Newsletter Archives

  • Getting everything you care about into OneNote

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    Mary Branscombe

    By Mary Branscombe

    OneNote becomes increasingly useful as you put more and more of your information into it, and there are many other ways to do that besides typing or using copy and paste.

    Last time, I looked at why you might want to pull different kinds of information into OneNote. There are lots of tools in OneNote itself for doing that, as well as browser extensions and third-party services that can help.

    You can also do many of these things in the Windows 10 OneNote app, but because that won’t be getting new features, I will discuss only how to do them in the desktop OneNote app.

    Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.50.0, 2022-12-12).

  • Why would you use OneNote at all?

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    Mary Branscombe

    By Mary Branscombe

    If you’ve never seen the point of a digital shoebox for notes, here are some ways of putting OneNote to use that could change your mind.

    From the feedback I get when I talk about OneNote, it’s clear that there are plenty of devoted fans and heavy users out there. But I also get questions asking why you should use OneNote, and what it’s good at.

    Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.47.0, 2022-11-21).

  • Only Microsoft could make getting to one OneNote this confusing

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    ISSUE 19.45 • 2022-11-07

    ONENOTE

    Mary Branscombe

    By Mary Branscombe

    OneNote for Windows 10 isn’t gone yet — but things are getting simpler.

    Well, maybe a little.

    As I’ve explained before, the OneNote app that came with Windows 10 will be going away; it’s getting replaced by an updated version of the desktop OneNote program. Microsoft recently took the next step toward that end by removing the OneNote for Windows 10 app from the Microsoft Store and replacing it with the desktop app, now called simply “OneNote.”

    Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.45.0, 2022-11-07).
    This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  • How to fix the most common OneNote sync problems

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    Mary Branscombe

    By Mary Branscombe

    If OneNote stops moving your notes around properly, you can usually get it unstuck with these steps.

    Last time, we looked at how OneNote sync works and how to fix basic problems (What to do when OneNote won’t sync, 2022-09-19). However, there are some common sync problems where you need to dig a little deeper or do some extra work yourself.

    Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.43.0, 2022-10-24).

  • What to do when OneNote won’t sync

    ONENOTE

    Mary Branscombe

    By Mary Branscombe

    The Windows desktop OneNote app has tools to help you understand and troubleshoot sync issues, but don’t rush into anything.

    The beauty of OneNote is that when you drop information into it, you have it at your fingertips on every device you use without the effort of copying files back and forth. That’s great until the sync system that makes that happen hits a snag and your notes stop showing up everywhere.

    There are some common problems that you may run into with OneNote and fixing them is often simpler than the cryptic error messages would suggest, especially once you understand how sync works.

    Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.38.0, 2022-09-19).

  • Where to store your OneNote notebooks

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    ISSUE 19.34 • 2022-08-22

    ONENOTE

    Mary Branscombe

    By Mary Branscombe

    OneNote is meant to be one place for all your notes, but even though it’s great to have one location to look at all your notes, you might want to have a bit more control about where those notes are actually stored.

    For many users, it might seem as if you didn’t have a choice: unless you’re using the Windows desktop version of OneNote and you paid for a license, your notebooks must be stored in OneDrive. That’s what allows them to sync onto any device you use — PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, or anything with a suitable Web browser.

    But even though your notebooks must be stored in OneDrive, they don’t need to be stored in the same OneDrive account you use for other things on that device. You can even open notebooks that are stored in someone else’s account, if they share them with you.

    Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.34.0, 2022-08-22).
    This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  • Getting to one OneNote on Windows

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    By Mary Branscombe

    It’s finally becoming less confusing to pick the right Windows OneNote app, but you still have some decisions to make.

    After 16 years of OneNote, you might have liked the fresh new look of OneNote for Windows 10 and the way it could sync custom tags from one device to another. If that was the case, you might have liked Microsoft’s 2018 claim that it was “making OneNote for Windows 10 the best version of OneNote on Windows.”

    The official angle then was that no new features would be coming to OneNote 2016.

    Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.26.0, 2022-06-27).

  • Why there isn’t just one OneNote

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    ISSUE 19.24 • 2022-06-13

    ONENOTE

    Mary Branscombe

    By Mary Branscombe

    OneNote started out on Windows, and it’s been a sleeper success — but getting the full set of features has been confusing.

    OneNote was always intended to be the one place that you put your notes — and all the other information you need to hang on to — “Things to do, important stuff to remember, things to review, and a bunch of stuff you think you might need some day but can’t be sure,” as Chris Pratley put it when describing his original idea for OneNote back in 2000.

    It’s supremely useful for that.

    Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.24.0, 2022-06-13).
    This story also appears in our public Newsletter.