Microsoft OneNote Review 2021

In this article, I will be reviewing Microsoft OneNote. There are currently two different versions of OneNote. The first version is free and comes with Windows and the second version of the application comes with Microsoft Office. This review is based on my experience with using the Office version of OneNote.

In my opinion, OneNote is a solid application. It is an application that has a number of strengths and weaknesses, some of which I will cover later. First, I need to answer this question What is OneNote?

What Is OneNote?

OneNote is a note management system that allows users to create notes in several ways, including text, images, audio, and video notes. On suitable devices, you can also make handwritten notes and hand-drawn diagrams.

OneNote Strengths

Other Microsoft Office applications will happily share data with OneNote. Receive an important email you want to keep. You can send the email to OneNote from Outlook, the email client that comes with Microsoft Office.

Another good example of OneNote flexibility is this example from a few days ago. I had paid my car tax online and wanted to keep a digital copy of the receipt. I was able to print the receipt from the Firefox web browser and select the print destination as OneNote. I have found this helpful on several occasions.

As well as Window OneNote is also available on the web, Apple and Android devices. Notes are stored on Microsoft OneDrive, allowing your notes to be synchronised across your various devices. You can add content to your notes or read the notes wherever you are as long as you have Internet access.

OneNote Weaknesses

The biggest problem I experienced with Microsoft OneNote is its lack of structure. At least part of this is due to the flexibility I discussed earlier. This lack of structure can make it challenging to find your notes, especially your older notes.

With OneNote, you can create many notebooks, which can be further divided into section groups and/or sections. With notes being created under a specific section. This structure works fine on a new file of notes. After time as more notes are added, this system will start to creak under its own weight.

While I welcome the ability to access my OneNote application on my mobile phone, I have at times experienced issues with navigating my notes on my phone.