Microsoft: "I can't work with out my OneNote

Imagine having a notebook where you can keep anything, organize it the way you want, and search your notebook like you do the Internet.

You can collect information from any website you visit. When you copy it to your notebook, it automatically pastes a link back to the same website and page.

If that's not enough to get your attention, consider that you can capture parts of almost any screen you visit on the Internet. You can record sound or video as you take notes. And Microsoft links the recording to your keystrokes.

Now you understand why Microsoft OneNote is the one piece of software I use daily in my work as a writer and website publisher.  I can't think of anyone, whether a student, a lawyer, business person or a doctor, who wouldn't find this program useful.

I don't use OneNote the way the company tells you to in its demos, and I'm sure I only use half of the features. But if Microsoft suddenly took away my OneNote, I would have to find a new way to function.

What are the features I love the most:

• With its Side Note feature, I keep a small window open on my desk at all times, where I take notes while talking on the phone or surfing the net.
• When I find something visual on the Internet I need to capture, I can use the screen capture feature to take a picture.
• Not only does it copy the actual image of whatever I am looking at, it automatically adds a hyperlink that will take me back to the web page where I found the information.

Some of the benefits include:

• I never have to retype information created in OneNote. When I am ready to turn it into an article, I can easily paste my notes into other programs. I've even been able to take notes while doing almost everything online--including attending webinars.

• And if I want to share my notes with a client or colleague, I can easily paste them into an email message or, send them directly from the program if the other person uses OneNote.

• Technically, you should take the time to organize your side notes into folders the way you would put your files away in a file cabinet. But don't fret if organization is not your style. OneNote will save you with its marvelous search function that lets you retrieve your information by entering a keyword.

 You may ask what Microsoft OneNote has to do with small business marketing. It's a powerful tool if you're researching your market. And, if like me, you're busy running a company, you will not believe how much OneNote will improve your productivity.

It works great for teams too. I am still using OneNote 2003, but OneNote 2007 lets a team share a notebook. One person can capture notes in a meeting and quickly and easily share the notes with the entire team.

by Marcia Ming - May 24th, 2008

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