OneNote 2003 (First-Time-User, *Comments)

[OneTime011]

To Whom It May Concern,

I just tried to use OneNote 2003 for the first time. Great job! It is
the only "Office" application I had NOT had a chance to try yet. I thought
you may be interested in another first-time-user's opinion. At first, OneNote
seems like it should be merged with Word somehow. And, they definitely should
have incorporated password protection for folders also. I like tabs to
organize and move between OneNote folders/sections, pages/subpages…, and I
LOVE the Journal Add-in I found, but I wish I had the formatting choices of
word, more control over page layout, and text selections that fit to/within
the ruled-lines. Finally, a "Normal.???" template, so I can customize my
default document style would be nice.
I would mostly be using the text editing/formatting portion of the
program for daily journaling/diary entries, as well as, small text notes and
outlines within certain pages/subpages. Later, I may want to use Pen
annotations with text/images…and finally incorporate the summation of my
OneNote work back into a more fully featured "Office" application file-format
for Saving, Editing, Printing, etc… The actual OneNote program
style/file-format should keep ALL of its current features, ITS FANTASTIC, but
definitely as far as text editing and formatting options within the OneNote
file-format, there is room for improvement.
I really would prefer to be able to display Word documents in OneNote
sections, or set them as a subpages. If I need to make a picture/image of a
..doc and then digital-pen-write on it in another page/subpage that’s no
problem, but I also want to be able to edit/save the .doc changes just as if
I had Word open and was editing it from there.
Ultimately, I would like to be able to put any common "Office" file-type in
whatever OneNote folder/folder structure I have chosen, have OneNote
recognize the files, know how I have my files/folders arranged under the
OneNote folder structure and show them in that arrangement (as tabs, sec's, &
sub-sec's...) then; either allow me to edit/save the file in it's own
file-type within the OneNote application window (More or less, as if I had
opened it in that application's window) -or- display it as a shortcut that
will open the "file.???" in its own application window, allow me to
edit/save/close, and still allows "file.???" to be recognized/moved within
the OneNote folder/folder structure as if it was a page/sub-page. Thanks!

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...984f-bc2fd71d3a9a&dg=microsoft.public.onenote

 

[James Gockel]

Just so you know, that Onenote is designed for note taking. Not finalizing
documents into a formal letter, or printable form. But you can send your
notes to word, and from there format as needed. I know many users feel that
the handling of formatting should be changed, but personally for notetaking
purposes, it is an excellent design. If too much formatting options are made
available to the end user, the user will be more likely to pay attention to
how the formatting is, and not to actual note taking. Losing maybe valuable
information in notes.
I know in the next version of OneNote, there will be more options for tables
and such as that. But I hope they limit the formatting to what originally is
with onenote.
Onenote is not word.
I don't mean to sound rude, or antagonizing, but it's just my opinion and
the way I feel it should be, as with I beleive the intent of onenote was
designed.

-James G.

 

[Patrick Schmid]

I just tried to use OneNote 2003 for the first time. Great job! It is

the only "Office" application I had NOT had a chance to try yet. I thought
you may be interested in another first-time-user's opinion. At first,
OneNote
seems like it should be merged with Word somehow. And, they definitely
should
have incorporated password protection for folders also. I like tabs to

Password protection for folders is unfortunately not possible due to the way
OneNote saves its files. Folders in OneNote are just folders in Windows,
whereas Sections are individual files. Therefore, ON can't password protect
a folder, but only its own files (sections).
If you want to enhance security for folders, you need to use Windows NTFS
permissions on them.

organize and move between OneNote folders/sections, pages/subpages., and I
LOVE the Journal Add-in I found, but I wish I had the formatting choices
of
word, more control over page layout, and text selections that fit
to/within
the ruled-lines. Finally, a "Normal.???" template, so I can customize my
default document style would be nice.

The ruled lines are just background images that help with orientation. There
isn't really any text that will fit totally, especially because you can
start a note anywhere on the screen. So I doubt you'll see this.
OneNote has templates/stationaries (Format menu -> Templates/Stationary. Not
sure what it's called in 2003). You can save there a page as template (all
the way on the bottom of the taskpane). OneNote however doesn't support the
idea of a Word style, so you can't just say that you want your default font
to be size 15 and font Arial e.g. as you can in Word.

I would mostly be using the text editing/formatting portion of the
program for daily journaling/diary entries, as well as, small text notes
and
outlines within certain pages/subpages. Later, I may want to use Pen
annotations with text/images.and finally incorporate the summation of my
OneNote work back into a more fully featured "Office" application
file-format
for Saving, Editing, Printing, etc. The actual OneNote program
style/file-format should keep ALL of its current features, ITS FANTASTIC,
but
definitely as far as text editing and formatting options within the
OneNote
file-format, there is room for improvement.

As the other post pointed out, OneNote is not for document creation, it is
for note taking.

I really would prefer to be able to display Word documents in OneNote
sections, or set them as a subpages. If I need to make a picture/image of
a
.doc and then digital-pen-write on it in another page/subpage that's no
problem, but I also want to be able to edit/save the .doc changes just as
if
I had Word open and was editing it from there.
Ultimately, I would like to be able to put any common "Office" file-type
in
whatever OneNote folder/folder structure I have chosen, have OneNote
recognize the files, know how I have my files/folders arranged under the
OneNote folder structure and show them in that arrangement (as tabs,
sec's, &
sub-sec's...) then; either allow me to edit/save the file in it's own
file-type within the OneNote application window (More or less, as if I had
opened it in that application's window) -or- display it as a shortcut that
will open the "file.???" in its own application window, allow me to
edit/save/close, and still allows "file.???" to be recognized/moved within
the OneNote folder/folder structure as if it was a page/sub-page. Thanks!

Here is what OneNote 2007 will do for you:
- you can print any document from anywhere to OneNote. Documents are
inserted as images into a OneNote page. You can annotate them. You cannot
edit them though and there is also no link back to the source document
- you can add files to a OneNote page much like you can add a file into an
HTML email. Those files show up as icons and you can double-click them to
open and edit. So it doesn't add the files to OneNote's folder structure as
you suggested, but incorporates it into the central element of OneNote's
organization scheme: a page. It is a very slick and convenient feature.

Patrick Schmid

 

[Jonathan]

Patrick,
Using the icon/link feature you describe below, could I place a
"print-to-OneNote" image of a word document or spreadsheet in a OneNote page
AND place an icon right next to it on the same OneNote page which can launch
Word to edit/add to that imaged document?

That allows me to write on top of the document image until it must be
reworked, or must have those changes added. I click on thre icon (which I
think of as a link) and Word opens with the document. Perhaps I create two
windows to see the ink changes and the document side-by-side. Perhaps the ink
is forced to change to text and copied over. In any event I have the best of
both worlds.
Then I save the new version of the document and again print-to-OneNote to
update what I am looking at on that OneNote page.

This seems very, very close to what the original poster wanted, just
requiring the last "print-to-OneNote" step.

Jonathan

Patrick said:

 

[exciter]

organize and move between OneNote folders/sections, pages/subpages., and I

LOVE the Journal Add-in I found, but I wish I had the formatting choices
of
word, more control over page layout, and text selections that fit
to/within
the ruled-lines. Finally, a "Normal.???" template, so I can customize my
default document style would be nice.

There is a way to fot the sentences along the ruled line: from format>list,
set the 'between list items' to 10
and make your font size 11 and verdana. Then save this page as a custom
stationary.
Now you have a note page where you can type as if you are typing on the
lines of a note.
Note that, for some reason that i could not figure out yet, through the
bottom within a page, your sentences will start to shift and not
fit the lines exactly. However, the shift is only slightly.
It is still a puzzle to me how come that the senteces start not to fit the
lines....

 

[Patrick Schmid]

Using the icon/link feature you describe below, could I place a

"print-to-OneNote" image of a word document or spreadsheet in a OneNote
page
AND place an icon right next to it on the same OneNote page which can
launch
Word to edit/add to that imaged document? Sure.

That allows me to write on top of the document image until it must be
reworked, or must have those changes added. I click on thre icon (which I
think of as a link) and Word opens with the document. Perhaps I create two
windows to see the ink changes and the document side-by-side. Perhaps the
ink
is forced to change to text and copied over. In any event I have the best
of
both worlds.
Then I save the new version of the document and again print-to-OneNote to
update what I am looking at on that OneNote page.

Totally possible. It gets tricky though when you print back to OneNote,
because printouts in ON are images. So you delete first all the images and
then print it again? What happens to the ink when you do that? Are you going
to delete it? Are you going to hope it matches up?
I would suggest a different approach. Make one page, add the file to it.
Then print the document to a subpage of that page. Paste a link to the
subpage on the main page. Add your ink comments on the printout on the
subpage. Edit your file by launching it from the main page. When you want to
create another "snapshot", print it to a different subpage. Paste a link to
that new subpage on the main page (prob. replacing the old one in the
process).
This way you preserve all versions, don't loose any of the comments and
still get the benefit of having the file in OneNote.
You could also use a different system. Make one section (or maybe even a
notebook) where you store as individual pages document snapshots (instead of
subpages). On the page that contains the document, add links to the snapshot
pages. On each snapshot page, add a link back to the main page. Now you have
a very orderly and neatly organized hierarchy of pages for your main pages
(not cluttered by subpages) while all your snapshots are collected somewhere
else. And you can very easily move from one to the other. In addition, you
get the benefit of your files being synced with your notebook.
Instead of copying the file onto your page, you could also just insert a
link to the file. That means the file stays in its original location, but is
accessible from OneNote easily as well. Also, you only have to maintain one
copy of it (and not worry whether copies are in sync or not).

This seems very, very close to what the original poster wanted, just
requiring the last "print-to-OneNote" step.

Automatically updating the printout is actually a questionable feature. What
happens to ink and note annotations? Do they stay and are suddenly
misplaced? Are they removed? What if the user had wanted to preserve a
previous version of the document as a printout? It's therefore actually more
useful to require a user to decide when to print a file again.

Patrick