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

The facility to take notes and share with other people is the selling point of the product. If you need a tool for doing that, OneNote is the right one. You can also organize simply your notes, write documents and add pictures/external content (the possibility to add media is another important feature to consider in the product). You can divide your notes/documents in sections/pages, this helps on searching for what you need. For example, you can have an entire section dedicated to a specific customer, in this section having the notes organized by date.

Cons

There are no particular pain points. I heard some complaints about the navigation but it follows the standard of other Microsoft products. I would only improve the search feature, in particular from a look and feel perspective.

Alternatives Considered

Notepad++

Reasons for Switching to Microsoft OneNote

I prefer using OneNote when you need to enrich your notes with pictures, tables, and other media content. When you are in this situation, OneNote is the best tool. If instead, I have only text notes, I prefer Notepad++- According to what I have to do, I choose the right tool.

Pros

If you learn to work with OneNote on daily basis you will be amazed how powerful this tool is. You can simply create your notes with all the data you need, filter quickly. You can collaborate with your team on your notes, share MoM and so on. We use it on daily basis for all this tasks.

Cons

It is a little bit like using Word, formatting can be sometimes challenging and for task planning I would prefer using Microsoft Planner for example.

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

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

This notebook helps to organize lesson plan and task management.Its navigation is very easy and search/filter option help to get, what data we need in very lees time and effort.

Cons

Noting is least like for me, all tools are ok for me.Indeed, tools are helpful in documents management.

Pros

I like how easy it is to use Microsoft OneNote and how many features it has to help you organize and take notes. It also allows you to easily share your notes with others, which is beneficial for teamwork. Furthermore, the ability to search through your notes quickly and easily is a huge plus. Finally, the fact that it is compatible with other Microsoft products elevates it to the level of a superior productivity tool.

Cons

I didn't like how slow it was compared to other note-taking apps. Additionally, note organization could be perplexing and took some getting used to.

Pros

OneNote is very easy to use. You can access it very easily when you open your Microsoft email account and it just pops up on the right side of your screen. Checking my email in the morning is a part of my daily routine and having OneNote easily within reach has been a great convenience.

Cons

Integration with my business processes was very easy. I just needed an app that I could use on any device wherever I am to help me keep track of all my daily tasks. The only issue I have ever encountered is that sometimes syncing across devices and platforms for OneNote can be slow or incomplete. So I’ve used it for work and collaborated with Microsoft Teams but, while I absolutely love the collaboration and the convenience that comes along with that, it was a bit frustrating having to wait for syncing to take place when I needed the information.

Pros

perfect and impactful feature to collaborate everything at one place for future use

Cons

I didn't come across to any disadvantage for the Microsoft Onenote application

Pros

I have used this personally but also like how it's used in the schools for document collaboration

Cons

It was a little challenging getting adjusted to how include collaborations.

Pros

The search features of OneNote are very useful. I like using OneNote for my meeting notes, as they are easily searchable and I can organize them in various ways.

It's also nice to use OneNote for our team process manual/helpful notes/new hire checklists/etc. We use OneNote as a centralized document library because it is easy to search and share content.

Cons

We run into frequent sync issues with shared notebooks, so it can be challenging to know if all team members are seeing the same content. Not sure if this is a PC issue, a security issue or a OneNote issue - our IT help desk offers various solutions that work for some users but not for others. It would be nice if the sync error notification was more obvious to let you know you're viewing outdated content.

Pros

it comes with office 365, so I used it...as it was already on all the computers I had. I didn't have to install another piece of software or pay for another subscription.

Cons

Your data is stored in a clunky "onenotes" notebook file -- and it is (or was?) difficuly to sync to other devices

Alternatives Considered

Evernote Teams

Reasons for Choosing Microsoft OneNote

this was preinstalled. I wanted one less software item on my computer

Switched From

Evernote Teams

Reasons for Switching to Microsoft OneNote

functionality was already in my office 365 subscription.

Pros

Easy to use, has very good functionalities, it is totally integrated with the Microsoft Office programs, are the information are stored on the cloud, I can edit something on my computer and continue it on my mobile or tablet.

Cons

It is not so easy to use on the beggining, till you get the idea of create "notes" inside it, I know a lot of people which did not migrate to this tool because of this.

Alternatives Considered

Notepad++

Reasons for Switching to Microsoft OneNote

It comes with Microsoft Office, it is a must have for most of the companies of the world, it is always a good idea stick with a product that you already have paid for it.

Pros

It's free and offers all the tools to keep your work life organized. I use it daily to organize my tasks (great and easy to use ToDo list features!), to keep and organize notes from meetings and to write memos or analysis of tasks I perform. The Notebook>Tabs>Notes organization is simple and effective.

Cons

The notebook>tabs>notes interface could be rethinked. As it is, it is functional, no doubt, but I can help feeling that some other views of this greater organization of your notes could be improved. It would also be great if double clicking to tray icon opened the app instead of the quick note shortcut (it can be changed in the options thou). Small grievances.

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

This software is awesome for tracking projects, notes, and progress! It is customizable and can be used how ever the user would like! I personally like to section my work out in columns with bullet points, where may manager prefers tables. Some coworkers prefer multiple "books" instead of the method that I prefer is one book, such as Training with multiple pages underneath one book! The system is different if you are coming from a more "basic" system like I was, such as sticky notes! This is Highly Recommended for any member of you team that needs to keep track of notes and even project progress!

Cons

The only thing "negative", which is really not horrible, is I wish there was more customization to the "blocks". When you start typing on a page, you will see a "block" appear and you can customize the tab color, the size of the box, the font, color of font, and size but I wish you could add a "hue" to the back ground of the boxes to make them stand out a little more- almost as if you were adding different colored sticky notes to the pages! I did find a work around and I am able to highlight the typed notes with a "lighter" color highlight- which works just as well, just does not look as uniform as the rest of the program! Still a highly recommended product!

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

Folders can be labeled, so there’s no risk in confusing items. All notes are also labeled, so it’s easy to identify which note is which (as long as you give it a label you can identify). This makes categorizing notes simple and efficient. Files can also store text, photos, and audio recordings, so you don’t have to think on your feet when trying to record a note. Just use whichever input is most relevant to your situation. Cloud transfers from mobile to desktop are pretty smooth.

Cons

Compared to other notetaking software, it’s pretty basic. Sometimes notes are dumped into a global pile where you have to manually sort them. This isn’t a big deal, but it can add to your organizing time. (It’s also possible I’m using it wrong, but that in of itself is a con if auto-sorting isn’t intuitive.) Retrieving pictures for posting or editing is also more trouble than it’s worth. For the average user, the simplicity OneNote offers is fine. For dedicated researchers, a more robust platform like Evernote may be better suited.

Pros

One of the best features is the easy organization that OneNote provides. You can create 1 notebook, with many sub-sections and within each sub-sections, you can have additional pages for notes. The software is very self explanatory so complete beginners/children can easily figure out how the notebook works. The organization of the notebook also allows you to move pages/sections around in the notebook which I really like because if you end up deciding that one page doesn't belong in a section, you can move it to where it belongs. Another feature that I really like is the photo/document adding tool. When using OneNote on the iPad, you can directly take a picture and upload it into your notes so you don't have to manually write down everything. It is also easy to add in a document/pdf/slideshow and annotate directly on it (if you have an iPad) and once you are done with the document, you can very quickly send it to an email/chat/person all just through the OneNote app.

Cons

There has been 2 instances OneNote has crashed when I've used the app for too long and some of the notes I had made did not save. Another thing that I wish could be improved is if there is an option to recover deleted notes. If you accidentally deleted a notebook because my hand slipped and pressed the wrong button and there is no way to recover that notebook/pages (at least that I am aware of).

Pros

I'm completely dependent on OneNote. It's so easy to use and flexible, it holds every project in my life now, from planning out and organizing 60 slide competitor analysis presentations, to scheduling recipes for meal plans. It plays well with the other products, and unlike Word, I've never had a problem with syncing conflicts and generating unnecessary backup local copies, and I have yet to lose a single word of work. In fact, for one of my books, I didn't use Word at all and ended up doing all the chapters in the same planning pages I kept in OneNote. It's my secret weapon when it comes to brainstorming and organization and I can't believe more people don't use it, but then again, I am a more visual/creative person, so the ability to quickly throw notes or record a message and be able to arrange, sort or search and actually find it later is vital. Years ago, I used to use Springpad, and since then, I've tried Trello, Evernote, and all kinds of apps, but nothing has stuck.

Cons

Very few, it's so flexible it fills in a lot of gaps. I'd like it to be more visually customizable, like if you could add a backdrop of a chart or table similar to the Stormboard templates. Right now it just has a few pastel colors and lined and gridded paper types.

Pros

Notes may be synced and accessed from anywhere with the help of OneNote, as it is compatible with a wide variety of devices and operating systems.The user friendly and adaptable interface of OneNote is a major selling point. Each user can build their own set of notebooks, each with its own set of sections and pages, and name and tag their notes for easy retrieval afterwards.The search function in OneNote works quickly and accurately. You may quickly search for a note using a keyword or tag, or even a phrase.

Cons

When compared to other note-taking tools, OneNote's formatting capabilities are limited. Words cannot be individually restyled by the user in terms of font, color, or size.

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

I use OneNote instead of a paper notebook and am very happy with it. I always have all my notes with me. Even if I have the iPad or my laptop in the office, I can access my notes from my phone or any other PC. So working becomes much more flexible. Also, having access to all my notes across my workspaces has proven to be very useful several times.
Thanks to the customizable and clear structure, you can quickly familiarize yourself with the program. If you know how to use MS Word or MS Outlook, getting started with OneNote is no problem. I really liked the fact that OneNote can be easily embedded in Teams and Outlook.

Cons

I find it a shame that you can't easily increase the font size of the right sidebar with the individual folders and tabs. Especially when I'm working on other people's equipment, it would make it a lot easier for me. The toolbar is also difficult to use for me as a visually impaired person in its standard form. Here I would still see potential in terms of accessibility.

Pros

This is the best note-taking tool I have used across different platforms. It's effortless to get started and take notes without any setup. It comes bundled with Windows for free. There are multiple different ways to organize using tabs and color coding. It also provides a seamless experience between different OSes and mobile. There are also plugins to extend the functionality. The best feature is taking notes on a tablet with a stylus that auto converts your handwriting into text!

Cons

If I really had to nitpick, I would say updating plugins can sometimes cause it to crash.