Using multiple platforms, and mostly not being on my desktop, has heavily reduced the number of options I have. Simpler is generally better than complex because I can make it work anywhere.

I tend to use Evernote most because it works well and similarly whatever the platform. OneNote doesn't, so I will use it on the desktop/laptop and add to notebooks when I am on on other platforms. But unless I am already using OneNote for something, I'll just use Evernote.

Pretty much the opposite of a card index system. I bung everything in and search for stuff I need later.  Tag only when I need, and practically never when I put stuff in.

I might use OneNote more on the desktop but have always found it quirky and taking time to work out when it isn't obvious how to make it do something I want. Much less of an issue in other programs.

@superboyac:

What is the status of being able using Onenote in a completely on-premise type situation?  No cloud storage, other than for temporary transferring back and forth.  I have an online MS account, but I don't want to use it for my notes.  I can use an enterprise local onenote/sharepoint setup for syncing onenote across all devices, right?
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Sorry, I can't really help you there as I have no experience of using device sharing to a SharePoint server. I guess it should work, though the proof is in the pudding.
Same goes for your other Qs.

is there a way to control the container of a note?  they are too big.  i keep trying to create new notes around existing notes, and especially below them, the software assumes i'm adding to the existing note, and the margin extends a good 3-4 lines below the content.  i want the container to end pretty close to where the content is.  i don't want all that space, it is very annoying.

Damn, today OneNote's capability to copy text from pictures saved me hours of typing. Really neat function.

totally agree.  i had no idea it was that good.

Quote from: Attronarch on March 08, 2016, 10:04 PM

Damn, today OneNote's capability to copy text from pictures saved me hours of typing. Really neat function.

totally agree.  i had no idea it was that good.
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Now try out its search capability for spoken word in the audio of audio files and video files.
Finally, everything is starting to become useful and searchable data.

is there a way to control the container of a note?  they are too big.  i keep trying to create new notes around existing notes, and especially below them, the software assumes i'm adding to the existing note, and the margin extends a good 3-4 lines below the content.  i want the container to end pretty close to where the content is.  i don't want all that space, it is very annoying.

A double click with the mouse should force a new note to open - although you will still need to leave one line after the previous text.

Quote from: superboyac on March 08, 2016, 08:57 PM

is there a way to control the container of a note?  they are too big.  i keep trying to create new notes around existing notes, and especially below them, the software assumes i'm adding to the existing note, and the margin extends a good 3-4 lines below the content.  i want the container to end pretty close to where the content is.  i don't want all that space, it is very annoying.

A double click with the mouse should force a new note to open - although you will still need to leave one line after the previous text.
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@superboyac: You ask "is there a way to control the container of a note?". The answer is YES. It's all draggable and resizeable you see.
Experiment.
Try to break it.
Also try out using table cells as sub-containers. I do that a lot because the Containers are too flexible and keep changing to accommodate new or changing text in the notes. The table cells behave differently and are more precisely controllable and less likely to expand automatically. The Container walls can set hard boundaries for table cells.

(Sorry if any duplication. I thought I'd already posted this comment - or something like it - but I can't find it. Maybe I forgot to press "Post" or maybe I posted it to another discussion thread by mistake.)

The article also includes a link to: in-depth comparison of OneNote vs. Evernote, which might help to answer some of the questions posed by others in this discussion thread.

After six five-and-a-fourth years of Evernote, the last thing that sticks me to Evernote is Geeknote which is awesome. I must admit that OneNote is inviting, even the Android app pretty much rocks now. It's just that all of my things are already on Evernote.

Of course, I could use a combination of org-mode and OneNote to achieve the Geeknote features, but that would surely not make things easier.

2016-04-16 2152hrs: Looks like the OneNote percentage zoom 100% bug (above) may have been fixed in an update to MS Office 2016 today. (Crossed fingers...)

I was checking some old notes today and saw this. It is a post from 2011, but could be potentially very useful for those considering using OneNote for GTD together with Outlook: (I could never seem to get Outlook to work properly, so not of much use to me.)
GTD with Outlook 2010 and OneNote 2010 – Series Links

I have been following an interesting discussion thread on OutlinerSoftware.com about the Best program for lecture notes, where I had suggested the importance of using pencil/pen and paper as the primary tool to take notes and to stimulate one's brain to make the most of the learning opportunity, and use a note-taking app (e.g., such as OneNote) as a purely secondary tool to capture any surrounding contextual info, including (say) an audio recording of the entire lecture, for subsequent review/revision.

On the page at: <http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/6475/15>;
- there is more reference to "Analogue" (handwritten) versus Computer note-taking:

Posted by Hugh
Jun 9, 2016 at 01:27 PM

In support of the posts by Donovan and others above, I too recommend pencil and paper as a first resort. My reasoning is based on two things: my own experience using pencil and paper for note-taking and long-form first-drafting over more than 50 years, and recent neurological research supporting the use of those tools in preference to keyboards as a way of engaging deep levels of the brain.
Here’s a blog post by Joe Buhlig which contains references to some of that research: http://joebuhlig.com/the-science-and-experience-of-analog-writing/
The title of Joe’s first reference more or less says it all: “A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop - Scientific American”.
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The link to The Science and Experience of Analog Writing refers to the neurological research - which I had read about previously - confirming the relative and potentially crucial  importance of making handwritten notes.
We should not overlook the distinct risk/possibility that, depending on one's peculiar make-up, relying on computer note-taking could potentially inhibit our ability to successfully learn.

@Dormouse:
That digital DM OneNote Notebook at http://www.cryrid.com/dnd/?page_id=153 was pretty impressive.
I guess he's using a w-i-d-e display screen.
I got used to using OneNote on a 14.1" laptop display, and more recently a 15.6" laptop display. More real estate on a bigger screen would be nice, but I don't really want a bigger laptop nor a separate larger display screen.

My organisation and use of Notebooks is pretty minimalistic, so I am not into beautifully designed pages such as that digital DM Notebook seems to be.
After a period of experimentation, I learned to organise my notes using macros and templates as much as possible, and create notes usually using indented numbered or bulleted (collapsible) sections and subsections. As discussed in an earlier post, I also use table cells quite often as "containers" for text and images, since their boundaries are more "sticky" than the main containers on a Notebook page. Containers and images can be dragged and resized.
You can create and assemble/arrange several containers in a page, and overlay them and add drawings/shapes. They "float" as objects in layers over the page, but they do not retain any attachment or fixed relationship to each other, so that if you change one container, the page layout starts to get messed up. I think that's a limitation.
I work around it by taking a screenshot (OneNote clip) which gives you a single image of the assembled containers/objects - which latter can then be deleted and replaced by the single image in the clip. Any embedded text in that image is automatically OCR'd and becomes searchable and copyable, so nothing gets "lost".

If you select and copy a selection of formatted text and images, and paste the contents of the clipboard into (say) irfanview, the whole thing - formatted text and images - pastes as a single image. I sometimes post those single images to a DCF post as my notes. This can save a lot of time - no more messing about with the kludgy BB formatting codes in the DC Forum post editor - I just post the image (sometimes with the same clipboard contents posted as the actual, but unformatted plain text in a spoiler, so people can grab that text if/when they need it - e.g., for hyperlinks).
Hope that all makes sense.

1. ...feels like a lot of effort to get there as Onenote always has for me...
2. ...btw, I get more and more confused by attempts to compare Onenote and Evernote. What's here is wonderful but it doesn't impact on my Evernote usage at all.
3. ...It's clear that people use Onenote in many different ways, each developed for their individual purposes.

1. Yes, I used to feel that way. The trick is to avoid assuming that you actually understand how best to use it and just approach it as though you are trying to use the thing "better" - e.g., I realised that if I dropped the old "data entry" habit and used the OneNote clipping tool and Windows Clipboard, then there were quicker ways to add/build useful content into one's notes, gathering text from elsewhere and even text inside images (e.g., an image of the "About" window of a program). Don't underestimate the automatic OCR capability of OneNote. It's a real timesaver, and the text in an image is very promptly indexed and thus easily found in searches. I started this discussion thread because, for me at any rate, using OneNote was not a simple affair and I figured that others might like to save time by learning from my experiences as I blundered along on my journey through the experiment.

2. I wouldn't recommend spending too much effort on comparing Onenote and Evernote - unless there was some practical purpose in it. I've used both and am familiar with their pros and cons, but I have at least been able to pragmatically determine which one has been able to best meet my peculiar needs in this so-called "information age". For example, see the long comment above in this thread on "OneNote as a 21st-century zettelkasten".

3. Yes, that's probably true, but some/most users (e.g., myself, my daughter) might typically be slow to find or appreciate some really nifty aspects of OneNote, because they don't have a common artificial framework of reference for how it could be used. "Too much to unlearn" maybe? They largely have to find out by trial-and-error, and my feeling is that a lot of people might not have the stamina to sustain that approach. Added to which, the OneNote developers are quietly beavering away in the background, making changes that are beneficial for users, so a seemingly kludgy feature found in OneNote today may be gone by tomorrow.