Microsoft OneNote
1134 likes
Comprehensive digital notebook offering organizers, shared notes, multi-device syncing, and optical character recognition, plus cloud-based data management for efficient information handling and accessibility.
License model
- Freemium • Proprietary
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Chrome OS
- Windows Phone
- iPad
- Apple Watch
- Android Wear
- Kindle Fire
Features
Microsoft OneNote News & Activities
Highlights • All activities
Recent News
- Maoholguin published news article about Microsoft OneNoteMicrosoft to upgrade Meeting Details feature in OneNote for Windows
Microsoft plans to enhance the Meeting Details feature in its Microsoft OneNote for Windows app for...
- Maoholguin published news article about Microsoft Sticky NotesMicrosoft unveils major update for Sticky Notes, adds screenshot tool and new redesign
Microsoft has revealed a major update to its staple note-taking software, Microsoft Sticky Notes, c...
- Maoholguin published news article about Microsoft Copilot (Windows & 365)Microsoft introduces 'Copilot Pro,' a $20/month subscription with advanced AI for 365 apps
Microsoft has launched Copilot Pro, a $20 per month subscription service offering advanced AI featu...
Recent activities
- POX added Microsoft OneNote as alternative to Mimiri Notes
- POX updated Microsoft OneNote
- braky updated Microsoft OneNote
- POX added Microsoft OneNote as alternative to Curiota
- POX added Microsoft OneNote as alternative to Focal - Notes & Tasks
- s47959089 liked Microsoft OneNote
- Pepexl added Microsoft OneNote as alternative to DrawNote
- matthiew liked Microsoft OneNote
What is Microsoft OneNote?
Microsoft OneNote information
AlternativeTo Categories
Office & Productivity, Photos & Graphics, Remote Work & Education, Audio & Music, Backup & SyncApple AppStore
- Updated Jan 13, 2025
- 4.72 avg rating
Comments and Reviews
Doesn't matter if you use any of these which I also have extensively used for years / tested almost every workflow and extension you can think of related to onenote / its competitors:
OneNote has an evolved form of the native windows
Snipping Tool which is by far its best feature and the reason you should use onenote, even if you don't use it at all
Pressing WIN + S key to screenshot something natively in a windows PC is only achievable by onenote. I use it almost everyday. Nothing remotely comes close to its sheer simplicity and function
Pairs really well with other apps that I use like (which are my picks for best-in-class) as well
very handy for making crappy-but-effective UX doodles / diagrams so I can draft proposals in no time at all
[Edited by Kagerjay, July 07]
[Edited by Kagerjay, July 07]
[Edited by Kagerjay, July 07]
Sunset – better stop using it now!
Microsoft has announced that OneNote is no longer going to be part of Office 2019, so OneNote 2016 will be the last ever version. It's going to be supported until 2020, then it's over. One of many sources: RCP Mag
What Microsoft wants you to use instead is the UWP/Windows 10 version of the OneNote app. Of course, as everyone who has ever tried using it knows, that little app is barely a replacement for the powerful note-taking application that is/was OneNote. Like almost every UWP app, it's a glorified little phone toy that doesn't hold up to actual work requirements at all.
To understand that, you don't need to know anything beyond the fact that the OneNote app, the official successor of OneNote 2016, still doesn't, and probably never will, support offline notebooks. That's right, it's 100% cloud or go home. No more local backups, no more being in control of your own data, no more deciding yourself if, how, and where to store and sync your information. If you're okay with that, you might as well switch to using Facebook Notes.
R.I.P. Microsoft OneNote, 2003–2020. You were pretty decent.
Office OneNote is indeed a mile better. Usability is far ahead of UWP version - better ribbon, iconset, sections as tabs, colorized pages sidebar, better main color, offline notebooks. backups, export etc etc. UWP has quite depressive dark violet color. It's pretty sad. Instead of spending those years to improve Office OneNote, they are wasting it on reinventing the wheel doing it far worse than before. And OneNote does need improvements. At least format text as code with syntax highlight.
Reply written Jun 10, 2018
Update: Late in 2019, Microsoft seem to have changed their mind and started to update the desktop version of OneNote again.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/4/20947729/microsoft-onenote-2016-desktop-app-dark-mode-support-download
They're not explicitly admitting that they're changing course from what they announced in 2018, but it certainly is unexpected news considering that they were very clear about the future of OneNote being strictly in the cloud (I even remember an official Microsoft statement about the concern that this makes OneNote incompatible with the requirements of certain corporate environments, which pretty directly stated something like: "We understand, but tough luck.")
I'm not considering moving back just yet. Ill-considered quick-fire announcements like that have an effect, one of them being that people start looking for alternatives. I suspect I'm not the only one who has set up a new workflow for note-keeping in the meantime.
Reply written Apr 16, 2020
Thanks for the detals mate, I was having issues moving notes around. But seeing this thing now, it's concrete move for me and it felt great to have similar functionalities to Google Notes and Zoho Notes for whoever remembers those sweet antics of the past. Alas, this one takes the same route, quite unfortunate. I was bewildred how MS were able to actually come-up with something useful for once, and here we go it'll be gone, cause screw UX xD
Reply written Apr 19, 2022
Microsoft and Google never make lightweight apps.
Exporting the page is useless because it doesn't form most of the images. It's not possible to simply move an image-heavy page to another app's format. This inconvenience hasn't improved in over a decade.
I took it for granted that Online OneNote would allow me to export to the MHT extension, so I synced a few pages as an experiment. Funnily enough, Online OneNote doesn't have an export feature, which seems to be their intention to lock you into the OneNote experience.
I will never use OneNote again.
I am aware of other alternatives for note-taking, like the Open Source app Joplin. But there are limitations that hold me back. For example, with Joplin it is brilliant if you're happy with using Markdown, but OneNote gives me a canvas to work with and is cross-platform so I can use my stylus to take handwritten notes on the Galaxy Tab, then add more bits to the same notes from my desktop (e.g. screenshots).
Other apps, I have considered:
OneNote has grown a lot and it is pretty amazing with what you can do with it. This is basically a daily driver for me, when I use it for learning or for work.
Combined with Teams, ClipClip, and draw.io, it's a powerful suite of productivity.
Unfortunately, it doesn't get 5-stars? Why? Because Microsoft has been pushing heavily on the UWP/Store version on Windows, which is not as powerful as the original. They've also done something to the macOS app, which is much more limited than the Windows version.
Owned by ((Microsoft)) Stay away from it.
Mac version is terrible...
When the notion is great, I use OneNote like the old Word with simple functions.