Microsoft OneNote 2003 is an application designed from the ground up by Microsoft as a note-taking and information gathering tool. While it is at its best on a Tablet PC where the Tablet's pen and ink capability can be brought to bear it is also a powerful tool on a notebook or desktop computer.

Key features

• Simple section/page metaphor which vaguely resembles a spiral binder notebook.
• Full text, cross section, search capability.
• Quick Notes which allow you to quickly pop up a small window to take notes whenever a thought strikes you.
• Drag and drop content from Internet Explorer to OneNote preserves most formatting and automatically builds a reference link back to the source website.
• Outlook integration for creating task items from OneNote notes. Also possible to e-mail OneNote notes as HTML documents so they can be read even by people who do not have OneNote.
• Audio recording capability so that you can record the meeting or lecture along with your notes.

Key shortcomings

• Office integration requires Office 2003 - ideally with Service Pack One.
• Very limited integration with Personal Digital Assistants.
• No built-in drawing tools.

In August of 2004 Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for OneNote which fixed several shortcomings and added a number of significant new features such as date/time stamping, import of notes from PocketPC and video recording.

Platform Support

Microsoft OneNote is only supported on Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or later, or Microsoft Windows XP. It will run on any hardware that support the required operating systems however it is always a good idea to have as much RAM as is practical for optimal performance.

External Links

• The Official Microsoft OneNote Website
• Microsoft OneNote Frequently Asked Questions
• Chris Pratley's OneNote WebLog