How I use OneNote
Posted by jeggent on January 31, 2014
OneNote
Since I have talked about OneNote in two posts already, I thought I should expand upon how I use this software. Kind of like how Trello has boards, lists, and cards; OneNote has notebooks, sections, and pages. Each notebook can contain multiple sections and each section can contain multiple pages. I only use a single notebook, both for simplicity and because I don’t need more than two layers (sections and pages) to organize my content.
The Structure
So within that single notebook I have a number of sections and those sections each have a number of pages. You may want to begin with a structure similar to your paper files where the sections are like the folders and the pages are like the… well, pages. Or you may want to mimic your e-mail folder structure as many of you have probably refined your e-mail over the years. Some of the sections that I use include Projects, Committees, Systems, People, and ForNext. Within these sections each page is for information on a specific item, group, or person.
One of My Favorite Things
Of all of the things that I consider to be a component in the system that keeps me organized, maybe my favorite thing is within OneNote. I have a section called ForNext and each page contains items I want to cover the next time I meet with a given person or group. If you’ve ever said “I know there was something else I wanted to talk about with you.” then you need a list like this. This is a sample of what the ForNext page for my boss might look like:
Next
- Vendor selection
- Staff training
1/13/14
- New project
- Hardware request
- Vacation request
Other Stuff
I have my OneNote connected to a free Microsoft SkyDrive account. That is how I’m able to have it synced to my Nexus tablet. The search function in OneNote works really well. Although I don’t use it much because of my simple structure I can usually find things quickly without searching. There are lots of other tools within OneNote that I don’t use such as freehand drawing and audio notes. I think these would be useful for those using a tablet with a stylus and are kind of reminders of Microsoft’s earlier attempts at tablet computers. Notebooks can also be shared with multiple users. One other thing that I do use which is kind of nice is dragging highlighted content from a web page into OneNote. It copies the content and includes a link to the page you were on. And that is how I use OneNote. Good luck.