Microsoft OneNote is an Office application ignored by many. While it's not a new application, it is one of the youngest applications in the Office stable. But just because it's unfamiliar, doesn't mean it can't be extremely useful for you or your business. In fact, it can be a great tool for helping declutter your work space and organize your thoughts in a quick and easy to review manner.
What is OneNote?
OneNote was originally introduced in Office 2003. It comes with almost all versions of Office; from Home & Student all the way up to Professional and, of course, Office 365. Officially OneNote is a notes taking application which, on the surface doesn't sound too thrilling. However, as you'll see shortly, it's actually a very useful tool for a wide variety of things.
Organize Your Thoughts
Being a notes taking application, the first thing we'll touch on is actually: taking notes. While you can take notes in just about any application, OneNote makes this process much easier. You can seperate your notes into multiple pages, groups or even notebooks which allows you to organize your thoughts much more effectively. You can then quickly switch between pages, groups or notebooks without having to open individual files.
A Blank Canvas
Probably the best way to explain how OneNote differs from other applications is that, while apps such as Word appear to start you off with a blank sheet of paper. OneNote really is a blank sheet. You can place anything anywhere you choose. Your canvas can be as big or as small as you want and resizes automatically based on what you're putting on the page and where you're putting it.
Take Notes Your Way
Another major seperating factor for OneNote, is that you can record notes in almost any way you want. You can type out blocks of text just like any other app. But you can also quickly and easily draw shapes and illustrations. Find something on your screen that you want to remember or highlight? You can make a note out of that screen. Own a device with a touchscreen? Use a stylus and write your notes out by hand. OneNote can even convert hand-written text to type if you'd like. Add graphs, tables, even Excel spreadsheets to your notes while still placing them however you want.
Pair With OneDrive for Notes on the Go
If you have a OneDrive account, you can store your notebooks in the cloud, enabling you to access them on multiple devices including phones and tablets, just by signing in with your account. So if you've left your laptop at home, you can still access all of your notebooks on your office PC.
Securely Share with Others
OneNote allows you to share your notes with others within your organization as well as people outside. But just because you can share doesn't mean you have to do so without being secure. With OneNote, you can password protect a notebook which will prevent prying eyes from seeing sensitive data contained within. You can even put a password on individual groups of pages which is great for allowing multiple people to collaborate on a single notebook, without being able to access places they shouldn't be.
A Great Tool for Your Office Belt
Overall, OneNote is a great application that can help you keep things organized, without having a massive clutter of paper strewn across your desk. OneNote is great for brainstorming or project planning, but can also be used for many other things as well.
If you'd like to learn more about how OneNote and other Office products can help your business, we can help.