User Reviews for Microsoft OneNote

0 out of 5

0 Ratings

7 years ago, The_Rogde

Microsoft

As a writer, one never knows when an idea strikes. When it does, OneNote is there to capture lightening in a jar. If you can write it, paste it, or record it, OneNote is a repository for inspiration of any sort. The features I find the most useful are the ease in categorizing ideas, accessing the files from anywhere, and meeting minute creation (more on that later.) Create your projects, insert sub-folders and then begin to add pages and pages of materials. I have a “binder” for my writing and a “folder" for each project. In each folder I add pages (chapters) and have a few pages for notes on relative subjects. The ability to return to my writing cave and have all that info at my fingertips is a Godsend - infinately better than carrying a hardcopy note book (although there is no feeling like pencil to paper) or finding that napkin you used to scribble the outline of the next Hemingway novel. Then there is the creation of meeting minutes. If you have Outlook, go to the Home tab, then select Meeting Details. It will give you a listing of your scheduled meetings. Select your meeting and watch OneNote pull in the meeting details, including Subject, Date and Location, Attendees and the details listed in the messasge section of the invitie. I used this recently and the feedback from management was laudatory. Microsoft’s OneNote is a hidden gem worth discovering.

6 years ago, ubercorner22

Powerful Note taker, annoying to have to “reopen” notebooks every time you’ve been away...

Great app. Takes some time to build up a workflow, but once you do it’s miles ahead of almost every other note taker. Only exception is Notability, which I think has a little bit better handwriting capability, but not nearly the organizational ability that OneNote has. If you want to be able to organize your notes into more than just one tier of folders, then you have to move to OneNote. The organization is way better than any of the other apps out there, and there’s way more support on the backend as this is synced through Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud, so you know that it has the support of a company that’s not going anywhere. The only annoyance I have with it, and the reason it’s 4 stars and not 5, is that I have to “Open” all of my notebooks again on each device if I haven’t used OneNote on it for more than a few days. I don’t know if this is to simplify syncing issues between devices and save space on each device, but I would rather there was an option to keep notebooks on a device and keep them synced. That way if I want to start taking notes right away, I don’t have to keep throwing all of my impromptu notes into whichever notebook is the most synced and then move it later. I use this exclusively on iOS/MacOS devices, so maybe there’s some compatibility issue built in by Apple to handicap Microsoft’s apps just a little bit, or vice-a-versa.

5 years ago, BB380

Great app to support my vintage RV hobby as I move into retirement

After having successfully used OneNote in my business operations for years, I have discovered it all over again in retirement as my “go-to” documentation repository for my vintage RV. I can organize quick “how-to” info from a box full of owners’ manuals, cut/paste essential posts from key “guru” forums into the appropriate owners’ manual section, insert pics of complex systems with annotations for use by a service tech should I need one while on the road, store info about future modifications including pics, diagrams, parts lists and vendors, etc, etc, etc. Best of all, I can now selectively cloud-share this info with fellow aficionados so we are not all reinventing the wheel. All of my work is automatically replicated across my laptop, tablet and phone so I can refer to it anywhere. I’m sure I could find something to complain about, but there’s so much to love that it’s not worth the effort!! Better still, it’s worth investing the time it takes to create this repository because OneNote is backed by a huge corporation that continues to invest in keeping it fresh and stable. I don’t have to be worried about all my work becoming obsolete tomorrow because a vendor decided to orphan its product (been there, have the t-shirt). Thanks Microsoft.

4 years ago, Scuba_SteveD

Wishful Thinking

I really wish, either Notability or OneNote would reach out to the other and work on combining some components within their note taking ability. I love that Notability allows you to write on powerpoint slides directly without have to type to the side and then pull it over onto the slide like OneNote does. I also love how Notability allows you to highlight and draw a straight line by just keeping your apple pencile or curse at the end of the line for just a second and it completely straightens the line for you or if you draw a circle and hold it down, it will create a complete perfect circle. OneNote, you have to do to many time consuming things to make that happen which is a let down. One of the great things about OneNote is the ability to create Notebooks and dividers/drop downs/etc. This makes it easy to store the notes. I also like how you can have unlimited space beside slides to write or type, which Notability does not allow. So with all of that being said, the PERFECT note taking app would be a combination of different aspects from both apps into one, which would be unbelievably useful. But for now, I am using both to take my notes while I am in physical therapy school, which makes it time consuming and a little hectic sometimes to transfer files, but in the end, its what I have to do to take effective notes for class.

3 years ago, Enilks12

Missing Stuff

I wish there were a few keyboard shortcuts carried over, and there's now way to really annotate/track changes. A way to make comments would also be nice. A lot of features I think could be carried over from from PowerPoint and Word and be implemented well in here. If embedded PowerPoints aren't yet a thing, then they should be added. At least a way to have multiple slides in one section. Additionally, it would be nice to be able to see an indicator that appears on the section and page tabs that shows who's currently editing. Perhaps an additional "New Changes" alert badge on these section and page tabs would also be great, especially in large notebooks with many sections and even more subsequent pages. These are just my thoughts. I know that the format of OneNote is slightly different from other applications, but I still feel like these features should be included because I feel like what is possible in OneNote is actually severely limited. Especially when it comes to collaboration. I don't know if any one will read this, but I do believe this is fixable. What I listed isn't everything, but I think it is pretty significant. Other than that, a decent program, whether for work or just having a place you can use with friends even.

6 years ago, HodgsonMill

Use it daily

After investigating many different solutions for my needs, One Note has worked the best for me. As a creative professional, I like the freedom to type wherever I want, as an organizational freak, I like being able to easily make checklists and keep things accessible through the notebooks, section tabs and pages. Love being able to drag and drop a spreadsheet, pdf, or other doc right into the page. Definitely saves paper in my office. I go to a production meetings often. The organizer types up the itenerary and notes, and emails the content to the participants, then prints out 20 copies of about 6 pages of stuff. I bypass the paper completely. copy the content of her docs, paste them in OneNote and use my laptop or ipad at the meeting exclusively. What is really great is when my ipad battery dies during a meeting, I can whip out my phone and pick up where I left off. I have had some issues where I have had to repeatedly log in to my MS account on the iPad, but that is the only aggravation. I advocate the use of OneNote to my coworkers. I have only scratched the surface of what you can do with it, but it works great for me. I would like to have the option of text alignment when using a ruled paper background. Keep improving. I’ll keep using it every day.

3 months ago, ravenwolf8301

Best Note Taking App There Is

I am think that maybe there are better note taking app out there but not this good for free. With the Chrome/Edge Clipping Tool and full text search ability I have not found anything better. It completely supports all platforms and with a free Microsoft account you can sync between all devices. It also has the ability to import Word, Excel, and PDF document right into your notes, not just copy and paste but you can, in the desktop app, grab a document and it will import it. I use multiple Notebooks as well,having a personal Notebook and a Work notebook the keep things seperate. Also being able to share your notebook (such as my work one) with others is a great option. Really this is my favorite and most used utility application. One thing I would like is more options with sharing to OneNote from the iOS share menu. I would like it to clip rather than just send a link that I then have to open on my laptop to clip. Not a big problem but it would be nice. This maybe an iOS/iPadOS limitiation as many things are but it would save me a little time down the road. But still just being able to share links is fine.

6 years ago, Jguar333

If you’re using Word to take notes, switch now.

The only thing I regret is not finding out about this app sooner. It always came with the office programs I downloaded, but I never really used it, for no truly good reason. In college I used Word’s notebook setting to take notes on my computer, and it worked, but OneNote is better in every way. It is not weighed down like Word does; it doesn’t require that you open up multiple documents like Word, which can become a burden on your computer; it is easier to use and more organized, as you can drag and drop, add text boxes and graphs and tables. Now I am in Law School and use it for all of my notes that I take on the computer. It easily organizes different classes, subjects, etc. according to notebook, with sub-sections for each. Everything you need is accessible right there. It is the superior way of taking notes for a class. I recommend this app to anyone who is taking notes during lectures, who is looking to have one spot for all of their consolidated notes later on if they take notes by hand in class, and also for people that just like having organization and ease-of-access as a top priority. I highly recommend this app.

7 years ago, Zooey81

Love, Love, Love… except two (minor) things.

After some difficulty with the Scrivener app, and desperatly wanting to use my phone to write, I searched high and low for a program that not only organized my writing but was easy to use and cross-synced across devices. The answer - Microsoft OneNote. Although, technically not a word-processing program like Scrivener, I found OneNote met most of my needs beautifully. It’s layout was clean and user-friendly, it lets you change fonts and font-size, it color-codes your files for easy searches but my favorite thing was that it synced all my devices automatically. I can write while waiting in the doctors office, then go home and know I can pick up my writing where I left off. Not only that, but I’ve deleted my other note-taking apps; everything now is in one, neat spot. The only reason I gave it 4-stars and not 5 is because it doesnt have a print option, which, granted you can send any notes/ writing to your email and print it from there, but the automatic option of PRINT, would be nice if only to save a step. Also, I would love to have a Word Count. Again, I realize this is note-taking application, but seeing as people customize how they use these sorts of apps., having that option would be a welcomed addition.

7 years ago, Frustradoxxx

this is my GO TO program for taking detailed notes for anything!

I’ve been using the Microsoft OneNote for at least 7 years now, throughout my college years till now, while studying for a certification. I love how organized it is, and how easy it is to use. it automatically saves as i take notes. I love that it’s basically a virtual notebook, but much more powerful, with different “notebooks”, sections, subsections, and pages. I also use it for personal uses, like taking down mental notes, making lists and such. My biggest complaint with it though, is that i have a ton of notes that i took with a 2013 version of this program, but i haven’t found any way to transfer it over to the new version. The only way i can save those notes is by pdf, or in some other format, but i haven’t been able to successfully transfer it over to the current updated program. i wish they had a way for this. Also, i’m not sure if i just haven’t found it yet, but older version had a way to “lock” the pages or sections so that i could store my passwords. I haven’t found a way to “lock” the pages with the current version yet. I hope they bring this function back.

6 years ago, Drumzalot

Great App, Except One Major Problem.

I love using OneNote - great features, it works, I’ve started to rely on it at home. There’s just one serious problem with the Mac version: You cannot use it unless you’re connected to a cloud account. This absolutely kills my ability to use it at work where we CANNOT use onedrive or other cloud account. So while I can get it at work, it’s a toally useless application. This isn’t the case with the Windows version where you CAN work and have local only notebooks. Because of this huge oversight, I can only give 3 stars to something that should get 5. For personal use, OneNote is great. I use it on my Mac laptop, iPad, iPhone and everything seemlessly syncs between all of my devices. I don’t feel like I have to carry a specific device with me just to capture a piece of information or an idea in one of my notebooks. I can easily edit and make changes on my iPhone, even with it’s smaller screen almost as easily as I can on my laptop. If you’re looking for a notebook type app that you can have collections of information with subsections, format/edit/pretty it up as you want to see it and have it sync across all of your devices, I highly recommend OneNote. If you work in an environment without cloud access, look elsewhere as you simply can’t even use it.

6 years ago, misplacedtarheel

OneNote User Since 2008 on PC and Mac -OneDrive Disabled at Work

I love OneNote. I used it in grad school and then at work and have used it at 4 different companies now. I also use it on my personal Mac. It does everything I need it to do….screen capture, drawings, text, and I can organize everything into neat little notebooks. I also love that I can sync across ipad, iPhone, PC and Mac. with that said I have one huge negative. I recently switched from Windows PC to a Mac for my work computer. My company does not authorize OneDrive for Business (for a whole bunch of reasons). It is blocked by our Corporate IT. For whatever reason I CAN use my personal OneDrive account at work on my work computer which makes zero sense. However due to all the corporate IT security syncing to OneDrive cloud is not seamless nor easy. So here is why I deduct 2 stars. OneNote shouldn’t you be able to export your OneNote notebooks created on your local hard drive on a Windows PC and easily load them onto OneNote on a Mac computer? One would think so. But it doesn’t work that way. On a Mac you are bound to using OneDrive, period. There is no way to load a .one file locally on your Mac’s hard drive. Please fix this Microsoft. And I’ll give you your 2 stars back. Please realize not all of us can use OneDrive becuase of strict corporate IT policy.

2 years ago, jem4058

My life by OneNote

I have been using OneNote for well over 15 years and it remains to be my goto app for anything and everything to journal, record, and speak my thoughts and I have retained many of these and get a good laugh at something I read, or saw. I tooks notes about current events because I am a writer and I need all the grounded knowledge found in various places so I can bring it all together as a book all in OneNote. When I was in school One Note managed my life and maintained a record of who said this or that. along with my own ideas give me comfort when times were hard. Covid could have ruined me but having OneNote I was able to get at my notes and continue working. I also share from time to time, I can't possibly relay all that One Note has to offer and how I used various features. Just know it is well thought out, easy to use but still sophisticated, The abilities of this App can not be duplicated and many have tried, but Microsoft s tendencies to keep everything update and can be used with both Apple and Microsoft. Thanks creators of OneNote for keeping me on task, that would be use Microsoft.

6 years ago, alfmorten

Fantastic

This is the one true multiplatform note/collaboration tool. But it´s also so much more. You need to embrace it to see its worth and indispensability. I myself hav switched from evernote, which is very good, to OneNote as it´s just perfect for my use. What are the strong points? How about the abillity to make a list on the first page of a note, and then by selecting the list and clicking once, you have created a new page for all the list items and linked them from the first page, html style? Inserting forms and video directly into pages and viewing them and interacting with forms is another. Then theres linking to Outlook items, creating minutes, class books and work books that gives the teacher/leader separate pages for each student/employee where they can interact. And so much more, just figure your need and OneNote will supply a means. I for one Love it, been using OneNote since early start in 2004 then switching to evernote for 5 years before making the leap back in 2014 as class notebook came along. The features are growing and I am loving all the new additions to OneNote. 2018 looks to be a great year, integration with Teams is my favourite so far!

5 years ago, Sam-Guy

Best organizational tool for me

I can easily say that this is the best tool that I have found for the way that I need to organize. It’s free. It has a desktop app and a mobile app that sync so I can easily work from across devices. Microsoft OneNote can be integrated with the “share” feature on your phone so that all your previous notes, any voice memo you’ve made, any picture you’ve taken, any website you find, they can all be sent to your notebook with between 3 and 5 quick taps, as opposed to having to copy, paste, or download. It has multiple levels of hierarchical filing that can be made. Everything feels smooth, instant, and not at all clunky. I’m not the type of person who leaves reviews, but honestly the tool has transformed my life and made it easier than anything I’ve found before to stay organized with anything I would ever need to keep organized. Highly recommended just trying it out, and I hope Microsoft will continue to develop and support this already amazing tool by adding the functionality to add videos within your notes, the only critique I have.

6 years ago, Aspennow

Typical MSFT product — great promise, weak design, poor execution

You have to wonder whether this product was beta-tested. Let’s start with how pasting data into a note using the standard shortcut crashes the app, which, according to online reviews, has been a problem for years. Then let’s move on to an inability to automatically organise notes alphabetically or another categorisation. Add in hit-or-miss syncing. Let’s not forget a poor UI, with commonly used functions like “add page” at the bottom of the page when the standard convention is to place those functions at the top to maximize usability. As you’re typing the desired note is shown as the top hit, but finish typing your query and the note you need is buried somewhere below or even at the bottom of a long list of notes with one or more of the search terms. Tagging is a joke. You cannot create your own tags, and the product’s pre-set tags are pretty useless (eg, “Address,” “web site to visit,” and oddly, “Password). You can only export PDF files, which is nuts considering that the whole purpose of a notes repository is to use the data in other apps.

3 years ago, JennahBlue

Nearly perfect writing and organizational application

I was introduced to OneNote back in August of 2019 by a work colleague. Since then, I have transferred all forms of my writing to OneNote. The more I use this application, the more useful I find it. I am an avid writer (as hobby, not profession unfortunately) and have multiple notebooks which contain all of my organized short stories. Next to that, I have a separate notebook with all of my college notes, assignments, and homework neatly organized in their sections and pages. Additionally, I have other notebooks for work, recipes, home projects, and a personal journal. OneNote has become my one-stop-shop for all my writing needs. My one and only complaint is that despite being a Microsoft product, any formatting done in OneNote does not transfer over to Word. Although this may not seem a disastrous game-breaking issue, it has caused me at least a few hours of extra work over the past few years when having to reformat my notes when copying and pasting into Word so that I can print them.

4 years ago, sfwrtr

Very good note taker, but needs work to require previous glory.

I've been using this app for ages, and my business life is in its pages. Its notebook, sections, and pages-orientation is great for fast-and-furious meetings and school-like situations where you need to take constant notes as a touch typist, or for causal notes—and then reading and understanding what you captured afterwards. That it is available on Windows, Mac, iOS, and the web seamlessly is essential and well executed. The only reason I won't give this app its fifth star is that there are still features missing from the pre-Office 365 version of the app. The most missed is the edit pallet that would appear near the cursor when you select something. No longer being able to export to anything but PDF is a serious downgrade. Sharing uses only uses the Windows mail app and is useless is useless on the Mac; on Windows, requiring the built-in mail app requires your ridicule. Not being able to extend the selection of a double-clicked word by dragging astonishes me. I continued using the old native Mac and Windows apps until an update rendered then non-functional. The current app feels... sadly broken as a result.

6 years ago, crosskira

Won't sign in

I have tried EVERYTHING in order to sign in on my mac. I just uninstalled everything and reinstalled. I have deleted containers and keychain access information. I have restarted. I have searched everything forum. I evven called my school and microsoft, in which they directed me to APPLE. I WORK AT APPLE. WHO CAN TELL ME HOW TO FIX THIS. I have been working on this for hours. I can sign in on my mac, iphone, and even the microsoft word app, it just won't sign in onto OneNote on my mac. Is there a glitch? Everything is updated. I made sure my lease was still current, it is. Please, who can help me? I really like this app and would love to use it. EDIT: Of course, right after I leave this review I figured it out. I think I saw it in another review..or something, I don't even know. I had to sign into OneDrive. I didn't even know I had that on my computer. I wish when I called Microsoft they could have just told me that rather than directing me to Apple, who would have no reason to know that about your third party app. I am glad I actually get to use it! Wish I didn't have to spend my whole day wondering why everything else could sign in except this one.

6 years ago, snoda13

Amazing! … until….you tried to print anything.

This software is absolutely amazing. I loved every bit of it. UNTIL. I created a large flow chart on it for a physiology project and tried to print it. The print preview came out to be 23 pages long. It turns out that OneNote had inflated my font size 11 to about a 16 and cut my beautiful chart to unrecognizable pieces. There was absolutely no way to scale the document so that I could print it in less than 23 pages. I could not define a print area, I couldnt even print it off of the One Drive that it connects with because my notebooks would not sync or even show up on my online account!!! I’ve heard that the PC version of this program has print scaling and all that you could wish for, but the MAC DOES NOT HAVE THIS FEATURE AND ITS WILDLY UNFAIR. We pay the same price for these products for an inferior version. Like I said, amazing software, UNTIL YOU HAVE TO PRINT ANYTHING FROM IT. Awful, just awful. There are online forums dedicated to this issue and Microsoft has STILL not fixed it. I will no longer be using this program until this feature is added. Absolutely useless for me without it. I had to resort to taking screenshots of my project and then taping them together. All of the sections printed slightly different sizes, it was a mess.

3 years ago, Jsnyder101

Generally the best, but some ongoing lack of features

I've used Onenote for years for note taking and I love the free-form format. The ability to expand in any direction is excellent and the tools are intuitive. But for years I've wanted some features that have never materialized and it feels like the product is kind of stagnating. Inserting PDFs into documents is nice, but it's just a printout that you can't highlight text in, copy from, comment on, etc, which makes taking notes on anything inserted as a printout really hard. And speaking of printing, trying to print a onenote page is a nightmare, it seems like theyre intentionally configured to make resizing or ordering in a logical way impossilbe. Note software like Notion has a big edge when it comes to tables and databases as well- the ability to add tags to table rows and organize tables according to them would be a really useful upgrade. Finally, I don't like that they took away the ability to view all notebooks at once in the side panel. I switch between notebooks frequently and the fact that I have to go search through the dropdown menu is an unwanted hurdle.

6 years ago, TBoydWright

Documents Offline when flying above the clouds

As I am a project manager and have taken on large projects that result in multiple 3” binders and I was very excited when this app was explained to me as “a virtual binder you can carry in your iPad.” Sign me up! So I gave it a try. I set up notebooks per project, then guides for the specific subjects, and then started dropping documents into pages. Humm… works great. Let’s try importing from websites. Let’s try emailing meeting notes. What about cross-referencing within? Yep. And on and on it goes. And I have it all in my iPad and all documents are available to me when I am on those transpacific flights to Asia or in a conference room without wifi in Vietnam or Indonesia. And I’ve taken another step for organizing my personal life. Get this: I have every insurance policy, birth certificates, driver’s licenses, other pertinent important certificates, etc., and so on, in my personal notebook. All information I need to safeguard and have in case…. you see, I live 7 miles from the Atlantic Ocean in mid-Florida. For Hurricane evacuations, this is PERFECTO. Peace of Mind. Thank you!

6 years ago, anthonyseattlearchitect

2 years in & still my professional/personal one-stop-shop.

I started using One Note when my Design/Build company purchased me a Surface Pro and Surface Studio. Coming from a career as an avid Mac and Ipad user I struggled to find a good sketching app and catch-all note application. It took a while and being flexible but I eventually (and surprisingly) landed on MS OneNote for both. Stable, fast, easy to organize, available on all iPhones, macs and PC platforms it has become my go-to. 2 years in & still my professional/personal one-stop-shop. I’m an architect & sketching (with the patience to get techniques right) is very good! For a quick Concept sketch and overlay on drawings or images there is a lot of power in the flexibility. Lots of additions could be made but I think as a “generalist” tool the application strikes just the right balance between a bevy of other apps that do most of what this one app does. So suffice to say: great overall tool with enourmous flexibility to pull in almost any digital visual content and notate and refine it. Well done - please do not change dramatically...

6 years ago, GETEVERSURFER

Over 3 years or more of use with ton’s docs

After many years of use, and having subscribed to ton’s of Cloud space, the latest MAC Version finally acted like a MS OS version. So I logged in with the new App on my MAC Book pro. It never got off the login screen, just sat there for 10 hours trying to sync. Apparently login and sync don’t work. A very simple test of using the Browser version worked - but with same old issues it’s always had. Since I have many IT architectures documented from years of being a user, and having migrated from MS products entirely due to the lack of reliability - issues with MS products seem to never end. One other item of concern was the “compliation” of my personal copyrighted photographs that MS Developers sent to my email account. When I saw they had used my Personal Photographs (Data Stored) as their input for “marketing” of “my” photographs over a public email network. I feel the engineers don’t care of about digging into personal data for inputs to “their” programs or even know what copyrighting of data means. Apparently they have written fine print into their fair use policy so they can send your data within the public domain, unless you read thoroughly the disclaimer..

6 years ago, BeDuKo

Great for work and personal use

I write many short notes and lists to keep track of work, projects, todos. I used to use whatever was handy - post-it notes, various notebooks, or printer paper. After deciding I needed to become a bit more organized, I set up a couple of notebooks and sections within OneNote at work and now use that for 90% of my note taking. Anything important that I jot down on paper when I’m away from the computer is added at a later date. The ability to copy and paste, insert screenshots, and search is wonderful. Now all the old notes that I used to periodically run through a shredder live on and actually have some use because I can find the information I recorded. I have now started transitioning my lists and notes for tasks and projects at home to OneNote as well. This is where the ability to sync across devices really shines for me. I had some initial problems getting OneNote to sign in to my account on my Mac, but now I have notes synched across a MacBook, iPhone, Windows desktop, and Windows laptop. Great application.

4 years ago, Tete270

Amazing Study app

This app is honestly amazing and I wish I would have found out about it earlier when I was in high school or the beginning of college because I know it might sound lame to say but it actually makes taking notes pretty fun and easy. That being said, I wish you could insert graphs that extrapolate from a data set for math notes, and I wish there was a better way to save the actual projects. For example, the projects don't really save as much as sync to the cloud. I much prefer to keep my files local. Lastly, I wish there was an easier way to view the notes outside of the app, because as of right now, if I try to send my notes to a friend to either show them how cool the program is or even just to share my notes, the only way I can do it if they dont have One Note is to save as pdf and send like that, but the format is always messed up and the background is always white as opposed to the dark background I have set in my notes

6 years ago, Tattedhank

Could easily be better

In general, I like OneNote. For me, it is better than the other note taking applications available for Mac OS. I am a student and OneNote offers almost everything I need to take notes in multiple formats and onto, or next to, PDFs. My issue is that OneNote for Mac OS is not as good or feature rich as the windows version. My other issue is that they rarely implement new features or solve issues that people have requested. Most of the time, these are features that Word for Mac OS already has, so it is annoying that they won’t transfer some of these features over. It is like they purposely keep the Mac OS version juuuuuust good enough to work. Another weird issue is that things like text replacement do not work in OneNote. So, if you are like me and type a lot of chemical formulas, you cannot use the system keyboard preferences to automatically superscript or subscript numbers or letters and OneNote does not offer its own text replacement options like Word does. It is numerous things like this that make OneNote difficult and slow to use a lot of the time, which is why I only give it three stars. Could easily be a five-star app if they wanted it to be.

4 years ago, isaidfreakingno

Almost Perfect

I aboslutley love this app as a writer. Inspiration can strike at any time, and I love that there is also a version of onenote for smaller devices such as tablets and smart phones (athough I prefer writing on my laptop). I really like the format of this app and the ability to change colors of your folders. Overall, this is an amazing app for writers--free of cost! (the best part)! The only two minor things I would change about this are the syncing problems. Sometimes if I'm out and about and write a section on my phone, later when I use my laptop it won't sync for a long time and sometimes that's really frustrating with my busy schedule. The other minor issue is the fact that I can't change a title of the notebook after I create it. This isn't a big issue, but as a writer I often think of better titles for some of my works in progress and since the app doesn't let me change the title I have to write it down elsewhere, which is annoying. Despite these two small (and easily fixable) issues I love OneNote. Thanks for a great app!

6 years ago, Katine67

Great tool for organized notes

I love One Note… It works across ALL devices - PC, tablet, smart phone, iPad…. works well on everything. I love that you can both type AND write (I use apple ipad pro + apple pencil, AND a microsoft surface tablet with the microsoft pencil…) and you can highlight stuff. Create as many notebooks as you need, with as many sections as you want. Move pages between sections and notebooks easily if you decide you need a separate book for a topic, just create one and move pages over to whatever section you want. It’s my go-to tool for keeping notes on business meetings, capturing screen shots and sending them directly to one note. It is beautiful in its simplicity. A great way to organize client files without having to create a database. (Don’t get me wrong, I love a good database, but sometimes it’s just easier to keep a notebook called “clients” have a separate “section” for each client, and then a page for account information, separate pages for different notes, project status, timeline, whatever.

2 years ago, Thetool24

Switched back to OneNote from Evernote..

I've been a faithful Evernote user, and Evernote has a more modern look than Onenote, and has significant advantage in it's 'search' feature, but does not give the 'tree' structure that OneNote provides to 'drill down' into your entries and works more like your mind 'thinks'. Evernote depends on 'Tags' and once those tags get to a significant level, any 'struckture' to find the appropriate notes becomes impossible. Working on a 'legal' case made this tremendously more evident. Attorneys, time elements, research, documents, etc. all must come together, and Evernote can not provide that structure. Lastly, Evernote 'traps' you documents, and any ability to 'export' your notes becomes terribly clumbersome. Onenote needs a much better 'user interface' with a more modern look, and sync function, misplaced notes is also something Onenote needs to address, but over all the abilty to give large amounts of data, a 'structure' to access out weighs any other issue.

7 years ago, Koenig73

The best notes app, period.

Ok, I’ll start by saying that I’ve been using OneNote for over 3 years now and I love it to death. It has only gotten better since I’ve started using it and I still recommend it to everyone at every chance I get. I use OneNote primarily for school (I am a University of California student) and it is absolutely killer for keeping together notes for all of my classes, syncing notes with study groups, and just generally keeping tabs on all the different projects I have going on (no pun intended). The best part of OneNote is definitely its layout, it manages to keep even me organized and that is truly something as I am the most scatterbrained human being that has ever existed. It’s simple, pleasing to the eye, and very easily customizable for whatever you need this software to do. I still cannot believe that this thing is free. It blows most other paid notes applications out of the water and it’s getting better all the time. Would 10/10 recommend this to any fellow starving college student!

6 years ago, Meyers.Family

Keeps Getting Better

The Mac version is still behind the Windows version I run with my Office 365 subscription on my office PC. However, the Mac version is definitely improving from a few years ago, and is actually now better than another Mac written OneNote competitor in the Mac Store. I have come back to OneNote and hope to continue to see improvements. There are still small annoying features when it comes to wanting to change the data files from one Microsoft account to another. “Packages" can be created with the full OneNote version to move the notebook around, something you can’t do with the Mac version. I primarily use OneNote to track information that I find while doing my familiy history work. It’s great to be able to create links from the individual pages, or even an object or paragraph on a page and past the link to even a different notebook. I really like the ability to move pages, or groups around as I need to adjust how an expanding notebook has been organized.

1 year ago, CharChar.I.S.

Crashes & data loss When Used Often

When used dfrom a share point site in teams, via One Drive (as I understand) there is HUGE potential for data loss. Happened more than once, and lost many hours worth of work. It is better to keep notebooks sections, and subsectioned so the file sizes of each section isn't too large. Be careful moving entire section groups, it can freeze up the entire section and in order to restore from a back up it must have sync'd to OD before it crashed or it is literally stuck in a black hole!! LOVE the concept and overall functionality, wish it was a bit more flexible as a "Live" data share point while in collaboration that can be referred to later when necessary. If bandwidth of my team is faster than me, or vice versa, it will cause conflicts and crash. We have learned as a team to use it in Teams browser version or 365 via browser when in active collab so we don't lose anything.

7 years ago, TexasTheresa2

Finally…a way to organize digitally

I’ve been looking for a product like this for a long time. I don’t know why it was so hard to find….I can’t believe it’s been out so long and I missed it all this time. The ability to create notebooks, and then have sections and pages within the notebook is fabulous for so many things. I’ve particularly enjoyed organizing travel arrangements. I can have a section for daily agendas, another for confirmation information, another for resources at each location, etc. And then I can have pages in each section for each day or cluster of days of the trip. It’s so much better than one very long document where you try to get all that information into one place. And when traveling with friends, we all have editing access so everyone can contribute. I love it. I’m longing for the day when a whole notebook or section can be exported as .pdf instead of just one page at a time, but that’s a tiny wish compared to all the amazing features in OneNote.

5 years ago, Abremo

GREAT for notetaking!

As a college student, I take a lot of notes and need them to be organized. I was a supporter of the old-fashioned, hand-written notes for the longest time, but I saw a lot of people using OneNote and decided to give it a try. OneNote has been excellent, and I think everyone should at least test it out. I am able to adjust the way I take notes to my liking, I can add pictures that professors may use in powerpoints from the internet directly into my notes, and I am able to have all of my notes in one location. It is ideal for those who do not like carrying around 5-6 binders full of paper or struggle to stay organized. It is also very convenient when I go home for spring break or winter break. Instead of lugging all of my notebooks back so I can study, I can now just bring my laptop home and still have access to everything. The only complaint I have is that I cannot seem to find the icon to increase spacing between lines of text, but I'm sure I'm just skimming over it!

6 years ago, C. Chan

Best there is !

I have used OneNote since college which was almost 10years ago. At that time I was using a PC and the program was great for taking notes in class and synthesizing ppts into the notes along with my own note taking. Fast forward to now, I have a macbook pro and easily started using OneNote for all the same things I used to before. Program is even more seemless now with mobile use. As a medical resident, it is perfect for writing down information quickly either on my laptop or mobile phone and being able to access the information on the spot in the hospital. You can use dictation features so you have voice to text if your lazy and don’t want to type but instead just talk works great when I’m on the go driving but still need to write down things that are on my mind using a hands free device. The one thing I wish that the program had from old was the ability to export entire notebooks in PDF format. Although you can currently export single pages of note books as PDF which is great, you cannot export an entire notebook at this time, which I find necessary sometimes when i need to send information to people who do not use one note. This would knock this program out of the park ! Highly recommended ! UPDATE: Its been over 1 year since I have been using OneNote on my mac. It works so well. As a hospital resident who is always trying to synthesize notes from laptop, PDFs, and phone OneNote works beautifully and has not let me down !

4 years ago, NorthLeftChick

Invaluable!

I don't know why everyone isn't using OneNote. As a student, it has become my main method of note taking. I can preload the unit objectives/outline provided by my instructor and write all over them. In class I usually have my laptop open to follow along with the slide presentation or to the e-text, and my iPad open with OneNote. I can screenshot any important pictures on my laptop, upload them to the cloud, and insert into my OneNotes almost instantly. With the ability to easily color, recolor, and move what I've written, my notes have become so much more organized! And the best part is it syncs to all my devices! It's super easy to take picures of the whiteboard and load them into my notes. Not to mention ,I'm saving a ton of paper, and don't have to carry around multiple notebooks. I've been using it for several months now across all my devices, and have found it to be very stable. No crashing or freezing. I really can't say enough good things about it. LOVE this app!

6 years ago, DrTime

Great Product - Still Has Issues and Faults Not in the PC Version

Updated - I still find this app the most useful of any I have besides Chrome. I use OneNote more than the other MS Office apps. Updated - Export to PDF and printing create PDF files that do not fit the page, needs ability to control print appearance. Need ability to align objects. The Windows version is so much better at printing to PDF, the results are useable for some reason.. Updated - Still great, but so many flaws that persist update after update. Todays bug. Copy a file name into a note, highlight it, right click and “Insert Link”, drag the file I want linked, link is created. Click on link and it tries to open a web page using the link. This doesn’t happen on the PC version from what I recall (don’t have it available). This should open the file. I’ve been using OS X since the public beta, Macs since MacPlus, and MS-Word since version 1.05 on the Mac. After the “improved” El Capitan Notes from Apple was incredibly disappointing, I found out OneNote was available on the Mac. Tried it. Liked it. Now, I use it on th Mac, my iPhone, Windows 10 at home, on my Chromebook, and I even started using it for work (at work). This is one great program and I find more uses for all the time. Each platform has interesting adaptations to make it work and yet each performs well. Truthfully, I found the iPhone version the most awkward. But OneNote is best multi-platform application program I’ve used.

6 months ago, AlejandroScottsdale

Confused?

Extremely confusing in trying to figure out all the versions of Microsoft 365. I want a local version of all apps on my desktop, but not sure if that is whats happening. Also, do I, or do I not, need an Outlook Exchange account in order to sync my MS365 Calendar and Contacts to my Mobile Outlook? Terrible distinctions and explanations, and it like pulling teeth trying to figure this all out. I"m currenlty using an Exchange account, I think. If so, do i need to back up some local MS data files such as used to do with a .pst file, or since it is now an .ost file, do I not need to back up, but rather rest assured it is all on the exchange server somewhere? All very frustrating. MS, get your act together, and also please quit trying to push evreryone to doing all things in the cloud. I use OneDrive for some things, but I don't have to use it for everything. And, i need alll files stored locally for when I travel and don't have internet service. And no, I don't want to have to remember to download any such files before I am no longer connected to the interent.

6 years ago, johnnypoon

A Very Helpful, and Elegant, Productivity Tool

I’ve become quite the fan of OneNote, and it wasn’t for lack of curiosity or enthusiasm for trying similar apps. Ever since I was introduced to Journlar around 2007, I've enjoyed watching task-specific programs converge into more elegant and even more straightforward tools. For me the gritty details on these apps really matters because I’m such a hardcore researcher and note-taker and journal writer. I know it's a bit spoiled that I feel entitled to bounce from taking research notes to writing song lyrics without worrying about getting disorganized about the projects I’m working on, but that's where I'm at. OneNote has a million tiny little features that just make it something more powerful and meaningful than an app to just capture ideas or take notes or record a diary, or just doodle. What makes OneNote an instrument so helpful in engaging my ambitions and interests is that I simply don't waste any mental power thinking about the app itself. After awhile it just disappears.

6 years ago, todd_outten

Always wanted a Digital Notebook

I’m really impressed with OneNote. I was recently introduced to it at work (fortune 100 company) where we use it to work collaborately on projects across a large enterprise. The sharing and collaborative features are impressive and allow teams to quickly assemble knowledge. On the personal side, I’m an engineer, software developer and avid cook! I’ve been searching for years for the digital equivalent of a three-ring notebook where you can easily create arbitrary sections of notes, documents, pictures, etc. Bookmarks in browsers just don’t cut it for me. So what I’ve been doing is saving web pages as PDFs and creating folder heirarchies of documents and files. This kindof works, but doesn’t make it easy to organize or share information. OneNote allows me to create that digital notebook where I can add sections at will and organize all types of media. And when ready, I can invite my colleagues into a notebook to share / edit / add information. It’s great.

6 years ago, RD Rocks

Great app. Syncs across multiple devices in real time

I stumbled across this app when I got an iPad with a stylus, and wanted to keep my handwritten notes on my new iPad. I now find that I use OneNote on my iMac and iPhone, too! The ability to sync notes across dvices means that you can take notes on your iPad or iMaca and pull them up later on your iPhone. OneNote also saves PDFs and text, so instead of printing flight reservations, insurance cards, schedules and emails, I can just save them as a PDF and file them in OneNote. (You will need a PDF conversion and/or scanning app, like PDF Converter and/or a PDF Scanner to do this.) The hierarchical file structure of Notebook / Section / Page is intuitive for those who like to file thier documents this way, and makes it easy to keep documents filed in different notebooks like “Family’ “Travel” “Business” or “School”. All in all this is a killer productivity app, and reminds me of discovering Microsoft Word on my first Macintosh computer years ago. Yes, it’s that good.

2 years ago, tay020406

Virtual Note Book

I started using oneNote at work about 2 years ago, and really enjoy how integrated it is with outlook and their cloud services. I like that I can create notes based off of a meeting and it will link the information from the meeting to the notes. I like being able to attach files as opposed to links only in the notes, so for something commonly referenced easy access. I've branched out to using it at home for projects, grocery lists, and maintenance items. Anything that I don't do regularly and may need just a couple of notes to refresh my memory. Future improvements (which might exist and I'm just ignorant) would be a calendar feature for if you aren't linked to an outlook account. This is more for home use, but I'd like to create a calendar that will highlight dates of things that are typically done yearly (i.e. call to get lawn sprayed for bugs, check propane tank, insurance renewal).

6 years ago, Crusing275

Hamstrung Software

Microsoft, are you listening? Please include all the features found in the Windows version of this app. If you did, I wouldn’t have to be so discriminating in my use of OneNote. For now, Notability has you stomped simply because I cannot create a template for an 8.5”x11” paper, or a daily journal. It’s infuriating that at this point in software as a service, I can do this in a windows version, but not a Mac version of the same software. Folks, OneNote is, by far, the most powerful notetaking software out there. This is a good and a bad thing. The good is the number of ways you can use it. The bad is the number of ways you can use it. You can mitigate, and even eliminate the bad, by creating templates that keep your notetaking in a “lane” allowing for formated printout, or creation of template to produce the same product repeatedly (e.g. daily journal pages, workout plans/logs, sizing notes to print scaled to a piece of paper, et cetera). If you want to keep your notes within the confines of sheet of paper, and scaled to it, OneNote for Mac and/or IOS is not the answer. And this makes me very sad.

6 years ago, slgould

Really Great app

I’ve used this app since starting my PA graduate program and I love how seemlessly i can go from writing notes on my ipad with my pen to opening the documents up on my desktop to study them again. It really is such a great app and I love all the features. I can search for a particular word and it will allow me to narrow or broaden my search to one file or whole notebooks and will even understand my handwriting enough to include that in the search. The reason I gave it 4 stars is that sometimes with larger files there can be some syncing problems between my ipad and desktop or when I go to open a large file from a previously closeds notebook, but this can usually be fixed with going somewhere with stronger wifi in my experience. It also a little annoying to have to convert word documents or powerpoints to pdf’s for them to show up as a “print out” and be able to be written on, but its a pretty quick process to convert them so I think its worth it for an excellent app that is free.

7 years ago, GarthHenning

Great potential that is sadly held back

It is great at what it does, but it lacks some basic features from the Windows versions. It also has some integration and synchronization challenges. The basic feature missing is the ability to customize tags and search by those tags. The tags appear in all the promotional screenshots, so they are promoted as a prominent feature. Yet they are nearly impossible to use in practice without customization unless you have, say, exactly two projects and they are named A and B. For integration, it is a lot of extra steps to integrate with other Mac applications for transferring data, such as drag-and-dropping pictures, importing emails, or other data. For synchronization, it relies a lot on OneDrive and I had challenges with the reliability of the Mac app synchronizing, reporting on why a sync failed to succeed, or indication of why a particular tag or media type was incompatible between the Mac, web, and Windows versions.

5 years ago, DrParadise

Better than Evernote and Apple Notes by a longshot

There are some glaring failures on the Apple versions of OneNote but it’s still the best one out there IMHO. I've tried Evernote for a couple months, Apple Notes for a couple years, and researched alternatives for many hours…. So Good job Microsoft! First time I’ve said that without sarcasm since Windows XP ;-) The main issue for switching is the lack of a tool to transfer from Apple Notes. “Sharing… notes to OneNote” is a good fallback but if MS wants it to succeed on OSX they need to make a RELIABLE transfer tool that gets folder structure, formatting, photos, everything…. I will also say, for me, the Notebook/Section/Page architecture is idiotic and makes it difficult or impossible to reorganized notes after a project grows. Apple's simple nested folder structure is better. (2019 update: looking at DevonThink, looks promising but haven't tried it yet, and it's pricy, and not sure if it's cross-platform) For now OneNote is doing a GREAT job for me.

4 years ago, sm3scorch

review ofuse

I've used oneNote for roughly 4 years now. I could say that there alot of advantages of using one note especially how portable it is on a whole. I could unload and load anywhere per subject anywhere at anytime. And if you load on two laptops it does so flawlessly. This is its strong point I like. But that being said I am not so estatic about some items internally. When I write on my ipad the message of working off line pops up continuously and each time it pops up it moves the screen up while I write causing extra manuvers. this happens every 2 minutes! Also one note is not able to OCR 90% of the things loaded as a printout which diminishes the search functionality. This is helpful for students to search all the notes on pertinant topics. I can't do that here. Again by itself this is a good note taking tool for students. But what I wrote above are wish list to address in the future. Hopefully near future before I graduate. Thank you.

2 years ago, xxKatieFae

D&D Planning Made Easy

I know that OneNote works for people in different ways-- work, school, keeping your cooking recipes all in one place... but have you considered using it for your D&D prep? I found some videos and forums that talked about others using OneNote for all of their planning needs. A program that I've known about for eight years suddenly became cool in 0.03 seconds. Now I can plan Dungeons and Dragons missions and campaigns anywhere, anytime. I can add ideas via my phone while at work. I can make campaign notes while in the bathroom. I can bounce between my laptop and PC for serious planning, adding pictures of our battle maps, and working on homebrew monsters. I'm not kidding when I say how much this program rocks and how highly I recommend it. Whether you're using it to keep track of your games or using it for some other reason, how can you not enjoy the freedom and flexibility it offers?

6 years ago, Redmond neighbor

80% there

As with all Microsoft products, OneNote is 80% great. There are still many plusses (sharing between multiple people and ability to access from multiple devices. But there are many seemingly small tweaks that Microsoft could apply to that last 20% to make it easy to use. As an example, they let you share notebooks (great). But they don’t let you easily see which notebooks are shared (bad). This could be easily addressed with an icon that has a people in the corner to indicate shared, or lock to indicate private. And if you offer the wonderful flexibility of integrating Notebooks from multiple accounts (personal, work) into one pane, how about a better way to see the source (like with a Get Info)? Also the fly-out path is dang annoying. How about an option for a small breadcrumb path right below the toolbar and above the notebook area. And as someone else pointed out, the sync is spotty, sometimes requiring you to relink or resync your notebooks.

Description

Capture your thoughts, discoveries, and ideas in your very own digital notebook using OneNote for Mac. Now it is easier than ever capture your thoughts, add pictures or files, and share notes across your devices and with others. Share your notes and collaborate in real time with colleagues or friends. Type anywhere on this free-form canvas, use a digital pen to write or draw, and add pictures and files right in your notes. Whether you’re at home, in the office, or on the go, OneNote in your go-to digital notebook. Capture Anything • Write memos, make a digital sketchbook, or jot down notes. • Save pictures of whiteboards, photos or printed documents in your notes. Take a picture, crop, and insert right into OneNote. • Highlight can’t-miss notes with Important and To Do tags. • Use a variety of digital pen colors and settings to create handwritten notes and drawings. • Draw with confidence with tools like “Convert to Shapes” which automatically converts hand drawn shapes into crisp, perfectly regular polygons and circles. Organize, Search and Secure • Organize your notes in a way that works for you using tabs, labels, and color coding to keep track of all your projects. • Create, rename, search, sort, and copy pages, sections, and entire notebooks. • Find your most recent notes quickly and pin the pages you most use to the top. • Secure your notes with a password and control permissions when sharing with others. • Track daily to-dos, flag questions to raise after a meeting, or mark important points. Collaborate and Share • Share ideas and your notes with friends and colleagues. • Collaborate in real time using a shared notepad. • Sync your notes to the cloud (OneDrive, OneDrive for Business*, and SharePoint), making it easy to access your notes anywhere. *For you to sign in to OneDrive for Business, your organization needs to have a qualifying SharePoint Online or Office 365 business subscription plan. You cannot sign in with an account from an on-premises directory. Learn more about Microsoft 365 Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based subscription service that brings together premium versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneDrive, with the best tools for the way people work today. Please visit: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2015120 for information on Licensing Terms. Unlock the full Microsoft Office experience with a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription for your phone, tablet, PC, and Mac.  Microsoft 365 annual subscriptions purchased from the app will be charged to your App Store account and will automatically renew within 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription period unless auto-renewal is disabled beforehand. You can manage your subscriptions in your App Store account settings. This app is provided by either Microsoft or a third-party app publisher and is subject to a separate privacy statement and terms and conditions. Data provided through the use of this store and this app may be accessible to Microsoft or the third-party app publisher, as applicable, and transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or any other country where Microsoft or the app publisher and their affiliates or service providers maintain facilities.