Just think of OneNote like a 5 ring binder. Start using it to park stuff in. If you force yourself to use it for a little while, it will probably just start making intuitive sense.
The search feature is fantastic. You don’t really need to get uber organized on it. I just kinda throw stuff into big buckets and then use the search to find what I want very quickly. BTW, search works for handwritten notes as well.
Again, I would just start using OneNote without getting overly caught up in the organization, heirarchy, etc. Like I said, you can find things very easily using search. If you use it exclusively for one task or one project, you’ll figure it out as you go. I literally played with it on a short plane flight, knew this program works the way I’m wired, and dove into it.
I’m the one who originally asked **China Guy **to give an example of what I could do with OneNote, and to tell the truth, I still have no idea. It still isn’t concrete for me what advantage it has to just cutting and pasting things to a Word file. You can put links in Word (to videos, web pages, whatever). You can search in word. You can paste the text of an email into Word.
Granted, I haven’t had the time to look into it thoroughly, but before I invest that time, I’d just like to know what advantage it has over other programs. What’s unique to OneNote? Just looking at that video linked above seems like it’s going to take an hour just to go through to figure out what the hell it can do. It starts going into cloud stuff and web sharing, etc. It’s TMI.
I guess what I’m trying to say with the above post is that the I keep hearing about all of the amazing things I can do with OneNote but nobody is telling me why I would want to do all those things. Just because I can?
I need an idea of what you do in order to explain how onenote might be a better way for you to do it. A project, a hobby, something you do at work on a regular basis.
“I usually take a OneNote backup on a memory stick and don’t take my laptop. If I really absolutely have to do some work on vacation, I have access to OneNote and Outlook anywhere and I can do whatever it is that needs to be done.”
How do you do that? When I try to “save as” onto another drive and then open, I get a message about “unpacking.” Is there any way in Windows Explorer (not IE) to highlight an entire notebook, copy and paste it to a flash drive, and open the entire notebook (note just one of the pages) on another computer? If not, and I use the backup command and change the default to my flash drive, do I need to use “restore?” Thanks.
Let’s say I’m designing a completely new curriculum for an English language course–it’s based on in situ communication needs (nurses/assistants at clinics), so it will involve a lot of disparate materials. I need to integrate a syllabus (broken down functionally, perhaps by different kinds of patient contact) with various collections of highly context-specific language acts, that range from technical to informal. Can OneNote help me with this in some way that other programs can’t?
Simple Answer: you can have Sections, Pages and Sub-pages that you can see at a glance (tabs to the right, sections to the left) instead of having multiple Word files or one big one you have to scroll through. Plus, you can annotate those pages easier, with your keyboard or with a tablet and stylus. You can copy and paste items from the notebook pages into a Word document (or vice versa). You can move pages around in a section or to different sections by dragging them (similar to moving a tab in Excel to the right or left of other tabs). If you use Outlook, there is an icon to print an email message directly to OneNote; a menu pops up asking you what section or page (or a new page) it should land.
If you use Excel, perhaps this illustration will help: it’s similar to having an Excel workbook in which you have a bunch of worksheets, each labeled on the tab at the bottom. But instead of cells with numbers, you have blank pages for a mixture of text, email messages, web content, links, pictures, etc. that you can see the Tab name on instantly instead of having one gigantic document or a number of documents.
Okay, that’s probably the most meaningful description I’ve read so far, thank you. But I can’t mix those things on the same page (sheet), can I? Can I put some web content next to editable text, next to an email–on the same page, without making them all graphics? Because that’s what I was hoping.
If not, I suppose they can be hyper-linked within the document from sheet to sheet?
Yes, you can mix all those things on the same page, and the text you copy and paste on the text you send with the OneNote icon in Outlook can be edited, copied, pasted, etc. If you want text from a website, copy it and paste it to the appropriate OneNote sheet if you might want to copy some or all of it to a Word document later. If you use the “print to OneNote” it will be a graphic file. The same is true with a Word doc. Copy the text and paste it as a “note.” Play around with this program. It is extremely useful. I’ve only been using it for a month, but like it. It’s worth learning. One hint: do not start a notebook for everything that pops into your head. My first week, I had too many. Once I got used to Sections, pages and subpages I found I didn’t need as many as I thought. And, you can always move pages to new notebooks if you find a subject deserving of its own.
I’m intrigued by the thought of something that is so widely considered useful, but I’m a bit like guizot here; I’m having a difficult time envisioning how I would actually use OneNote.
I know there are oodles of examples in this thread, but frankly, at first glance much of these seem very similar to what I can already do within Word, Excel, etc.
Like this:
This actually seems like an extra step to me; why not just paste my text, graphic, or image into the Word document now, rather than later?
I write a weekly newsletter using Microsoft Publisher. There are probably 15-20 features that run regularly, comprised of primarily stuff I find on the internet. Right now I have separate Word files for each feature, which I copy and paste a chunk from each into my monthly Publisher file.
For example, let’s say I have a page of recipes every month, another section of jokes, another of short movie reviews, and a dozen or so other topics, again not varying from month to month. This means I have 15 separate Word files, which I am adding to and copying from constantly.
Can OneNote help me maintain and organize this date more effectively? Because right now, it’s pretty straightforward: Open Word file, copy a section, paste into Publisher.
I just started using SkyDrive to back up essential files. The sync is flawless and it just runs in the background updating the relevant sync folders. Microsoft generally takes a lot of shit, but I certainly like how this product jives.
*if you are a blogger, another hidden gem is Windows Live Writer.
Is it possible to tag text items and have them show up in a separate page? I would like a page in my notes that shows all the highlighted text from all the other pages. When I highlight something I want it to show up on that page, and when I remove the highlight I want it to be removed from the summary page. Is there a way to do this (and not by using the Outlook task functionality)?
Not sure what you are doing and in what version. Saving a notebook from within OneNote does this packing thing (I’ve never used this function before).
I always do a simple cut and paste to the USB. If you open windows explorer, then
[ul]
[li]highlight (left click) the OneNote folder, Notebook or page[/li][li]right click and copy[/li][li]highlight (left click) the USB drive[/li][li]right click on the USB drive[/li][/ul]
If you have trouble finding the OneNote notebooks, search on *.one. Eg, click on the windows start button > type in *.one > right click the magnifying glass.
(Not trying to be condenscending with step by step for how to cut and paste. I fully understand how frustrating a step by step guide with missing steps is for someone that hasn’t done this before.)
MagMan has done a good job of answering but let me try to say it in a different way. If I was doing it, I would have one section per lesson plan.
Start with the first page as the syllabus
Second page as kind of a catch all. Eg, start writing your lesson in the upper left hand. Then start pasting in your text content from disparate sources (web page, copy paste from PDF, a paragraph from word) either on the left side or on the bottom. I usually put a couple of key reminders like “don’t forget to paste from the Cecil’s piece on the Mohawk Indians.”
Subsequent pages if you need it. I usually just need one cluttered page that I use as my draft writing piece with all the other sources pasted around it.
For subsequent pages, think of it as subtopics, where you’re still pasting in all these different sources so it’s in one place. Again, I’ll do my draft write there on the catch all page with all the different stuff
For longer term projects, I also have a page for ideas, thoughts, factoids, sources, etc. I have this synced with my phone, so whenever I get that brillant thought for my project, I write it down right then. Usually by the time I’m going to write it up, I have a bunch of key points, source material and just slap it together.
Since one note pages are drag and drop. You’ll end up with a syllabus, maybe a written page per main topic, some other pages for future topics you haven’t written yet, and maybe some pages for drafts or the source material. I usually don’t bother organizing or culling out until I have more pages than fit on the left hand scree.
One thing OneNote does is you can paste a file into OneNote and then update the file there as you work on it (instead of having that file somewhere else on your PC). Really good if you sync via Windows Live Skydrive and have OneNote on multiple PC’s. You can also paste the file and choose the “insert file as a printout so I can add notes to it.” This allows you to paste Excel, PDF, Word, copy patse from the web and all sorts of other files as a picture. Net net, you have the actual file embedded in OneNote *and *you have what that file looks like. Really easy then to read for information and then open the file if you want to edit. And you also have the option of pasting in editable text.
And when you paste something from a web page, it puts the web link down at the bottom so you can find it again quickly.
Because Word is linear? You can paste all this stuff in a Word doc and end up with 20 pages worth of crap you’re trying to wade through. Instead of having a paper notebook page with the equivalent of stickies all over it. Maybe you’re not wired for the stickies, but I really like being able to paste these different sources so that they are all in seperate boxes one the front page of my OneNote file. I find it much much much easier and more logical than doing it in Word.
In fact, for years now, I *only *use word on rare occaisions when I want something that looks a little more formal or where a client wants it in the word format. And then the ease of finding and organizing the OneNote finished output is much easier for me. But like I wrote in the first post, OneNote fits the way I’m wired pretty closely and I wouldn’t try to force fit someone to it.
I’m not familiar with Dropbox - does it sync automatically (including all the embedded files) across multiple PC’s and your smart phone (iPhone and Windows - not sure if there is an Android app)? And is Dropbox free?
