Nota Bene: The OneNote Blog : Community

Is “narrow-casting” a good idea for OneNote Help content?

Michael C. Oldenburg — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:30:00 GMT

A colleague of mine has been experimenting with "narrow-casting" — the practice of making Office Help and How-to content extremely specific to a particular audience or user group. The idea is simple: The people to whom certain Help content speaks directly will ultimately get more out of it than general-themed content. Read my complete blog post to learn more about this idea and to give me your own take on narrow-casting. Do you like the idea? If so, what kind of audience in the OneNote community might benefit from it?...(read more)

Gain and share OneNote knowledge on Facebook

Michael C. Oldenburg — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:15:00 GMT

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!...(read more)

OneNote. Share the love.

Michael C. Oldenburg — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Ever wanted to give your friends, family, or co-workers a quick summary of what’s so great about OneNote? Check out the new video in this blog post! ...(read more)

Download the new “Green Living Ideas” notebook for OneNote

Michael C. Oldenburg — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:00:00 GMT

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!...(read more)

Love OneNote? Show your support!

Michael C. Oldenburg — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:00:00 GMT

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!) ...(read more)

Learn from a pro: Real-world draft management in OneNote 2007

Michael C. Oldenburg — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:30:00 GMT

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....(read more)

It's that time of year again...

Michael C. Oldenburg — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:00:00 GMT

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, you can still read it here:

Survive the holidays with OneNote 2007
http://blogs.msdn.com/michael_oldenburg/archive/2007/12/16/6686183.aspx

All of the links in the article are still valid (for example, the pointers to the various editions of Microsoft Office that include OneNote). The new 2009 OneNote calendar templates are still being posted on the Office Online Web site, but you can start grabbing the first ones here.

Be sure to check out the Templates site on Office Online for new calendars in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, you can download a ton of other templates there — all free of charge.

To receive free monthly tips and tricks about a variety of Office programs and technologies, including OneNote, consider bookmarking the Microsoft At Work and the Microsoft At Home Web sites. There’s always something new to learn and check out!

What do you want to see in a OneNote 2007 book?

Michael C. Oldenburg — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:00:00 GMT

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 2007” (include the quote marks in your search), you’ll see that the results will be underwhelming. You may remember that the previous offering for OneNote 2003 a few years ago was much more generous. So, why the sudden dearth of choices now?

While I don’t have any official data on this, I suspect that it’s just another case of everyone tightening their belts these days. Just as companies of all sizes in nearly every industry have radically consolidated their businesses and narrowed their scope to save costs, so have book publishers who used to pump out a gazillion books each year. It’s not hard to imagine why those books that are dedicated to version-specific, software-related subjects would be most affected by this. They almost always have a very limited shelf-life because of their specific focus.

Computer books are not everyone’s cup of tea. A lot of people never crack one open and prefer to read Help content online. But I’ve met a lot of people (customers, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances) who have told me that they much prefer learning about computer programs by keeping a book next to their computer, in which they can follow along in an overview of the software or in tutorial lessons that teach them about the software’s many features. In terms of training, books almost always succeed with their target audience because the information they contain is presented in a linear, sequential fashion. Help topics are meant to get you out of a bind when you’re in the middle of doing something and you don’t know how to use a certain feature.

When I started at Microsoft twelve years ago, it was still common practice for software companies to fully document a product — right down to the last toolbar button and dialog box. At Microsoft, we didn’t yet have Office Online at that point (or anything like it) and customers were unable to tell us what they thought about the usefulness of our documentation. We had no way of measuring which features (and associated Help topics) were the most popular, or which features created the biggest pain points and needed more explanation. As a result, literally everything was documented, just in case our users needed to read up on it someday. For better or for worse, those days are long gone.

One thing hasn’t changed. Companies continue to give their employees software programs to use at work, but little (if any) training is made available to help them master these tools. These days, if you can’t demonstrate a good grasp of Office software, your résumé may well be passed over. So, where’s an ordinary person supposed to get reasonably-priced, comprehensive training to get up to speed on software? Back when so-called “day one” software documentation was beginning to narrow more and more, a new industry sprung up to fill the sudden void. Technical self-help books like the Dummies series were being published to help novice users who had trouble ramping up with a software program.

Love them or hate them, these types of books have done very well in sales over the past several years. But despite their popularity, even these publications seem to have downsized their catalogs as of late. For example, to cover the various new Microsoft Office programs, book publishers seem to have combined everything into a single “Office 2007 for Dummies” or similar book in which the individual programs are discussed in much shorter fashion. That may work well for established and ubiquitous programs like Microsoft Word. But even though it may not seem like it, OneNote 2007 is only a Version 2.0 program that happens to have done incredibly well as a standalone product. Surely it deserves more comprehensive training coverage than this?

If you happen to belong to the group of people who love computer books, and you would like to finally see one dedicated to OneNote 2007, I have good news! Kathy Jacobs, one of OneNote’s most dedicated and vocal fans (who just happens to be a prominent Microsoft MVP) is planning to write a book of her own and she wants your input. In a recent blog post, Kathy outlines some of her plans for this title. Rather than copying the same repetitive approach of previously published tech books, she wants to create a book that speaks more to home users and students instead of only corporate users.

Personally, I think this is a great idea. If you can learn to master OneNote 2007 in a more natural and less formal setting and get comfortable with its features, you can easily apply those skills when using OneNote at work. By contrast, I think the opposite isn’t always true. It can be much harder to learn OneNote if you’ve only seen it discussed in work scenarios and not every home user or student can necessarily identify with these.

So, here’s your call to action. If you’ve been a consumer of technical self-help and training books and you’ve always wanted to give someone an earful about what you liked and disliked about these types of books, let Kathy know. Do you want step-by-step tutorials or broader overviews with specific case studies and scenarios? Should it cover only basic features or describe advanced techniques from expert users? Is a bound and printed book best or would you prefer a downloadable, electronic version instead?

You can share your ideas and requests for a OneNote 2007 book by leaving a comment here on my blog, by dropping me a line, or by responding directly to Kathy’s original blog post. As fellow content producers, Kathy and I will both be very interested to read your thoughts and responses!

Meet Mike Tholfsen, the OneNote Ninja!

Michael C. Oldenburg — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:00:00 GMT

By day, Mike Tholfsen is the Principal Test Manager on the OneNote team here at Microsoft. By night, Mike’s the “OneNote Ninja” and the composer of the now infamous OneNote anthem.

For the past year or so, Mike’s been a tireless and passionate advocate for driving OneNote awareness and adoption in education. I’m pleased to announce that Mike — after much nudging from his co-workers — has finally decided to take up blogging and share much of his useful knowledge first-hand. You can visit his new blog “OneNote and Education” right here on MSDN.

As Mike states in his welcome post, the purpose of his blog is to explore how OneNote can enhance the learning environment for students, teachers, and corporate trainers. Mike has done an awesome job in bringing this type of information to his teammates and he’s now ready to share it with the OneNote community at large.

While Mike is still getting settled in, you can check out his recent webcast in my previous blog post, “OneNote 2007 Webcast: Personal Usage & Collaboration.” It contains tons of useful info for getting started with OneNote 2007. Plus, make sure you check out his recent Channel 8 video called “OneNote, the Mega-Tool for Learning.”

Welcome to MSDN Blogs, Mike!

Office Labs community site makes its debut today

Michael C. Oldenburg — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:00:00 GMT

For the past few months, the Office Labs group at Microsoft has been hard at work, prototyping a number of community-oriented projects. As of today, these projects are no longer shrouded in mystery. Head on over to the Office Labs site to check out what’s available!

Office Labs is headed by Chris Pratley, who is widely known as the father of OneNote. Chris describes his new assignment as “a group of designers and developers that collect ideas from all over Microsoft and build working prototypes of the most promising of these ideas to see if they work as well as we hope they might.”

To be clear, Office Labs isn’t a showcase of alpha or beta products or services. Instead, it’s a collection of current and ongoing experiments. “Concept testing is what this site is all about,” says Chris in his welcome post, which you can read here.

At the heart of these tests and experiments is the community of Microsoft Office customers, who are encouraged to participate and share ongoing insight and feedback with each other. There’s much to check out, but OneNote users may find the following two Office Labs projects of particular interest:

Community Clips

Find "how-to" videos about Microsoft Office products, made by people like you. You can download a free screen recording program to create and share your own demos and tutorials with other people in the community. The videos you share on the Community Clips site can help others learn and master their favorite Office programs and features (think YouTube for Office Help). To view the current catalog of clips and to download the free desktop recorder, visit the Office Labs home page and then follow the links.

InkSeine

If you happen to be using OneNote 2007 on a Tablet PC, check out how InkSeine tailors the Tablet PC interface to pen input and uniquely combines inking with searching. The tool fades into the background so that you can focus on capturing your ideas, sketches, and creative thoughts. To see how InkSeine complements OneNote on Tablet PCs, visit the Office Labs home page and then follow the links to the free download.

Projects on Office Labs will be updated and supplemented over time, as additional Microsoft team projects and experiments are deemed ready for their close-ups. Be sure to bookmark the Office Labs site, create an account, subscribe to the blog, and share your honest opinions and ideas with the creators and with the other participants of the Office Labs community.

For a bit of OneNote nostalgia, head on over to Chris Pratley’s OneNote blog, which debuted back in January of 2004 and still draws a large following despite Chris’ new focus. Chris (and OneNote) are also prominently featured in this news story on c|net today.