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Last post Author Topic: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks  (Read 189122 times)

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - alternatives for journalling.
« Reply #175 on: May 14, 2018, 01:52 PM »
Just as a "heads-up", for those who may only be interested in the possibility of using OneNote as a daily journal, @rgdot has posted a mini-review of an alternative PIM - Mini review: The Journal. I gave this a brief trial a while back and it seemed rather good at what it was designed for, but it did not meet my peculiar requirements.

By the way, there is quite a good journal template in the AHK-coded wiki proggy Wikichucks <https://code.google....rchive/p/wikichucks/>

IainB

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A rather thought-provoking and potentially very useful post for those OneNote or other MS Office users considering how to jump ship from MS Office to something else - with MS Office 365 + Windows 10 it rather seems that the caveats abound: Software rental brought to you by Microsoft !
(Section copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images.)
Software rental brought to you by Microsoft !
Posted on May 15, 2018 by pauljmiller
I have recently been having problems with my laptop computer.

The nature of these problems is not relevant to this discussion but it did necessitate what Microsoft call a ‘Reset’ of the PC.  I opted to keep all my personal files. I thought I could re-install the applications I had bought and paid for from Microsoft after all it was the same PC they had originally been installed on and I had bought a valid license key for that computer right !

Wrong !  Microsoft have stopped re-activation of license keys for previous versions of Office software.  This was a copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2010 which I had been forced to buy after Microsoft destroyed my previous laptop with the disastrous Windows 10 upgrade.  I bought this software in September 2016 so I have had just over 18 months use out of it and now Microsoft refuse to re-activate the license key.

For many years Office has been a very profitable product for Microsoft.

Software has different characteristics to normal products, the development costs are high but the production costs are low.  This means that for a small company who aren’t selling very many copies the development costs are a large percentage of the profit for each copy sold but for a large company who are selling a large number of copies the development costs become tiny compared to the profit for every copy sold, particularly at the excessive prices that Microsoft charge.

This is what destroys many small software companies.  However Microsoft are not a small company and they have sold many copies of Office and looking at the differences between Office 2010 and Office 2013 they have done little or no development in those three years.  But now they have become even more greedy than they were previously.

They have moved their business model over to ‘SaaS’ or ‘Software as a Sentence‘.  So they have stopped the service to activate the license key by telephone which means that a license key which needs activation can be activated just once online.  If it has already been activated then it can no longer be re-activated.  They are trying to kill off older versions of Office.  They are trying to force everyone onto the rental version, Microsoft Office 365 because it generates a steady revenue stream for Microsoft.

Be warned, if you have a copy of Microsoft Office previous to Office 365 installed on your machine do not un-install it unless you really mean to get rid of it completely because you won’t ever be able to re-activate it on any computer ever again, not even the one on which it was originally installed!

So what alternatives are there for people who don’t like being milked by Microsoft.

Microsoft Office Professional 2010 consists of Word, Excel, OneNote, Power Point, Publisher, Access and Outlook.
(Read the rest at the link above.)

tomos

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #177 on: May 16, 2018, 02:48 PM »
^ that is very disturbing. I wonder was activation not agreed in the software purchase license/agreement.

I'm shocked that they would even go so far.
Tom

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #178 on: May 16, 2018, 03:30 PM »
@tomos: Well, if what is described in the article is correct - i.e., that is what MS are actually doing or intending - then it would seem to be a form of "price gouging", which is illegal in some countries. It will be interesting to see how the governments in those countries view the actions of MS in regard to MS Office licencing in light of prevailing consumer protection regulations.

The more inept governments or those with weaker consumer protection legislation would probably just roll over and accept it, whereas others (perhaps including the UK, for example), could be unlikely to tolerate such monopolistic practices. We shall see.
What we have seen so far is that the US may have rather publicly set the bar very low here - e.g., the price-gouging initiated by Martin Shkreli (the overnight 5,000 percent increase in price of the drug Daraprim by Turing Pharmaceuticals) and then other drug companies apparently following suit, would seem to have gone unchallenged/uncorrected by commerce regulators.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 03:53 PM by IainB »

wraith808

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #179 on: May 16, 2018, 10:19 PM »
I just did an activation of an older copy of office recently, so not sure what the disconnect is.  Does it say that he attempted to call Microsoft support to straighten it out?  Or is this merely another from of FUD?

Dormouse

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #180 on: May 18, 2018, 08:03 AM »
excessive prices that Microsoft charge.
now they have become even more greedy than they were previously.
‘Software as a Sentence‘.

OneNote was never a very good solution to note taking,
There is also Ultra Recall, WhizFolders, TreeDBnotes, The Brain and 3D Topicscape. I can’t recommend any of these for a variety of different reasons, but they are all better than Microsoft OneNote.
So help to promote more diversity in the software marketplace, switch to a non-Microsoft solution today!

#DeleteMicrosoft
Seems that he doesn't like Microsoft! (or OneNote)
May well be FUD. Doesn't sound like he had a conversation with Support.

Unfortunately the version of SaaS they have chosen is a very pernicious one, if you stop paying the rent the program stops working completely. In other words they are holding your documents and files hostage against your future payments.
I don't think that you lose access to documents or files.

I also don't think that the Office365 price is excessive.
In the UK I can buy a 5 computer licence for between £50 and £60 from Amazon which can last 13 months (by switching to automatic renewal which you then turn off to enter your new annual code). And that also gives you 1TB storage. I can remember the prices that Bill Gates charged.

OneNote has a tagging system but it is designed in such a way that if you have more than about 30 or 40 tags then it starts to become unusable.
Have to agree with this, but it is only one of many deficiencies in the OneNote tagging system.

Microsoft Word has a very good, well designed and easy to use outlining mode and once you have finished organising your document you can go back to the normal mode and concentrate on the formatting and presentation of your document.  But at any time you can switch back to the outline mode and re-organise/re-arrange things.  As an outliner Word is hard to beat.
Certainly better than it was, but 'hard to beat?'

wraith808

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #181 on: May 18, 2018, 11:39 AM »
I don't think that you lose access to documents or files.

I also don't think that the Office365 price is excessive.
In the UK I can buy a 5 computer licence for between £50 and £60 from Amazon which can last 13 months (by switching to automatic renewal which you then turn off to enter your new annual code). And that also gives you 1TB storage. I can remember the prices that Bill Gates charged.

You don't, and I agree it's quite good, and agree that the price isn't exorbitant.

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #182 on: May 19, 2018, 11:55 AM »
If they don't come out and say so directly, then time will tell whatever Microsoft's marketing strategies are intending to do.
What I had noticed was that the ability to unlock and use some newly-updated/developed nifty MS Office functionality had sometimes been predicated on the user migrating from earlier versions of Windows to Windows 10 and/or OneDrive.
In other words, there was (apparently deliberately) no backwards compatibility, but it did not threaten to invalidate  existing licences. I had thought that this was probably nothing more than an incentive to urge users to the newer OS, but still, it did seem to smack of coercion and making existing/old licences seem to be obsolete.
@tomos: Well, if what is described in the article is correct - i.e., that is what MS are actually doing or intending - then it would seem to be a form of "price gouging", which is illegal in some countries. It will be interesting to see how the governments in those countries view the actions of MS in regard to MS Office licencing in light of prevailing consumer protection regulations.
The post I quoted from may be incorrect.
Defeating existing/old MS Office licences would seem to be going a bit far and thus would seem to be unlikely. Nevertheless, one never knows, so I would still bear that in mind as a potential caveat.

wraith808

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #183 on: May 19, 2018, 08:10 PM »
What I had noticed was that the ability to unlock and use some newly-updated/developed nifty MS Office functionality had sometimes been predicated on the user migrating from earlier versions of Windows to Windows 10 and/or OneDrive.
In other words, there was (apparently deliberately) no backwards compatibility, but it did not threaten to invalidate  existing licences. I had thought that this was probably nothing more than an incentive to urge users to the newer OS, but still, it did seem to smack of coercion and making existing/old licences seem to be obsolete.

Understanding programming and features in .NET, it could be perfectly valid based on features being available in supporting versions of the framework that weren't available in older operating systems and supporting programs.  They can't be expected to support old versions of their software forever.

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #184 on: May 21, 2018, 05:10 PM »
In Microsoft's favour, there may be recent history that would seem to indicate that Microsoft does consider support for backwards compatibility in Windows 10, for older/legacy software.
Significantly, even for "Sunset" products, for example:
A few days ago, the MS Money user forums were buzzing about how Win10 had disabled MS Money - when MS Money started up, it suddenly stopped and said it needed IE6 to be installed.
(For those as might not know it, MS Money uses IE as its primary UI.)

When my MS Money (Sunset version) failed on this error, I clicked the "Send Error Report" button.

[Image of error message panel not copied to this quote]


Reading the forums, a workaround to the problem was soon discovered. A good description of the problem and the workaround is here: Windows 10 Compatibility with Microsoft Money | Ameridan's Microsoft Money Offline Weblog

However, following a Win10 update today, MS Money is now working perfectly again.
Kudos to MS for fairly swift action on this. I don't know whether the error was a bug, or if it only affected MS Money, but the effect of fixing it seems to indicate that MS is listening and just might be aware of the need to support this and other legacy applications in Win10.

I am cross-posting this to Microsoft Money Plus Sunset - Mini-Review
« Last Edit: May 21, 2018, 05:16 PM by IainB »

IainB

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In windows the creation data presents in properties the data the file was created and the hour , minutes and seconds.
So I think is possible, to determine in an audio , the hour-minute and second of every moment.
Do you know an audio reproductor that presents the every moment while the audio is playing ?
Best Regards
 :-*

Go to this DCF discussion: Searching for information in audio notes in OneNote.
MS OneNote users are able to search for decipherable words and phrases in audio clips saved to OneNote. ON starts to index these audio tracks for decipherable spoken words/phrases, as soon as an audio file is saved into ON. It will do this for audio/video files also.  The ON search function will list the indexed Notebook pages with audio file(s) containing the words/phrases being searched for.
Clicking on the audio file (an attachment icon) on the relevant Notebook page will play the audio recording.

Furthermore, if there is also a documented transcript of the audio, under the saved audio file, showing the minutes and seconds of each spoken phrase, then OneNote will move a selector bar down the transcript, line-by line as the audio is playing. If the user clicks on any particular line at any chosen minute/second, then OneNote will immediately jump to and play from that line onwards.

This seemed to be an amazingly powerful set of functionality, one which I literally stumbled upon by chance, not having previously seen it documented anywhere.

Contro

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #186 on: August 24, 2018, 06:10 AM »
Downloading OneNote
Sounds like Keep or Gnotes....

dantheman

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #187 on: August 24, 2018, 08:31 AM »
While the theme is still "hot"...
Does this audio/video search feature work for non-English languages?



(do not hesitate to let me know if it is better for further questions to post at the aforementioned thread).

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - audio search and languages.
« Reply #188 on: August 25, 2018, 11:51 AM »
@dantheman:
You ask:
While the theme is still "hot"...
Does this audio/video search feature work for non-English languages?
(do not hesitate to let me know if it is better for further questions to post at the aforementioned thread).
Good question!    :up:
 - and certainly good that you asked it in this forum, as the answer is both relevant and informative and it relates to other ON voice-related issues (e.g., generating transcripts) which have puzzled me for some time.

I didn't have an answer - as I have only needed/used English audio for searches, though I do have some French audio (songs) in ON in .mp3 files.
So, I did a duckduckgo.com search using the terms: Onenote audio search works in what languages?

Bingo! The first item in the search results list was:
(Partially copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images, with some notes/emphasis being mine.)
OneNote Audio Search &amp; Audio Search Languages
Daniel EscapaOctober 10, 2006 <-- Note the date! This technology has been around for years.
...
... Olya might want to comment more on this as she is the owner of audio search but I also wanted to mention which languages are supported:
  • English
  • Japanese
  • Chinese Traditional
  • Chinese Simplified
  • Korean
  • German
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Italian
... (read it all at the link).
Source: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/descapa/2006/10/10/onenote-audio-search-amp-audio-search-languages/
That's just the bit about languages - to answer your question. The rest of that post was rather interesting too and also the other search results in the list, including for example:
  • 2nd.: Search notes in OneNote

  • 3rd.: ONENOTE : can't search inside my AUDIO registrations ...

  • 4th.: Audio transcriptions and annotations with OneNote
    Let's say for example that you have a voice recording that you made using a dedicated recorder and want to put a transcription of it into OneNote (maybe in support of meeting minutes and other notes). ...
    ,,, Follow Richard's instructions to set up your audio input for speech. In OneNote, place the insertion point on the page where you want the text to appear. Using the speech TIP (available on Tablet PC or Vista), set the dictation mode ON. Here's where to find some of these settings on a Tablet PC (use the settings in order 1, 2, 3): ...
    ... Now play back the audio as you would normally. Voilà, text appears in OneNote that is vaguely similar to a transcription (see caveat above). ...
    ... If you want to use recordings made in OneNote, be aware that the default recording quality for OneNote is not meant for speech recognition. We use a voice codec and bit rate/sample rate designed to compress spoken word audio as small as can be while still usable by human beings. In OneNote 2007 we increased the settings slightly to make audio search work better, but speech recognition (transcription) requires a much higher level of quality. ...
    ... To set up your future recordings in OneNote to be transcribable, first go to Tools/Options/Audio and Video. Switch the codec to Windows Media Audio 9.1 Professional. If this isn't available consider downloading the latest set of codec for Windows Media (should come with WM Player 10). Otherwise just pick the highest settings available (e.g. 44Khz, 440kbps) for now - you can experiment with lower settings later. ...
    Source: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/chris_pratley/2006/03/16/audio-transcriptions-and-annotations-with-onenote/
« Last Edit: August 25, 2018, 11:58 AM by IainB »

dantheman

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #189 on: August 26, 2018, 06:43 AM »
Seeing that there's no "like post" or "thank you" icon to click on...
Just want to "verbally" express it with these lines  :Thmbsup:
Hope it can work out for me as well as for everyone else who'll drop by to read your most extensive explanation!

IainB

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Re: MS OneNote - OCR quality in OneNote v. ABBY Screenshot Reader.
« Reply #190 on: September 04, 2018, 11:40 PM »
Interesting real-world comparison of typical OCR quality in OneNote v. ABBY SR (Screenshot Reader): (text from the image is in the spoiler below the image)

05_652x1186_0EEC1A7F.png

Spoiler
Text selected, OCRed and copied to Clipboard using ABBY SR (Screenshot Reader) and as pasted:
   (areas with errors highlighted)
   ________________________________
   SUKPLUSIRONICS IRVING LTD
   520 QUEEN ST
   AUCKLAND
   PHONE 09 302 0608
   fHANKS POR SHOPPING WITH US
   GST NO. 53-638-449
   25/08/201/ 16:2/ 000000*3648
   0001 WY
   1> 29.50
   BAMiRIES $29.50
   CASH
   \>2S 50
   _________________________________
   The quality/accuracy of OCR isn't bad, considering the poor state of the receipt.
   
   The pasted output is usable AS-IS, with minimal manual corrections needed.
   
   Already OCRed and searchable text in OneNote selected and copied to Clipboard using OneNote tool and as pasted:
   (areas with errors highlighted)
   ________________________________
   SURPLUSIRONICS
   520 QUEEN sl
   AUCKLAND
   PHONE 09 30?
   THANKS FOR SHOPPING WITH US
   NO. 53-638-449
   000000#364d
   25/08/2011 1b: 21
   
   THANKS FOR SHOPPING WITH US
   GST NO 53 - 638- 449
   
   25 08 2017 16:27 000000 # 36 48
   
   1 X 29 50
   BATTERIES
   $29 50
   
   CASH $ 29 50
   
   0001 WY
   
   29. bo
   BATTERIES
   
   CASH
   
   $29.50
   _________________________________
   The quality/accuracy of OCR isn't bad, considering the poor state of the receipt.
   The nature of the scattered/duplicated pasted output makes it not very usable without quite a bit of manual correction.


IainB

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I had a discussion in the Personal Message area of DCF, about OneNote and PIMs. I figured a lot of it could be of common interest, so I have duplicated some of the post here:

You say (**1): "I'm still searching for the best PIM system.", but I'm not so sure that there is a "best" one. What I perceive is that there are lots of different good ones, of which a few may meet your needs/requirements - e.g., (say) Lotus Agenda, ConnectedText, TreeProjects, InfoSelect, OneNote.
For example, a criterion you have (like me) is (**2) a preference for a local desktop-based app + database, so, all of the above PIMs could potentially meet that criterion, and so on.

You say (**3): "I like having the occasional cloud alternative/option.", and so do I. OneNote seems to fit that bill pretty well, but you could also use the technology available to turn your non-Cloud desktop-based app and database into a sort of Cloud-backed service. For example, I use MEGAsync, which has a 50GB free starter package. I have put all my music media files into a MEGA Cloud drive, that appears as a folder on my C: drive, and which is continually syncing with the Cloud-based files. I used to hold all those music media files in a directory C:\Workdata.007 (Media 1), but I moved them from there to the MEGA folder (i.e., and to the Cloud). I then set up a Reparse Point to that MEGA folder, and named it C:\Workdata.007 (Media 1), so that became a virtual folder. My music media players and audio and MP3 Tag editing software have always used that folder name as their Library and they continue to do so. Any edits/writes to that virtual folder or its files are reflected in the MEGA folder and synced  to the Cloud whenever I choose to connect.
I have done something similar with several other applications, including the PIM InfoSelect, syncing their databases and the application itself to OneDrive. This was where I discovered that OneDrive is insecure in that Microsoft will sometimes delete some executable files in the apps, if they don't like the file(s) for whatever reason - so they're only good/reliable for data storage, and even that is not certain, unless its one of their apps - e.g., (say) OneNote. Long live encrypted sync à la MEGAsync!

You say (**4): "In the coming months I'm going be working on a project and I'm considering using it as an opportunity to seriously try out Microsoft Onenote."
Whilst you are at it, I would suggest that you also try out TreeProjects:
 * http://www.rgdot.com/bl/2011/09/11/smereka-treeprojects-powerful-personal-database/
 * http://personaldatabase.org/

Now, regarding encryption and security, here's an interesting thing: Telegram
(https://telegram.org/)
Telegram is FREE for all use. It requires a smartphone to use. Like LINE, it just uses your phone number as a base ID, but that's where the similarity stops. You can use it on any number of devices, and you can also use it on a PC as a desktop app.
You could copy media files, data files, app files - any files - into what's called a Channel (in the Telegram Cloud), and it's stored there, fully encrypted and preserved intact for as long as you want. You could do that from the Telegram desktop app, then Access your Telegram account and that Channel from another PC using the Telegram desktop app, or from a smartphone using your Telegram app/ID. When you try to access the files saved to a given Channel, if those files are not already stored on the device (smartphone or PC) that you are using, then they are downloaded from the Channel, to that device. The potential is mind-blowing, and people are already taking advantage of that potential. You could, for example, (say) backup your OneNote Notebooks to the Telegram Cloud that way... and if you wanted to give a person (or persons) access to a particular OneNote Notebook, then you could let them have read access to that backup in the relevant Telegram Channel...

You say (**5): "The prospect that Microsoft might be phasing out the cloudless version of Onenote does have me a little bit wary about trying it out.", and you also consider using OneNote from an old copy of MS Office 2013.
  • Evernote killed off their rather good desktop app, focused on a Cloud-only business revenue strategy and stuck to it - though I suspect they probably could have regretted it since. It could have been a cash-cow for them.
  • In Microsoft's case, they would seem to be decidedly NOT a Cloud-only business and have many examples of where their software continues for ages, or is responsibly and gracefully sunsetted (and even kept backwards compatible in the Windows 10 OS) - the most recent being, I think, Microsoft Money Plus Sunset
  • I would recommend a wait-and-see approach regarding OneNote. Trial/use it anyway. It seems unlikely that it will be killed off for several years yet.
    A licence for MS Office 2019 Plus is available relatively cheaply - e.g., here.
  • It was possible to get MS Office 2016 Plus relatively cheaply, but I am unsure if it is still available - e.g., here.
  • As regards using MS Office 2013, I wouldn't recommend it as the OneNote functionality would be kludgy - it has been vastly improved on since, in ON 2016.

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - comparison with other notetaking apps.
« Reply #192 on: May 07, 2019, 11:07 AM »
Just as a basis for making some comparisons, this is a useful Wikipedia reference: Comparison of notetaking software

It's not an exhaustive list by any means, but it is worth a look.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2019, 11:17 AM by IainB »

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - a bit of history.
« Reply #193 on: May 07, 2019, 11:16 AM »
Bit of interesting history of OneNote here. I saved the webpages to .mhtml files:
2004-01-30 OneNote genesis – Chris Pratley's Office Labs and OneNote Blog.mhtml
https://web.archive.org/web/20170327080319/https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/chris_pratley/2004/01/30/onenote-genesis/

2006-07-12 Microsoft OneNote 2003 « Later On.mhtml
https://web.archive.org/web/20111207225115/http://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2006/07/12/microsoft-onenote-2003/

sphere

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #194 on: September 27, 2019, 11:04 AM »
Onenote 2016 vs Onenote 2019 vs DesktopApp

I am interested in securing another copy of Onenote (desktop application) before the only version that is available is the Win 10 OS Desktop version ( included free in Windows 10).  Since Microsoft is discontinuing the development of the standalone Onenote software (2013, 2016 and so on) app I am trying to figure out the best option.  My understanding is that the Free Onenote Desktop App that is included with Windows 10 does not allow local saving. It saves to the cloud by default and caches locally so that users can work offline.  If I am wrong about this please let me know.  I am not interested in my notebooks being hosted on Microsoft's cloud.  I also have been told that the version of OneNote contained in MS Office 2019 is actually just OneNote 2016 as there development focused on the free OneNote app included with Win 10.    I will likely get it bundled with Microsoft Office so I have access to the other office programs before everything moves towards a subscription service.   

My understanding is that there are 3 versions of OneNote for Windows: 

1) One Note Standalone or bundled wing Ms Office version 2011, 2013, 2016
2) Free Onenote Desktop App included with Win 10 OS
3) Onenote as it is included with MS Office 365, which I believe offers different versions based on the subscription service.

I am leaning away from 365 as it is a subscription service that can have its offerings changed on a whim and 356  nags/bullies users as MS sees fit.  It seems like purchasing a copy of Office 2016 or Office 2019 would be the best, but I would be interested in hearing other people's thoughts???   I have read, but have not been able to confirm, that the version of OneNote in MS office 2019 is just OneNote 2016 as they did not develop it.   As I have mentioned being able to save locally is important to me.   I also really like OneNote's ability to LOCALLY index audio and video and images making them searchable.

Further complicating this decision is my lack of understanding about how Win 10 handles the installation of an older version of OneNote with the free OneNote app?  Does one have both versions after installing an older version? I have read some places that Widows defaults to the Free included app if you install MS Office 2019 as the version on Win 10 is more recent than the version included with MS Office 2019. I am currently using win 7, but imagine I might change that before Jan 2020 when win 7 will no longer receive security updates.   I have read that ONe Note 2016 will have security updates until 2025.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
thank you
 
 



IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #195 on: September 27, 2019, 03:28 PM »
@sphere: You are concerned that MS are going to deprecate support for maintaining OneNote standalone local client databases.
I'm not so sure that MS would become a cloud-only business, as I wrote above:
  • In Microsoft's case, they would seem to be decidedly NOT a Cloud-only business and have many examples of where their software continues for ages, or is responsibly and gracefully sunsetted (and even kept backwards compatible in the Windows 10 OS) - the most recent being, I think, Microsoft Money Plus Sunset
  • I would recommend a wait-and-see approach regarding OneNote. Trial/use it anyway. It seems unlikely that it will be killed off for several years yet.
  • A licence for MS Office 2019 Plus is available relatively cheaply - e.g., here.
  • It was possible to get MS Office 2016 Plus relatively cheaply, but I am unsure if it is still available - e.g., here.
  • As regards using MS Office 2013, I wouldn't recommend it as the OneNote functionality would be kludgy - it has been vastly improved on since, in ON 2016.

The idea of going Cloud-only or Cloud-compulsory would seem to take away the consumer choice of using standalone local client databases. That's why, for example I would (and do) advise clients to think twice about doing business with Evernote or (similarly) Google Docs and other Cloud-based service providers, etc.. It's simply too risky, and it's an avoidable risk. It puts Evernote or Google etc. in control of your business databases. If you can afford to take that risk - or can't afford to avoid it - then go for it, but I still wouldn't recommend it - especially if you can afford not to take that risk. That is different to things like implementing (say) Citrix Thin Client systems though, which may often seem to be (and often are, in business terms) a no-brainer from the user perspective.
The status quo of doing work on standalone local "fat" clients that are not-network-connected devices and have local databases would be a typical and fundamental user security and ease-of-use/access requirement - e.g., especially in Defence organisations.
I would suggest that commercial use of MS Office licences (which comes as a bundle with OneNote) would stop dead if MS went all fascist and disabled the app from being able to be used stand-alone - it would adversely affect potential security risks, by definition.

However, if you want to ensure that you don't get caught out with your pants down, as it were, in the event that MS does leave OneNote users high-and-dry without the future option for full standalone independent OneNote client functionality (and databases), then make sure that you have a backup copy of the latest MS Office 2016 install + all updates and stock up on MS-Office Pro licences - now!   :)

By the way, LOOK OUT! The sky is falling down! I think a lot of the supposition and discussion on this subject might/could be "fake news" promulgated by the IT media who need those clicks from the nervous and twitchy fingers of all those millions of MS Office OneNote users out there. Must be one heck of a big market.

sphere

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #196 on: September 28, 2019, 12:33 PM »
I have done some further reading and it does look like if you need/want a desktop application- OneNote 2016 is the best option, as it does not appear there is a OneNote 2019 desktop application. Only the Win 10 OneNote Application and Office 2019 will install/default to windows option.

That being said, @IainB,  my questions arise from the understanding that Microsoft has already made the decision to make OneNote an online driven application moving forward.  It is possible that my understanding is incorrect but I do not believe that is the case. It is also possible that Microsoft might backstep the decision to make OneNote a web app, or that they will roll out some new enterprise OneNote version. From my vantage point, much of what MS decides depends on the revenue stream and or their tring to "win" over market share.  I do not think OneNote's market is solely business.  I think they are going after the evernote market, which has its fair number of business persons, most of whom have cast aside concerns for privacy or believe that encryption/passwords are enough.  Evernote and other similar products want to sell online storage.  Microsoft might be looking to do the same, or looking to use OneNote to help attract people to utilize their other products.  In the past Microsoft has been slow to adopt the service model.  They now push 365 pretty hard, and I have read some articles that mention them moving to a similar model for their operating system itself.   
 
Back to my understanding of where OneNote is right now.  Microsoft has made the move to stop developing/updating OneNote 2016, and instead is only developing the Windows 10 OneNote web app which (as I understand it) requires  a login to the web, and only allows working offline through caching.  All files are born online. It is a web app that allows for use offline.  When browsing Microsoft's forums about this move, people are encouraged to express their opnions through the uservoice channels with the hopes that Microsoft might reverse their decision.

OneNote 2016 will have some updates until 2020 and security updates until 2025 which is nice.  That being said it would be nice to see some of the advancements from the webapp in 2016.  For one, it would be nice to see better hand writing  recognition.     

One of my other concerns was my move from Win 7 to Windows 10.  I had read a number of people complaining that Windows 10 would cripple their install of OneNote 2016. I found this concerning.  I would be interested in knowing if anyone here has had issues with that.  I have installed OneNote 2016 on a Windows 10 computer and it seems like both OneNote 2016 and  Window's own OneNote are coexisting fine, but I have not tested it thoroughly.  I would be interested in hearing from people here if they have had any issues.
 

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #197 on: September 29, 2019, 09:26 AM »
@sphere:
Sorry, but I don't know where to find the unequivocal statements of purpose coming from MS, regarding OneNote, that might validate, or invalidate your concerns. MS sometimes seem to make statements that obfuscate their plans, or leave things unclear or ambiguous. I suspect that may be because they are waiting for feedback from their users (which they are getting, I gather).

This discussion thread tends to primarily cover Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks, rather than being focused on other things - e.g., (say) OneNote and MS's possible future migration or marketing strategies for OneNote. I set it up to fill what seemed to be an information void. It's accidentally become a sort of user group - though nowhere near as sophisticated as (say) exusmods.com is for the Fallout games.

If you could find some "unequivocal statements of purpose coming from MS, regarding OneNote" that cause you concern, then it could be useful if you were to share them here, for our edification and comment, but you won't necessarily find a Brains Trust here that knows enough about OneNote+MS to be able to adequately advise you or give you any answers, though there will no doubt be lots of useful comments from other DCF folk. Catching up with and understanding how OneNote works in the first place seems to be a pretty big challenge in itself.

I would suggest though that if we take Microsoft Money as an example - refer Microsoft Money Plus Sunset - Mini-Review - DonationCoder.com - then we might be able to see how MS doesn't tend to leave (probably can't allow itself to) users in the lurch when it sunsets a product. That would arguably go double for the enormous user base of the MS Office suite (which includes OneNote).
No doubt time will tell.

IainB

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #198 on: September 30, 2019, 05:46 AM »
Hmm...Interesting post at asap-utilities.com/blog/
For developers; Application.Version returns 16.0 for both Excel 2019 and Excel 2016…!?
Is Excel 2019 just Excel 2016 with a new name?
(Click on link to go there.)
One wonders whether the same is true of OneNote...

wraith808

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Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
« Reply #199 on: October 01, 2019, 08:49 PM »
@sphere:
Sorry, but I don't know where to find the unequivocal statements of purpose coming from MS, regarding OneNote, that might validate, or invalidate your concerns. MS sometimes seem to make statements that obfuscate their plans, or leave things unclear or ambiguous. I suspect that may be because they are waiting for feedback from their users (which they are getting, I gather).


See links and quote at https://www.donation....msg432778#msg432778