Whether you’re into PCs or Macs, no one can deny the inescapable supremacy of the Microsoft productivity suite. Where would the world be without Excel, Word, and PowerPoint?
Nowhere. We would be absolutely nowhere.
Well, that’s not entirely true. We’d probably be stuck in a time that’s awfully reminiscent of 1989 and using whatever it is Apple calls their productivity suite these days (insert offended Emoji here).
However, despite the inherent popularity of Microsoft Office, many people tend to overlook the irrefutable usefulness of OneNote. In fact, some don’t even know it exists – which to us, is an unforgivable crime. So before you open your mouth to admit your guilt, we’ll give you an opportunity to correct your wrongdoings – and in the process, help you become a more productive member of the Office society.
Here are a few general OneNote tips that are destined to make you the serial OneNoter we always knew you could be.
A binder like no other
OneNote is like the Holy Grail of binders. Inside this binder of all binders, you can create as many notebooks as you could ever want – with each notebook perfectly separated into sections and then further separated into pages. There are no ripped pages, no crumpled edges, and no missing sections. It’s clean, neat, and as organized and color-coded as you want it to be.
Sections and pages that go on forever
Let’s say you attend a lot of business conferences or seminars. If this were the case, you could create a notebook labeled “Education” and then section off your notebook with the titles of each conference (think of these as tabs in a binder). Some of these conferences might be reoccurring – monthly, quarterly, or annually. Therefore, each page in a section can be labeled by the month and year of the conference. There is no end to this. It can go on forever… and this is just one Notebook. You can create as many Notebooks as you like – each with their endless supply of sections and pages.
Tagging, to-dos, searching, and tasking
The cool thing about OneNote is that they get you, or at least, they really want to. They understand people work and think differently, which is why they have a slew of available options for organizing reminders, tasks, and thoughts. For example, inside OneNote, you can label content by urgency, highlight thoughts that you need to revisit, and associate tasks with other people. These options (or tags) are accessible from a drop-down menu on the ribbon, and each tag can be searched for – by notebook, section, or page.
Effortless collaboration
If you typically work with groups of people on projects or like to share ideas with coworkers (or even family members and friends), then OneNote is the route to go. It’s a hub for simple, organized collaboration. You can share entire notebooks or individual pages with people, and you can give them permission only to view the content or to view and edit the content. All material automatically syncs across connected devices to ensure you and your fellow OneNoters are always on the same page.
A true Office teammate
Now, what good would OneNote be if it couldn’t integrate seamlessly with other members of the Office suite? Well, it’d still be pretty great – but that’s beside the point. With OneNote, you can choose to print pages or entire notebooks or quickly convert your content into a Word document. You can also build a new Excel spreadsheet or input a preexisting spreadsheet into a page. And if you have the proper hardware and software installed, you have the option to record audio and video and to include meeting details and tasks from Outlook.
The power of OneNote doesn’t stop here. Like its notebooks, the benefits of OneNote are endless, and we wholeheartedly encourage you to explore those benefits. Now, go! And OneNote till you can no longer OneNote.
