OneNote - What do I do with it?

[jdhurst]

I recently outfitted my Vista Thinkpad and upgraded every application I have to 64-bit capability or least 64-bit compatibility. That meant going to Office 2007 Professional (which I like) and purchasing OneNote 2007 along the way.

Having purchased OneNote, I have no idea what to with it (no smart alec remarks unless (a) you know me well, or (b) you are looking for a one-way trip out of here ).

I use Outlook 2007 for email, calendard, contacts and tasks. I replicate that back to my Blackberry, so crucial information is at my side. I have a vast array of documents at my disposal, including PDF's and .TIF files (scans of pencil notes and such like). I indexed this store (and with the gruesome exception of .TIF files) I can find anything I need in seconds. Foxit PDF Filter means searches include the contents of PDF's

On top of that, I have the usual plethora of yellow stickies but they can be handy for new information not yet entered into my computer. The other huge value of stickies is that they are alive and well when my computer is not.

So I really do not know what to do with OneNote.

Questions:
1. Do you use it?
2. Why did you get it? (e.g. needed application, or casual interest)
3. What do you keep in it?
4. Does what you keep duplicate your other information? or does it complement?
5. In the case you see OneNote data as complimentary, Why?
6. If I could reach down to your computer and remove OneNote, beside calling the police, what would you do?

I am looking for mature, useful answers that will assist me, and possibly others.

Thank you, ..... JDH

[hart22]

OneNote only really shines if you have pen input support. It remains one of the most robust programs for taking handwritten notes. It has one nice feature that you can try. Handwriting recognition in many languages is built into the program. If you scan a hand-written document, you can convert the entire document to digital text. Or suppose you have a document in a foreign language. Add that language to Windows supported languages in your OS and OneNote will be able to convert that document into digitized text, which you can easily feed into digital translators. This is more useful if the language uses non-Roman characters, i.e. Chinese, Arabic, etc, and you want a digital copy.

Suppose you have old medical documents, tax files, etc. You can scan those documents with a scanner, and OneNote can search within those documents, including handwritten portions, for relevant data.

There are other uses as well, but again the best features are for those with pen input, such as tablet PC owners.

P.S.: Although I can't confirm I think OneNote may be able to search for text within your .TIF files, if you ever needed that feature.

[jdhurst]

Thank you so much for your answer.

Re: Pen Input - I do not think my T61p supports pen input. I admit to never having tried, but it is a standard, bottom-of-the barrel LCD screen.

Re: Searching - Thanks. I tried opening a file, but it will only open its own notebooks or sections. There is no way to access data in other files. Search only wants to search notebooks (and I have none at this point). So I could see your point about searching stuff if I had pen input, but I don't.

You say I can scan documents. Well I can (using Microsoft's Document Scanner), but that lands in a .TIF file and I cannot see in OneNote how to import or read this.

I am going to wait for a bit and see what others say. You response was exactly what I was looking for - Thanks again. .... JDH

[hart22]

Try this:

Create a new notebook in OneNote. Open up a blank page. Insert (copy/paste or drag/drop) an image with text into that workbook. Then try searching that notebook to see if the text within the image is searchable. I think that should work. If it doesn't there should be settings you can tweak to make it work. I haven't used my tablet features in a while so I'm a little rusty myself.

Another useful feature for tablet users: giving presentations where it's important to be able to follow a derivation or other process step by step. For example, if you were a math or physics instructor you could open up a pure blank page, and full-screen it, while connected to a projector. Students would be able to follow you as you worked out proofs, derivations, etc. and it is much more convenient than chalk/dry erase boards. At the end you would have a document you can then e-mail the entire class.

[jdhurst]

OK - Thanks again. I figured out the Insert File process and went and got a .TIF file. I could see everything in there. My handwriting is not crystal clear so it could not find stuff in my handwriting (but then neither could XP search). Still - with your assistance, I now see what I can do here.

I understood well your instructor comments. I have a young friend who uses a tablet PC and I am thinking that I should have thought that way.

I am much buried in my own style of work and practices (and I can churn out more work than most people), so I keep every computer looking and feeling exactly like the one before it, all the way back to Windows 95. Tablet never crossed my mind a year ago when I purchased the T61p.

I do really appreciate your assistance. .... JDH

[JaneL]

I mainly use it to file away screenshots of web pages. Some for work purposes, some receipts or confirmations of things, images of online coupons. Very handy tool.

[mgo]

I recently outfitted my Vista Thinkpad and upgraded every application I have to 64-bit capability or least 64-bit compatibility. That meant going to Office 2007 Professional (which I like) and purchasing OneNote 2007 along the way.

Having purchased OneNote, I have no idea what to with it (no smart alec remarks unless (a) you know me well, or (b) you are looking for a one-way trip out of here ).

Thank you, ..... JDH

Well known Windows advocate Ed Bott calls OneNote a "killer app", and I agree. I like to put all of my daily notes and rants into OneNote because it is so great at searching for things I have entered years before.

It is one of the excellent Office 2007 related programs that have the special "quality touch" by the really smart Office people from Microsoft. Unlike Word docs which can be read by Linux type office programs, OneNote uses proprietory .one format files which are pretty much Windows specific, but other than that, I can only say experiement with OneNote and you will grow to like it more every time you use it.

One tip, use the F-11 key to open the OneNote article you are creating full screen for greater visibility. Works great for large graphics and other items that you drop into the OneNote file.

I keep all my Documents on a separate partition, and OneNote notebooks live within the Documents folder, too. That's handy for backups.

Additionally, the OneNote notebook and Section menu can be a little oddball to use, but you can get the same job done directly out of Windows Explorer.

Sure, creating Word docs is nice, and Search will find keywords within the docs, but then you have to open the .doc and do Find to get to the keyword. With OneNote, you can search for a word and all instances will be opened up in a nice column and a short summary will appear. Really nice for looking several items with say, "catamaran" or "rudder" within the OneNote notebooks, without having to go thru the tedium of opening a Word doc. (hope this makes some sense)

OneNote is -sort of- like Evernote, but I think it is far superior in usability and clarity.

[jdhurst]

I deleted all the notebooks (all test) and starte a new Client Notebook using the Client Template. I then made a Tab for each client. Now the drill will be to keep my notes, yellow stickies, ideas and such like in there. It now remains for me to see (1) how diligent I can be in keeping notes; and (2) what it will do for me after 3 or 4 months of use. Thanks to all (and be all means, keep other ideas flowing). ... JDH