Nota Bene: The OneNote Blog

Dealing with the frenzy that is all around us during the holiday season can be a challenge for anyone. Regardless of our diverse, individual backgrounds and beliefs, chances are that most of us have some amount of holiday shopping to do. Even if gift...

Hands down, the “Send to OneNote 2007” print driver feature has become one of OneNote’s most popular features. It works as an extension to the printing system built into Windows, allowing you to send information from your computer applications directly to the pages of your OneNote notebooks. In addition to saving a ton of paper, you can do many convenient things with this option. Think of it as a “reverse import,” with more control over how you can send stuff into OneNote. Once you start to appreciate this feature, you’ll never want to give it up. But what can you do when you’re running OneNote 2007 on a 64-bit version of Windows? Up until now, the print driver only worked on 32-bit versions. OneNote Principal Group Program Manager David Rasmussen has developed a solution to the conundrum. Read my full blog post for information on how to verify your edition of Windows, where to get David’s solution, and to learn more about the history of the 32-bit/64-bit print driver issue....

Windows 7 finally arrives in stores today. Read my latest blog post for tips about running OneNote 2007 on any of the Windows 7 editions, find out how to unhide some of the most convenient OneNote features in Windows 7, and learn why you may need to consider the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit Windows before buying your next PC....

Some of the best computer tips out there aren't ever “in the manual.” They come from watching someone else work, letting us peek over their shoulder while they complete a real-world task with the software they’ve chosen, and then learning from their technique and style. Today, I'm pleased to announce the premiere episode of “A Writer’s Guide to Microsoft Office” — a new podcast series written and hosted by my teammate, Joannie Stangeland. In her first episode, Joannie shows us how she uses a variety of OneNote 2007 features to manage writing drafts that she prepares for submission to publishers. Joannie didn’t select OneNote as her tool of choice for draft management because she works for Microsoft during the day. She immediately realized its benefits back when OneNote 2003 had been released and few people (even within Microsoft) had heard of it. There was no book or Help topic to teach an aspiring writer how they might use OneNote to work with drafts and manuscripts. Joannie developed her own technique when the cumbersome clutter of paper and manila file folders quickly failed her....

Happy New Year, everyone! As any seasoned user of OneNote 2007 will tell you, the beauty of OneNote is the ability to keep everything together in one place. Calendars are no exception, whether you keep them with you for quick lookups or you link dates...

When we mention “Help” in the software publishing world, we don't mean technical support or maintenance (that's generally called “Support”). Instead, the collective term “Help” refers to the free published content that ships with most commercial or professional...

For as long as I've worked on the OneNote team here at Microsoft, I've never grown tired of hearing from real-life customers who sometimes take the time to tell us their stories about how technology and Microsoft Office products have improved their lives. Read my full blog post to meet how trial attorney and nationally recognized legal technologist Bruce A. Olson came to discover and rely on OneNote in his professional life....

The wait is over! This morning at the 2009 Professional Developers Conference (PDC), Microsoft formally announced the public availability of the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta, which includes OneNote 2010. Read my full blog post for the direct download link and then read up on some important file format considerations in OneNote 2010 Beta before you begin using the new version on your computer....

Each month, as I go through customer comments and feedback here on my blog and from the articles on the Office Online site, there’s a recurring theme that we on the OneNote team never grow tired of hearing: Our customers really love OneNote. If you count yourself among those of us who can’t live without OneNote, it’s now easier than ever to show your support. Check out this blog post for a list of links to new OneNote communities on the Web and on Facebook. (If you hurry, you can enter a $500 Amazon gift certificate drawing!)

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Okay, let’s face it. It’s hard to hate yellow sticky notes. Like Velcro™ and the World Wide Web, they’re arguably one of modern civilization’s coolest inventions. Even so, if you’re in the habit of reaching for a sticky note each time you have a fleeting...

Back in January of this year, I provided shortcuts to the newest calendar templates for your OneNote 2007 notebooks. Since then, the Templates team at Office Online has been busy creating more free templates for you to download — including a full spectrum of customizable 2009 calendars and even a couple of early designs for next year. Check out this blog post for direct links to these free downloads....

This month’s collection of tips on the Microsoft At Work Web site (shown below) gives a shout-out to one of my previous blog posts, in which I shared some tips about using OneNote for holiday and event planning. If you missed my original blog post...

In my previous post, I aimed the spotlight at one of OneNote’s hidden features: electronic sticky notes, a.k.a. Side Notes. Now, a group of researchers at MIT has restarted an old debate: "Why Computers Can't Kill Post-Its" (Forbes Magazine, 01/22/2009) So, what’s your take on sticky notes? Do you prefer paper or a computer program (and why)? Have you checked out the Side Notes feature in OneNote? If so, what do you like or dislike about it? If you could improve sticky note programs on computers, how would you make them better? And can you think of any features of paper that haven’t yet been successfully implemented in the note-taking programs that you’ve seen or tried?...

Now there’s another reason to love Facebook. Microsoft OneNote now has its very own fan page on Facebook, which means you now have an easier way to get free tips about your favorite program, share ideas about the ways you use OneNote, and get answers to OneNote-related questions that you’ve always wanted to ask. Staying up-to-date is easy with the integration into Facebook’s existing news feed and notification system. Check out my full blog post for a walkthrough of the Microsoft OneNote fan page on Facebook and all of the ways you can configure its features!...

The Office Online training team has just published Get to know OneNote 2007 , a new training course that beginning users can take to learn OneNote 2007 and then test their skills. The training takes about 30-40 minutes to complete and it includes optional...

In recent weeks, page hit counts for our introductory content about OneNote on Microsoft’s Office Online site have been steadily rising. As the worldwide adoption of Microsoft Office 2007 keeps increasing, so does awareness about OneNote 2007. As much...

In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, I’ve put together a new “Green Living Ideas” notebook that you can download for free. Use it to list, organize, and keep track of a variety of “green living” ideas, options, and opportunities. This notebook contains five suggested sections, all of which you can customize by changing and deleting anything that doesn’t apply to your personal situation or preference and adding items as necessary. The result is a custom Green Living Ideas notebook that you can use and share with your family, friends, and co-workers — even the ones that don’t yet have OneNote. Read my full blog post for shortcuts to training and video demos that make notebook customization, note tags, and Web research with screen clippings a cinch — plus get your hands on a free PowerPoint deck that contains a OneNote 2007 training presentation you can use to persuade your office co-workers to go green with OneNote!...

Computers were supposed to save us time, right? Surprisingly, not everyone gives the useful shortcuts in our Office programs their due attention. Hardly a month goes by when I don’t hear somebody say that they’re “too busy” to learn a time saver or two. The truth is, we’ll always claim to be “too busy” for a lot of things that could really help us. For many, it’s simply an excuse to stick with what they know, or to slog through a task just to get it done, even if it’s the hard way. But imagine learning just a half-dozen keystrokes that could shave away more and more wasted time from all of the repetitive tasks that you perform every day. Over the span of a week or a month, the time you save can add up very quickly. Read my full blog post to see how easy it is to discover, search for, learn, and use keyboard shortcuts in OneNote 2007....

My own experience with unemployment happened at a time when jobs in every industry were plentiful and when you would get an actual phone call or a polite letter informing you of the fate of your application. Those days are pretty much over. If you don’t sharpen the tools in your arsenal to keep up with the times, you may lose out. With so many people losing their jobs recently, the Office Online team has launched a brand-new Career Center to help Microsoft Office users with every step of a career or job search. We’ve even partnered with the experts over at Monster.com to make the whole process a snap. Also available is the new OneNote job application tracker. This free, template-based tool can be added to any section in your OneNote notebook to let you keep track of your applications, resume versions, contacts, follow-ups, and more. Read my full blog post to check it all out! ...

If you're using the released version of OneNote 2007 on a 64-bit edition of Windows 7 or Windows Vista, I'm happy to share the good news that Microsoft Program Manager David Rasmussen has released an update to his 64-bit Windows print driver for OneNote 2007. Read my full blog post for a list of new features and a link to the download....

Over the past few months, I’ve been asked by some of my readers if I can recommend any good books about OneNote. In short, the answer is a reluctant “No.” If you do a quick search in Amazon.com’s Books section for “OneNote...

A quick hello to my loyal readers!

I know it's been a while since I've blogged here, and now I can say why. As of this week, my blog is officially moving over to The Office Blog platform at blogs.office.com. Moving there lets me integrate blogging into my regular work instead of only doing it in my "spare" time. Read my full blog post for links to my new site and to my new RSS feed so you won't miss a thing!

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Here in the hallways at Microsoft, there’s a particular utterance that can be heard with ever-increasing frequency: “Wow—I wish we’d have had something like OneNote back when I was in school...!” I'm one of the many people who feel this way....

The OneNote 2007 Help & How-to home page on Office Online received a much-needed facelift this week, based in part on numerous customer comments that we’ve received over the past few months. With these interface improvements in place, I hope you’ll...

Video game developer Bungie, the creative force behind the highly successful trilogy of 'Halo' video games, wanted to find a better way to organize production materials and facilitate collaboration among its staff during the game development process. Read my full blog post to learn how Bungie programmers and artists alike have adopted OneNote 2007 as their centralized information repository....