Being One with OneNote

Microsoft OneNote is a new application that ships as a part of the Microsoft Office 2003 System. This unique application targets digitally collecting and organizing notes.

OneNote has generated a lot of interest because it addresses a unique problem: digitally capturing notes into one manageable and flexible application. I have been using OneNote for about a year (since beta 1) and I have to confess: I have a love/hate relationship with this product.

I Love OneNote
I love the fact that Microsoft is addressing this problem (digital note taking) under the Office family. Office has always been about creating, editing, managing, scheduling, organizing information at the user level and OneNote is a great addition.

I have been using OneNote to take notes mostly for meetings and random note taking (brainstorming) for my professional consulting work and in my personal life. I like that I can create simple hierarchies. For example, in the following picture, you see my general OfficeZealot.com maintenance section organized by different areas. The current tab selected is Jesse (our Web master) with his weekly assignments for the site.

The fact that I can search easily through all my notes is real win. I can also add flags and reminders on individual notes easily. OneNote even works with my Tablet PC, recognizing my handwriting as I take notes.

A final feature is the ability to record meetings with audio and to take notes at the same time. The audio and your notes are then synchronized. This is cool, as you can review a meeting later, click on a note entry and the audio plays back from that point in the meeting where that note was made. The problem is that most of my meetings are not in an ideal setting for recording. Have you ever said to someone “Can I record this conversation for future review?” Not everyone likes to be recorded and often I can’t use it. This isn’t the fault of OneNote, but it reduces the value of this feature. I hope, as time moves forward, the notion of recording meetings will become commonplace.

One thing I have noticed is the dedication of the OneNote team. I have met some of the team leads and they are passionate about this product. I have also noticed team members, including the Group Program Manager, having an active share in the OneNote newsgroup. If I were a betting man, I would say future versions of this product will be amazing because of the OneNote team’s commitment.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss the things I don’t like.