I’ve just recently started using OneNote in place of a paper log book.

Starting to get my head round it, just keen to see what tips other people have for it.

So far I’ve made extensive use of the to do lists and cutting info from websites. Then scribbling annotations with the draw function. Also using the ink to math function for equations.

At the moment I have a page for each subject. To do list on one.
Research on another, designs on another.

I’ve been using the date insert shift alt t i think to time stamp checks important info then use snipit to capture and preserve said record.

Anyone else made the move from ink to digital and have any tips?

Cheers

Our engineering team use it too heavily in my opinion. Great as an online notebook/dumping ground but not formal record of test results etc.

I’ve no specific tips other than, I think it’s one of the best things MS have ever written.

My tip would be schedule some regular recurring time slot to review it, tidy up, file stuff to word docs or other storage and/or delete as appropriate.

I’ve never used either of them yet, but these two apps intrigue me. Might be worth a look, sounds like they may be relevant to you?

https://todo.microsoft.com/en-gb

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/office-lens/9wzdncrfj3t8

I use office lens – very useful little app at end of a training day as I can picture / scan so much and email it to participants.

Microsoft also has planner as part of the business suite. There’s some useful stuff in the subscription. We may use the invoicing and client app in the future. If we can spare the learning and set up time.

Lense looks good.

The suggestion for reviewing is good also.

Can anyone point out how archiving works on OneNote.

I posted ages ago on here about what was the best software package for an electronic logbook and OneNote was suggested. I trialled it for a while and we then started using it within our R&D dept. We have it on a shared network drive and anyone working on a particular project can add to it. It is a great repository and very easy to search.

You can add all sorts into it: emails, spreadsheets, images, word docs, pdfs…

this is interesting as I’ve resisted the digital notebook, as I’ve thought it could never quite do what I wanted it to – maybe I should take another look.

I just have an “archive” notebook that I can move notes/sections to that I no longer need – I don’t keep it open/synced all the time.

Biggest thing for me was learning to use tags (todo / important / question etc – super easy to use with the Ctrl+1/2/3 etc shortcuts) and how to search to find them later.

The Office Lens stuff is built in to the mobile versions of OneNote these days, I always dump that stuff into onenote so don’t bother with the separate app now.

Discovered the short cuts for questions and to do.

LittleNose I was the same until recently. One concern was lab notes/testing/minutes or notes from meetings. Which will be easily addressed by using s rig bound note book which I’ll scan the pages in. Convert to text then destroy the paper copy.

Also not sure if anyonelse has dobe this but I’ve added a squared background to my pages.

How do you search for questions or to do list (added using ctrl+1) though?

Easy to save too much in onenote. I’ve reduced my use to mainly onboarding and “small” meeting notes when you quickly have to start typing .

For proper meetings I write them in word (live and through out). One key reason is that if you screen share someone can read all your onenote paging and naming unless you’re careful (external Vs internal meetings etc).

For working as part of a group onenote can be very nice.

For testing I would rather use an actual testing type of software (I only get involved in application testing, if I’ve been naughty)

Anyone got a link or recommendation for some training info/how to use OneNote?

I started using it to jot down ways of doing things in Pro/E; it’s not the most intuitive software (Pro/E) so I am writing ‘instructions’ for infrequently used commands/actions/tasks.

But, I have just winged it and am not convinced I am using it they way it’s intended to be used.

Microsoft also has planner as part of the business suite

It’s fab but avoid the ‘teams’ version of it at the moment as it doesn’t appear to have all the features that the full planner does

OneNote rocks but haven’t tried it with a group yet. Might have to

I like to have a notebook for different projects, then make a section for each month, and within that a page per day. Sections can be grouped into years if needed. Makes it easy to see what’s happened over a time period, and the search can be restricted to a single notebook or roam over all to find stuff.

I’ve managed to get two OneNote books with the same name in different folders. They have diverged – is there a way to merge complete notebooks?

Funnily enouh tried one note in a lesson, almost crashed the network with 18 people editing the page at once.
I think it could be usefull but you need a plan and to organise the space before hand.

Look at the classnote plug in. Each pearson gets a seperate area for notes then a general area for group wide notes from class leader, plus a colabrative area but we’ve established it not teenager proof yet.

Still getting to grips with it to be honest.

OneNote is good and I use it as a general dumping ground for anything on projects that I want to share with the project team.

I still keep paper logbooks though as some of the customer premises I cannot take computers into so need to refer to paper notes from meeting etc. Given your industry Mr Holmes this may or may not be an issue.

I would suggest you keep your own personal paper logbook with things you learn (equations, techniques etc.) and useful contacts you make. Keep this generic and with no company IP in it so that if you move on then you have a record of really useful things you can take with you. If all this is in OneNote then you will lose it if you leave.

Make sure you are using your business accounts so your work data doesn’t end up in in the public cloud. Not that anyone could read it, but MS could.

I would suggest you keep your own personal paper logbook with things you learn (equations, techniques etc.) and useful contacts you make.

This is a good idea, in Office apps you can switch accounts easily via a drop down in the top right.

Anyone know how to quickly make a calendar entry, preferably with pen?

OneNote has completely become my notebook. Don’t use paper except for reminder notes which I stick around the house and computer in places that will remind me. Reminders on a computer or phone don’t work for me, too easily ignored and then disappear.

My notes in OneNote are much like I’d have with a paper notebook. Haphazard. Which I’m okay with 😀

+1 Office Lens. Great for scanning receipts also.

I use multiple OneNote notebooks to deal with the personal/work split. You can have it signed into multiple accounts.

Personal stuff, I often print to OneNote, e.g for stuff I’ve booked online and there’s a receipt, ticket, etc I need to print. My actual printer 99% of the time requires head cleaning and will eat half a black cartridge just doing that, so I print to the OneNote printer instead.

I did try to use it, but it rapidly runs of out memory if you dump graphs from Excel into it. Becomes unusable.

Previously the office lens app (on android) wouldn’t talk to one note notebooks set up using a ‘work or school account’ – this reminded me to check, and it now seems to be that there is control over where the note gets sent.

Plus points for business card scanning, so thanks for getting me to check back!

One thing I do quite like is syncing between devices, so a note taken on a phone or tablet is ‘there’ when I get back to my desk.
Simple things eh?

WindowsKey-Shift-S to take a screen clipping and the pops up a dialogue box to put into OneNote (or just copy to clipboard which I find equally useful).
WindowsKey-N to take a new quick note or WindowsKey-Shift-N to open OneNote.
If you also use Outlook you can send emails to OneNote and Start Meeting Minutes in OneNote from an Outlook calendar item. If you tag items as Tasks it creates the tasks in Outlook.
As mentioned, if you have an Office 365 account you can get the apps on your Phone/Tablet and it syncs up nicely.
RM.

Use it constantly. Like Cougar said, the best thing MS have done for yonks.

Mine is split up into notebook per big project, small fry gets a tab in a ‘general’ book. YMMV.

Everything here is stored on local network so its nicely backed up and only accessible within company.

Anything formal ends up in a formal doc in my place, so proper test recording isn’t an issue, it never goes through onenote. Onenote is a (tidy) brain dump, for me, it holds to do lists, plans, work assignment amongst the team, etc.

#1 rule is to keep it nicely pruned, or it will quickly become a useless mess.

(todo / important / question etc – super easy to use with the Ctrl+1/2/3 etc shortcuts

Every day’s a schoolday on STW 🙂

I use it all the time, along with Lens, for managing meeting notes, project issues/tasks etc. One little feature that I like when using it for meeting notes, is using the ‘Insert Meeting Details’ button, which drops all the meeting details into a page, including who attended, meeting title, location etc. Makes it really easy to find afterwards and saves a load of time.