Uses for OneNote

[Tmozer]

I have had MS OneNote installed on my computers, laptops and even my phone probably since it first became available. Before that I had Evernote installed. Never got around to using either program.

At this point in time I am far from my student days and retired from my career. But I still think that perhaps I should learn and use OneNote (especially now that I have plenty of time).

What do you use OneNote for that is not business or education related?

 

[hughlle]

Nothing here. Unless you typically make lots of notes in your daily life, then I can't see a reason to use it. The only thing I could think k of would be to jot down a shopping list or to do list on the surface and have it sync to your phone. But even then I'm not that lazy and just key it into my phone (google keep) manually.

If you have to ask, you probably don't have a legitimate use.

 

[job]

I use it for making major travel plans

 

[zhenya]

I find plenty of uses for it outside of business or learning. I use it to just jot down all the minutiae of daily life that I want to remember. I have a Recipes notebook. I have sections for my cars - especially my older ones where there is a lot of bits and pieces of information that I find about them over the years. That section will have manuals, lists of parts sources, my to-do lists for repair and restoration, snips of forum posts I've found useful, etc.

I also use it as the digital repository for all the electronic manuals of various things I own - rather than have to manage individual files, everything goes into OneNote- manuals for my TV's, appliances, etc. When I'm feeling especially organized (or feel that something is of vital importance) I scan the receipt with my phone's camera and it goes right into my notebooks.

Whenever I am learning about a new subject, I aggregate all my knowledge there. Whether it's shopping for a car - where I can do my calculations, keep track of contacts, quotes, etc. Same for house projects.

I hate keeping track of paper, so literally everything goes into OneNote.

I think most people don't think they have a use for it because they don't have a clear idea of all the various ways they already track information in their daily lives. I've been selling OneNote at my workplace for close to a decade now, and while it's been successful, the initial hump is always convincing them of why they would want to use it. I usually let them sit on it a bit, and then as I watch them struggle to find things over time slowly their awareness grows and I use that as an opportunity to give them some real-world examples of its use.

 

[jnjroach]

It can be used as a journal, a learning repository, a place to gather web clippings.... as others have said what ever you write down on a piece of paper OneNote can be used instead...

 

[Tmozer]

I am guessing you can scan right into OneNote. Can I view an Excel spreadsheet directly in OneNote?

Yes, there is probably all kinds of snipits I keep on paper that would be much easier to find if I put them in OneNote and could search for them electronically.

Watched a couple of tutorials on YouTube last night. Anyone have a favorite tutorial I should check out?

 

[Neko]

I started to scan invoices and warranty matter (housing, car, motorbike ... toys) into OneNote, it became my way of filing and finding important things faster. My HP all-in-one has a document feeder and scans wireless to my sp3.

 

[ctitanic]

It can be used as a journal, a learning repository, a place to gather web clippings.... as others have said what ever you write down on a piece of paper OneNote can be used instead...

The same here, it's hard to keep track of all the fixes and workarounds in this field.

 

[ScottyS]

I use it for shopping lists. I keep lists of stuff I might typically needs at "big box" stores such as Costco and Home Depot. I have all the things I've gotten in the past with check boxes. I check the things I need before going (or add new things) and when at the store access the list on my iPhone, unchecking the check boxes as I fill my cart.

I've used it for travel, pasting airline flight info, hotel info, sites to see right from web pages, emails, etc.

At work I use it as a white board for teaching. I have a teaching section in my work notebook with pages with images and diagrams which I can mark-up as I teach. I use it to take notes at lectures at work too. When I have a conference to go to I paste the agenda from a web page and can take notes under each lecture heading. If there is a PDF handout I can open that snapped to one side and OneNote snapped to the other. I use highlighting or the snipping tool to copy things (like tables or graphs) off the handout and paste them into OneNote, and add notes to that.

I use the pen to enter text via handwriting recognition on-screen keyboard as well as free hand and drawing.

 

[ThomasM]

I use it for tracking development of projects(current and proposed) and I like the fact I can work offline or sync across multiple devices(both laptops, phone, etc.) via OneDrive. I like having a work flow of previous versions, fixes, and errors logs and I'm able to attach the fixed file versions for reference.

 

[PCAnyWhere]

I started with Evernote and am switching to OneNote now. so while I have Evernote for some items still. I have notes on my phone, ipad, work computer and personal computer all the same. that being said what do I have.

1. Travel Planning - itineraries and confirmation numbers that I might need on the fly
2. Collages of information on the internet - repair information and handy tidbits that you find
3. I keeps specs on my hobbies: bicycle fit measurements and settings for my suspension and maintenance schedules. computers: I keep my specs on my various laptops and desktops in case I want to reference anything - part numbers etc. that you may need or post since you are looking for help on a certain laptop and want the exact model number
4. Account information: like hints for passwords and user name for accounts
5. quick notes: I once made up a list of items to ask my doctor and thought of them and all I had was my phone so I jotted it down.
6. Internet fixes: repeated errors where you found the solution such as ones that I get on iTunes or configuration settings for installing MS-IIS
7. I dump screen grabs in OneNote too. I found I was having this terrible time with xbox games and couldn't figure it out but the error message was unselectable for the error code so I just took a OneNote picture (double-click the pen button) and pasted it into OneNote.

 

[Haldi]

i actually love the double click pen button screenshot function!
If you're explaining something on your screen to someone, and he says "what?" you just make a screenshot, add your commentatory and a few drawings to explain it clearly, and then just press share->screenshot-> via E-mail and send it to him. Everything is 100% clear.