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March 04, 2021
- I use OneNote on a personal level to take notes and brainstorm less formally - integration with the Office for Business Suite, which my institution employs has been a significant reason for my own initial use. I use OneNote to collaborate with other faculty members and stakeholders as we co-design online and blended courses.
- OneNote is primarily used within the Office of Digital Learning and Center for Teaching & Learning, rather than the entire institution. It provides a cloud-based canvas for brainstorming and notetaking for these teams who do not reside all in one location.
- Fully integrated into the Onedrive for Business suite, so the transition is smooth if you are familiar with these products.
- Clear tracking of collaborative work, including version tracking.
- Can experience breakdown when collaborating with others who have a OneDrive account that is not a Business account - some faculty members had trouble logging in properly when the notebook was shared.
- We often use a template to start collaboration on design, and the current version of the product lacks this feature to quickly and easily set up a notebook (there are workarounds)
Our company provides a Microsoft 365 license to its employees. So having the application pre-installed was what made me look into it to begin with. Our company uses it to varying degrees, though I personally use it as a repository of all information that isn't better suited as a full fledged document.
- Cloud Syncing. It is great to just open the app on any computer or phone and have everything you need right there
- Outlook integration. It is really easy to take notes from meetings and sync right to the calendar, as well as sync todos with outlook
- Flexibility. Its really nice to be able to use OneNote however best suits you. You can create templates for these as well
- Task management (it would be nice for one note to be able to send notifications to your device)
- Integrations with other services (Ifttt, etc.)
- It would be great for the iPhone application to support drawing
March 16, 2020

OneNote is currently being used in my organization. We use it to keep attendance and logs in our meetings. OneNote has allowed my department to keep track of important action trackers and their progress.
- Easy to use.
- Very organized.
Our department is using OneNote. I am pretty sure many people in my organization use OneNote. It is an excellent program for multi-user collaboration. I use it to create training manuals so that I can share them with my team. I also use it to manage my own workload. We can make notes, drawings, screen clippings, attach emails, and audio commentaries, which is excellent.
- It's great that I can use it on Android, Apple, and Windows devices. It syncs perfectly with phone, desktop so i can access any information anytime.
- The user interface is simple and thought out. Very user-friendly.
- You can take notes - you can draw or write or record your voice in the middle of your notes as you wish.
- It allows you to link different pages, add calendar, add notes, create templates, and save them.
- It can add some formatting options, like headers, dark mode, and some organizing features which are included on the desktop app.
- It doesn't have Integration with Google calendar & Gdrive.
I use OneNote mainly for copying web addresses and articles into one location. I have multiple tags all for different uses. I find that sometimes when I am researching an issue for a client, instead of printing out the article I tag it under various topics in OneNote. In addition, while I am searching for information on one topic I may run across another topic that sparks my interest. So OneNote has become the one place where I can not only place research topics for current use but also store ideas and resources for future problem solving or brainstorming.
- OneNote is a great tool for storing ideas that can be accessed for future use.
- OneNote works great for storing "how to's" about workflow and work ideas that I don't use often. I don't have to worry about remembering where it is or how to do it.
- OneNote is an excellent tool for having all you want or need in one place. I use it for both personal and work.
- Since I use Office 365, I sometimes have difficulty with the sync feature. It doesn't always seem to sync immediately between the desktop and the cloud versions.
- Sometimes the different types of ways to save a web page or document don't display properly. It may be the difference between the desktop and the online Office 365 versions.
September 25, 2019
I began using OneNote when it was released in 2007 as a way to reliably store notes. Prior to this, I used the notes function that existed in our various email programs - which were notoriously unreliable - and paper notes! I use it every day and store meeting notes, passwords, items to save, work instructions, ideas, links to articles - you name it. Our Finance leadership team uses it to keep meeting notes and our IT team uses it for work instructions. We all find it very, very useful.
- It reliably stores notes. No worries about losing a sticky note or trying to find where you stored a file on your computer.
- You can share your notebook with specific people - allowing for collaboration and security.
- It allows you to be very organized - setting up sections, pages, and additional notebooks.
- You can use the cloud-based version and link it to things like MS Teams and Sharepoint.
- It's very dynamic. It can save written text, screenshots, URs. A far better version of a paper book. Most technology-savvy team members always have it ready when attending a meeting.
- I wish the cloud version had all the robust tools available in the desktop version.
September 10, 2019
It is being used in our department to keep track of various contract documents. It helps us organize everything that relates to a specific contract in one place. It helps keep everything organized and in a format that allows for expedited retrieval. The time stamp feature allows us to organize content so the most recent updates are at the top.
- It is so easy to organize your data by topic.
- OneNote is user friendly and it can quickly be picked up by people who have never worked with OneNote before.
- The features are very similar to other Microsoft Office products which makes using it and sharing with other employees simple.
- It is an affordable way to group and organize company information.
- It would be nice if OneNote had some more robust table features.
- I would like to see Linked Notes with an improved way to connect to Excel.
- OneNote could have more drawing tools added to make it that much better.
OneNote is currently being used by our entire organization. We use OneNote Class Notebooks to interact with our students both inside and outside of class. I post content, assignments, assessments, remediation and extension for my students to access. I also interact with my students by providing feedback in their notebooks. We also use OneNote as a way for faculty to collaborate.
- I love that OneNote syncs between all my devices, so no matter what - I am able to access my information.
- The collaboration between myself and my students in invaluable. My students have instant access to my content, notes, etc.
- As a department, we are able to share information almost instantly to collaborate even when we can't meet in person.
- I would like to see the desktop version of OneNote continue to be supported.
November 07, 2019

We use OneNote individually, departmentally, and interdepartmentally throughout the entire organization. It is an excellent tool for capturing notes, meeting minutes, checklists, and project-related tasks. It enables collaboration and improves communication by allowing shared notebooks that multiple users can edit at the same time. It also automatically tags edits with the user's initials who made them, thereby providing a basic level of traceability.
- Creating task lists and daily notes that can link to Outlook.
- Generating collaborative content that is easy to search and edit.
- Creating "live" work instructions that can be updated and maintained.
- Creating basic wireframes and prototypes for software development.
- The table editing tools are too simplistic and lack the features found in other Office products.
- Some content loses its rich text formatting when being pasted into OneNote. A workaround is to paste the content first into Outlook or Word and then copy/pasting that into OneNote.
- Microsoft is moving away from a local install of OneNote, which means notebooks have to be in the cloud in Office 2019. This will actually reduce the usefulness of OneNote in some environments and opens the door to competitor products.
- Update: Microsoft has now announced that it will continue to support OneNote 2016 through 2023. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Office-365-Blog/Your-OneNote/ba-p/954922
October 21, 2019

OneNote is being used on an individual basis throughout the organization. Because it is now freely available, many users use it as their preferred note-taking platform for jotting down notes, action items, and capturing other content for later consumption. OneNote enjoys integration with the Microsoft Office suite of tools and as a result, users enjoy integration with OneDrive for Cloud syncing and other benefits.
- OneNote handles cloud sync across multiple devices extremely well. It syncs my notes between my Home computer, my work computer, my iPad, and my iPhone all without issue.
- OneNote's system for organizing notes is very hierarchical which is beneficial if you think that way. Personally, I find it easy to organize my notes by Notebook, Section, and the headings for each entry, enabling a simple yet very well organized note taking system.
- OneNote is also good at capturing multiple sources of input - drawings, web clippings, graphics, and others. This enables you to enrich your notes with any and all relevant content, without necessarily needing to remember where it came from.
- OneNote could improve on its web clipping features. Evernote still beats it in terms of robustness, but OneNote is sufficient for most purposes.
- OneNote could also improve on its tagging system. Its the other major way of categorizing notes, which Evernote uses to great effect, but OneNote de-emphasizes this in favor of a hierarchical ordering.
- This is a silly point, but it drives me mad. OneNote's free-form editing on pages, meaning you can click anywhere and start editing makes for sloppier notes that aren't as well aligned. This could be an enjoyable feature for some, but for me, I like my pages orderly.
November 06, 2019

We use the entire Microsoft Office suite at our company and everything ties into Office. We use Outlook for email, Skype for Business as our chat/virtual meeting environment, OneDrive as our cloud storage, and of course OneNote as the preferred note-taking utility. Everyone in the company has a license for Office, including OneNote and it is the main utility that is supported by our IT department.
- Integration with other Microsoft Office products.
- Syncing between multiple accounts if needed.
- Syncing between desktop and mobile applications.
- The ability for multiple users to collaborate on the same notebook.
- The software seems a bit heavy and takes up space, which seems normal for Microsoft software.
- I have to re-enter my login information frequently to keep syncing between different computers and mobile applications.
- The clip to OneNote tool is a good start but it would be nice to also have a small "sticky notes" type application that ties into OneNote.
December 13, 2019

OneNote is being used by our organization to manage the employee documents in a secure and organized manner. It's very convenient to update and access them at any place, and it helps the HR job get done easier and quicker.
- Accessibility and easy to collaborate.
- One place to store all the documents, pictures.
- 5GB free space storage.
- Easy to organize and saves lot of time in finding the files and sorting them.
- More free space storage can be provided when compared with other competitors like Google.
- UI can be improved little better.
- Activity log feature can be integrated to track the changes happening on a folder lever.
- Machine learning feature integrating natural processing language to find the files.
June 06, 2019
We use OneNote throughout the organization for a variety of needs. My department has created product and operation guides using the platform. It is a great collaborative tool as we are all owners of different products and can utilize the workbook feature to create a comprehensive manual that is easily updated and shared to multiple users.
- Offers collaboration for multiple users to work on a product
- Excellent tool for taking notes at a conference
- Keeps documents organized in a searchable manner
- I really don't see any needed areas of improvement
OneNote is great for taking notes and sharing them within your company. It allows for a lot of customization and has many macros and plugins that make note-taking very efficient. Then, the information can be given to anyone by simply sharing the notebook. OneNote also allows users to access their notebooks from any computer as long as they have access to their account. This means that you can take your notes anywhere and work on them at your leisure. OneNote provides a lot of options and is very easy to use to organize notes.
- Sharing notebooks with anyone.
- Sync account on any computer and access notes.
- Easy to use interface allows for easy organization.
- Shortcuts for linking.
- Use of templates.
- Different versions of OneNote have changes that take getting used to.
- There is a difference between the OneNote Windows App and the OneNote program that seem restrictive.
- There are things you can do in Word that it seems like you should be able to do in OneNote.
August 12, 2019

OneNote is frequently used by employees within the organization to keep track of information and tasks in Audit. It is used by employees in multiple areas of the organization to keep track of tasks and remember important information given to us by clients.
- OneNote is really intuitive, especially if you have used other Microsoft office products.
- It allows you to organize your notes easily and in a way that is logical to the user. It makes it easy to have your notes in a way that makes sense to you, including multiple pages and tabs.
- I really like that you are not just tied to text. You are able to use videos, images, audio and other forms of media or notes that you may have taken.
- I love how easy it is to search through your previously written notes for information when you are going back through them
- While I haven't experienced this directly, I know people have concerns regarding the security of OneNote. I don't think this is a dealbreaker if you have other security software.
- I guess the mobile version could be better, but the desktop version is really great and its all I really use. OneNote really lacks any problems. It is a well-designed program.
May 25, 2019

OneNote is used by several of the sales agents in my department as a digital file folder. It becomes home to all the important information needed for a sale: web research, budget projections, proposals, important emails from clients, brochures for the client, and anything essential to the travel project we are working on. It is a wonderful way to combine information from different programs into one location. For example, you can easily read emails and a printout of a spreadsheet without leaving the program.
- Data Gathering - It is extremely easy and efficient to get information into OneNote. Outlook has a button to send emails directly to the program, there are browser add-ons to clip research, and you can print to OneNote from any program. Once in the program, filing the information into the right note/tab is a sinch.
- It is not complicated. Several of my tech-challenged coworkers, use this program with ease. I even hear comments about how much they like it.
- The styling and formatting options of the notes are limited.
- Sizing an embedded spreadsheet is challenging.
- Table columns auto size unnecessarily.
April 16, 2019

My entire organization adopted OneNote as a part of our shift to using the new suite of Office 365 applications exclusively. OneNote has helped to streamline collaboration across different organizations and business units at my company. It is an excellent tool for housing and organizing large bodies of information that can be shared with different users or be private. It serves as a scalable option to house anything from meeting notes, agendas etc., across the whole organization.
- OneNote is very easy to navigate and is user-friendly, and Notebooks within the application are convenient to share making it easy to scale to new users who are not familiar with the platform
- I enjoy being able to house meeting notes, agendas and other collateral content for different projects and programs with both individual stakeholders as well as with different project team using different notebooks and sections.
- I can use OneNote to share documents, edit files and collaborate with other stakeholders offline.
- While OneNote is easy to use overall, sharing Notebooks with different stakeholders can be challenging and I often have syncing issues with notebooks that are shared with other users.
December 17, 2018
OneNote is used to capture notes throughout the whole organization. Many employees open multiple notebooks in OneNote so that they can share information between departments and so that they can segregate information appropriately. We use OneNote as a tool for capturing meeting notes, project information, account information, and just about anything a user wants to keep track of. With OneNote syncing across all of a user's devices, it opens up the ability for employees to look up information wherever they are and whenever they need it.
Now that we have deployed Office 365, the use of OneNote has increased as has the overall productivity of our employees. Not only are notes now on the cloud and no longer on individual computers, but it is much easier to share notes, restore them, and keep them up to date. I always have multiple notebooks open so that I can separate any personal notes from my business notes. I often find myself looking up information on my phone that I entered on my computer. This is extremely helpful in meetings and when I'm out of the office or on my own personal time.
Now that we have deployed Office 365, the use of OneNote has increased as has the overall productivity of our employees. Not only are notes now on the cloud and no longer on individual computers, but it is much easier to share notes, restore them, and keep them up to date. I always have multiple notebooks open so that I can separate any personal notes from my business notes. I often find myself looking up information on my phone that I entered on my computer. This is extremely helpful in meetings and when I'm out of the office or on my own personal time.
- OneNote synchronizes across platforms very quickly. I often find that notes entered, or updated, on my desktop are synchronized to my laptop and smartphone well before I ever open them up to access the information.
- OneNote has apps for just every major platform available. This includes Windows, iOS, and Android. The web app has plenty of features so you won't feel let down if you have to access your notebooks through a browser.
- The multimedia features of OneNote are wonderful. I can draw pictures, add sound bites, add videos, add files, and much more. This helps me capture the full context of a note, including any references that I might need, all within the note itself. I don't have to go outside of OneNote to find a video clip, logo, or soundbite.
- It is not always clear where your OneNote files are kept. I prefer to keep all my OneNote files in the cloud, but the actual location of those files in OneDrive can sometimes be a mystery. If I install OneNote on my home computer, I have to open up my work OneNote in the browser and then sync it to my PC. I'm not able to find and open the file in OneDrive through File Explorer.
- The ability to find notebooks that are shared with you is getting better, but it can sometimes be difficult to locate the right one. I often see duplicate notebooks and end up opening up the wrong one. Would be great if Microsoft only showed you links to notebooks that were actually available to you.
- Microsoft is shifting away from OneNote 2016 and moving people on to OneNote that comes native with Windows 10. The interface is different enough that I don't like it. I am staying with OneNote 2016 because of the ease of seeing multiple notebooks open at the same time and being able to get to the exact information I need quickly. If you don't like the native OneNote built into Windows 10, you won't like the future of OneNote.
OneNote is a powerful tool for personal note taking and client organization. OneNote makes locating specific notes easy using tags and search functions. I use OneNote personally and know others that use it as well.
- OneNote has an excellent organizational system. Users can create a multitude of folders and subfolders, then drop whichever notes and files into each that they'd like. It's quick and easy to create notes and begin typing away. You can also draw images or insert pictures and hyperlinks.
- OneNote has a great mobile app. You will need to wait for it to sync, but once this is done, you are able to take notes on the go, or reference notes taken on your laptop/PC.
- OneNote makes locating notes/files easy and fast. You can search for keywords and instantly be able to reference any notable files or notes you've taken. Finding specific information is extremely fast, which makes for quickly referencing things in meetings on demand.
- OneNote's interface is very quick to learn. It is not dissimilar to Office and other software, so the learning curve is short.
- OneDrive can sync into OneNote, making for fast usability between the two.
- You can import catalogs of notes from other users, but this process is not an easy one. It messes up some of the functionality of previous notes, and it's not user friendly to import. This is mitigated by sharing your notebook with another user instead of exporting it. This process is simple, but if you want a separate copy of a catalog, it's not easy to do.
- You are able to click anywhere into a note to begin typing in that location. It's a nice feature because it's more freeflow than other document process programs (Word or Google Docs) but it's a learning curve, honestly. You won't think much of it at first, but if you prefer a more straightforward document style, it's a bit jarring.
December 13, 2018
It is highly recommended that all users utilize OneNote to outline, track, and share all notes/meeting minutes company-wide. This tool makes it easy to maintain all your notes so you never have to go looking.
- Works seamlessly with Outlook so creating and sending out your meeting notes is as simple as selecting OneNote. It creates the meeting template for the meeting notes (including participants) and once you have completed the meeting, it's as simple as selecting 'share' and it sends to all participants.
- Tracking all your meeting notes is made easy through a simple interface/structure which can be customized to your liking.
- Can get to your meeting notes through all devices remotely.
- There are times that formating can be difficult, especially if you're copying from other sources.
December 11, 2018
We are largely a Google G- Suite company, but we use Office 365 for our Office licensing. I use OneNote for all of my daily note taking when talking to customers, prospects, leads, internal employees, and everything else. It's great because it is designed for note taking and syncs across all my devices.
- Organizes notes logically into NoteBooks. This way I can keep certain topics separate from others but still only be a few short clicks away.
- Syncs across all my devices seamlessly
- Has rich formatting options, which is extremely helpful
- The mobile app can sometimes feel clunky to use
- The Mac OS integration is lacking compared to the Windows functionality, especially regarding shortcuts.
- Having multiple accounts (e.g. personal and business) on one platform has caused issues in the past.
November 27, 2018
OneNote was implemented last year as part of our company's migration to the Microsoft Office/Professional Suite. My manager helped roll out the tool from an end-user perspective. Our team provides training, both on-demand and live, for our Microsoft products, including OneNote. We are champions of the tool and try to influence other employees to use it. The ability to share notes from OneNote, edit them with team members, have notes archived and the other integrations with Microsoft tools has really enabled us to work more collaboratively. User adoption continues to grow and as people learn its capabilities, they get excited about the product. I have also purchased products (specifically a Rocketbook notebook) that is a smart notebook and using an app, can send my handwritten notes to OneNote. These types of products and tools that fully enable to work smarter plays a huge role in adoption. I really like OneNote and it's popularity continues to rise at my company.
- Organization
- Collaborating with colleagues
- Easy to search within your notebook
- OneNote app is very useful when I'm not able to use my laptop
- I would love to have more visual organization options (borders around text boxes to distinguish notes from each other when they are all on one page).
June 13, 2018
OneNote is being used by a mix of people across teams and departments. It's not being used universally by all teams and functions. OneNote is great for making and organizing meeting notes. It also has a nice iOS app, which makes your notes accessible across devices. Lastly, because it's backed by Microsoft, I feel that my information is a lot safer than it might be with a smaller company that doesn't have Microsoft's resources.
- It makes it really easy to capture notes in different formats - text, pictures, copy & paste, videos, etc.
- It makes it really easy to organize notes by using the concept of notebooks - which are thematic ways to organize your notes
- The mobile app is easy to use and navigate, which means I can always have my notes with me, even if I'm not in front of my computer
- OneNote should integrate with meeting management tools (e.g. Zoom) and automatically transcribe meetings and provide all attendees with notes
- OneNote should integrate with workflow processing tools so that any deliverables or goals coming out of a meeting can be captured and tracked against resources & timelines
- At a corporate level, OneNote should help companies find which employees are SME's in particular areas by analyzing their data and content
May 17, 2018
Currently, my team and I use OneNote in the O365 version. We use it so that we can update our product and procedure notes and illustrations in real time. Moreover, when giving customer presentations, I have found that this is more organic and less formal than presenting a Powerpoint deck. It enables much flexibility to show the flow of the recommended solution and allow the customer and I to come closer together in understanding what we are looking to solve. The OneNote search feature enables the 'jumping around' rather than the stilted flipping through slides looking for the right thing.
- Tabs-Enabling quick look up even without using the search feature. Also, because of the sub-tabs, items can be updated quickly and neatly.
- Search-As the content grows, this is without a doubt one of the more used features and it does not disappoint.
- Multi-Format and document linking. If there is something that is customer facing, I put these things into the short version when I am giving my presentations.
- Writing - With the growth of tablets, this seems to be a no-brainer. However, I use it to overwrite illustrations. Again as with the advantage of presenting in a more natural flow, using the pen/highlighting tools to draw attention is invaluable.
- The phone app is too 'heavy.' A large download.
- Lists - I still keep the ToDo's on Evernote but hope that OneNote updates this to something a bit more friendly and maybe even something that can be written at the desk and then deployed to the phone.
- The cells on top of cells sometimes are frustrating when you are copying and pasting from one document to OneNote.
May 30, 2018
OneNote is an all-in-one notepad/project planning tool that almost everyone in our company uses to capture critical notes from client calls and design sessions. The tool makes it easy to log many project notes to one application through its easy tab structure.
- Easy to use tab structure to separate note topics.
- Ability to create new notebooks for different projects/clients.
- Great at attaching other files to the notebook like pictures, powerpoints, etc.
- The tree structure on the right side could be better at allowing adding/subtracting child sub-sections
- Opening new notebooks forces you to select who you are sharing the contents with - no need for this to appear by default
OneNote Scorecard Summary
Feature Scorecard Summary
What is OneNote?
Microsoft's OneNote is a digital note-taking app, supporting photos, annotating, web page clipping, emailing, and synchronizing notes across devices.
Categories: OCR, Cloud Storage
OneNote Competitors
OneNote Pricing
- Does not have featureFree Trial Available?No
- Has featureFree or Freemium Version Available?Yes
- Does not have featurePremium Consulting/Integration Services Available?No
- Entry-level set up fee?No
Edition | Pricing Details | Terms |
---|---|---|
Microsoft OneNote | Free |
OneNote Technical Details
Deployment Types: | SaaS |
---|---|
Operating Systems: | Unspecified |
Mobile Application: | No |