doesn't get each letter, it is as yet a vital life hack, particularly for organizations and entrepreneurs.

Cons

Matching up can take some time , Unacceptable portable application, Average web cutting augmentation

Alternatives Considered

Google Drive

Reasons for Switching to Microsoft OneNote

Already had an account

Pros

Handwriting with a Microsoft Surface and its pen is easy, erasing is natural, select and move also. You can color your handwriting afterwards. For lecturing you can enlarge what you wrote, or pick up a detail of a sketch. I use it with small squares, which help writing in an orderly way. Printing can be of a single sheet, a section or more. The vey few times I went into a crash, recovery was fast and essentially no data was lost, all essential in a lecture.

Cons

Sometimes, quite rarely, the whole sheet moves, it probably depends on how you approach your hand before positioning for writing, this might be something inherent to pen tablets. In older versions the management of the sheet format (finite size vs infinite) was easier.

Pros

it gives you the ability to create your notes as you create on a physical notebook, moreover, this notebook can be accessed from anywhere as long as you have access to the internet. The most unique part of OneNote is you can add multimedia and create your documents as much presentable as want. These documents can also be shared with others like your friends or colleagues, it would make this software as a one-stop solution for most of the writing and editing of your notes. I used many older versions of OneNote and then after upgrading to new versions of OneNote I came to know that your older note will not get erased. you can also use OneNote app for your smartphones which makes easier to modify your changes or to view any documents on the go.

Cons

One thing I would ever want in OneNote is the integration between various platforms, Currently, Onenote allows you to create notes or documents to share it with only OneNote users, whereas if I want to share it with Evernote users it will not give me an option for that. Moreover, I can not even import Evernote's documents notes into OneNote or vice versa. There are other ways through which you can do it but for that one has to download a migration tool. The security is also one of the issues which I always take into consideration when creating any personal note where I wanted it to be encrypted with a password. There should be some ways into OneNote where you can have a personal space which can be used for those secure documents.

Pros

What I like most about OneNote is it is my one-stop-shop to staying organized and on track without having to open a bunch of tabs/folders &/or documents. My favourite feature within OneNote is the ability to search, so if i can' remember where i stored some text or a document it just takes a second to find. Super easy & very efficient!

Cons

I'm being very honest here, i can't think of anything that would make OneNote better, it's truly something I couldn't do my job without!

Pros

I have worked with OneNote for over 4 years now and I have been really impressed with the way it handles the data, Creating Workbooks and sheets, and sub-pages, and manages the sync with the cloud on all devices. It is very handy to keep note of every little detail and manage the To-Do List. Search functionality is great as it can scan through all pages and exporting the data is very easy.

Cons

OneNote should use Addin to extract the information, sometimes formatting with text from various sources/platforms develop issues with the OneNote and the format changes.

Alternatives Considered

Evernote Teams

Reasons for Switching to Microsoft OneNote

Ease of Use, Search features, Fast Sync

Pros

OneNote is easy to use and allows for easy documentation and filing for various notes. It’s appeal is that it actually closely resembles a digital notebook. This software allows for notes to be divided into sections which allow for the ease in note retrieval. I enjoy the ability to share and receive notes from other users as this enhances collaboration. This app is fantastic for organization as it allows for the creating of tables , the addition of pictures and embedding of videos.

Cons

My only qualm with OneNote is that when sharing, the files and documents are very choppy with some sync issues.

Pros

The best thing I like about Microsoft OneNote is the functionality to add sections. I believe this is one thing that Microsoft Word lacked, and Microsoft OneNote has pitched in rightly to address that unmet need. Bringing in the feature of adding sections brings OneNote closer to the worksheet model of Excel. It enables our team to track updates across sprints, all in a single note having different sections for each sprint. It also helps me organize my personal notes, with the notes of each day mentioned in a separate section.

Cons

OneNote is great in many aspects. Seeing OneNote from a different perspective, we find that it lacks in certain aspects like table formatting wherein there is no option to fill the cells with a particular color. Also, OneNote lacks the Headings feature in Word, which actually helps in displaying only required sections when reading. These are some of the areas of improvement which I can think of.

Pros

OneNote is an incredible note-taking software! The best part is how It syncs with my phone, iPad, and computer, so not only can I always take notes (or jot down ideas/thoughts), but I always have my notes on me and can reference them whenever I need without having to pull out a notebook or the device I originally took the note on.)

Cons

I have not found any cons to this software. I strictly use it for note-taking, and I know some people use it for project management and have issues. But the note-taking side is very seamless.

Pros

I love the organizational structure of this tool. We can have several projects where I'm working with different teams. This keeps everything categorized into the appropriate notebooks so I can easily grab what I need.

Cons

I wish there was one more level to OneNote. We have notebooks, and the pages. I wish there was one more level that could be a 'notes' section that could be a quick reference for action items instead of having to scour the page for actionable items.

Pros

Organization: OneNote allows you to create notebooks, sections, and pages to organize your notes in a hierarchical structure.Flexibility: You can add various types of content to your notes, including text, images, audio, and even handwritten notes.

Cons

Formatting limitations: Formatting options in OneNote are not as extensive as in other note-taking applications, making it less suitable for complex document creation.Limited integration: While it integrates well with other Microsoft Office applications, its integration with third-party apps and services is more limited.