“Microsoft is cranking out a bag of change since they kicked out former CEO Steve Ballmer. The trail he left isn’t pretty. The Zune is gone. Xbox doesn’t make any money. Sales of Windows PCs are on the decline. Windows Phone has insignificant marketshare,” Jack D. Miller writes for Mac360. “Yet, here’s our favorite Windows maker’s latest – a free app for the Mac.”
“To be honest about my perspective, I’m not a fan of Microsoft, Windows, Office or even Xbox,” Miller writes. “One of Microsoft’s more popular apps on iPhone is also on the Mac. It’s called OneNote, a free digital notebook that syncs with other devices running OneNote… Yes, OneNote works on Apple Watch and it works well.”
“OneNote works much like Evernote. It’s a digital notebook that captures almost anything including images (scanned receipts, documents, etc), features a mini-word processor, has easy search tools, and syncs with OneNote on other devices,” Miller writes. “As a somewhat typical Microsoft app, OneNote for the Mac has a cluttered but familiar Windows-app-like look. Think toolbars and tabs and lots of both.”
Read more and see the screenshots in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anybody use OneNote? We’re 100% Microsoft-free here, so let us know what you think of this thing.
Very Good product!
It is required in several medical schools and in many graduate programs.
Nearly everyone that uses it likes it.
I have tried as hard as I could to use OneNote over the past few years.
The bottom line: GET ME A MASSIVE GLASS OF ICE WATER PLEASE.
‘Familiar Microsoft app like look’. My interest stopped right there, even when their interfaces look clear and simple, they inevitably are anything but.
No Thanks MS. Go fly a kite along with Goople.
I switched from EverNote to OneNote about three weeks ago. I did not like the fact that EverNote forced me to go to 2 devices on the basic app. So, I switched to OneNote. One glaring fact I miss on EverNote that’s not in OneNote: you can’t arrange things alphabetically, let alone by date. You have to manually do this. PITA!!! Typical MS tho.
Here’s how to get around the 2 device limit. First, select your 2 devices, in my case iMac and iPhone. Second: use the web interface on your third and additional devices. In my case I use the web interface on my MacBook Pro.
This is an excellent tip – thanks!
Thanks. Excellent tip.
Thanks for the review. I’ve been thinking about dumping Evernote too, since their announcement.
Maybe I just need to take the plunge and do it.
I dropped Evernote and exported all the notes to Notes — free and syncs across all of my devices. It lacks a bit of functionality but works for me.
No sense putting Microsoft crapware on any of our devices. So many other choices out there that aren’t tainted by the Redmond brand and Ballmer legacy who’ve had their unfortunate day. They should focus their energies too on planning their own future funeral instead of others. You’ll never find a company with a larger sack of CEO FAIL.
I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a note saying I approved.
If you had the intelligence to be able to use MS Word or Excel you might change your mind.
A shame you have yet to find the power button on any computer, a taxing problem for you.
Frankly Frank I have used Microsoft products on motion pictures, television and for personal use for many years. The only one I found remotely redeemable or needed was Excel. And even that I haven’t needed in a mighty long time. Your juvenile needs may vary.
Obviously you have unsuccessfully learned to write adult missives despite whatever word processing program you use.
I see you admit that you do not use MS Office products. I understand the learning curve was too steep for you. There is no shame in being unable to use certain softwares. What I don’t understand is why you boast about your intellectual inadequacies.
On my now you can’t even READ above second grade level. I said I had used their products for years which I guess in your limited cognitive way means NEVER. I understand basic concepts are taxing you here. It’s just too bad you never continued your education hence the doofus & clueless quality of your posts here – brandishing your rapier dull edged (half)wit with glee and looking a fool.
But you obviously do not use these products any more. Were you frustrated with your inability grasp how they worked? Switching from MS Office to Apple Works is like changing from oil painting to crayons. Congratulations, you found a software suite designed for simpletons. I sure your happy now.
My need for them disappeared. I use programs like Final Draft and FADE IN. Even Apple Notes and Text Edit for mostly simpler stuff and I think most people’s needs are met by a simpler program. Rarely do I get into Word or Excel and never Power Point. They are on my system but now sit largely ignored. You do understand the correlation between need and usage don’t you?
Well simpleton & imbecile and the like after all is a mental state you live with everyday so I don’t see why you have a problem with it.
Wow, your need for Word and Office disappeared like a fart in the wind. So anyone who uses software you don’t need is less a person in your mind? I get it now, you are a bigot.
Still, you admit that “people’s needs are met by a simpler program”. What about those people who need more sophisticated software? Why do you criticize people for using software too sophisticated for you? Jealousy? Regret? Fear? Anger? Disappointment?
Wow someone like me is not entitled to their opinion? I never said those who need it should be denied it. How stupid and disingenuous are you putting imaginary blatherings in other people’s words? Nothing I could say would alter someone else’s need. Only the insecure and fractious souls like yours without a dollop of sense take it as a threat. Grow up junior.
You entitled to sharing any ignorant and bigoted post you desire. Don’t expect everyone to congratulate you for being an uneducated, arrogant, classless jerk.
That’s more your specialty and you put it into practice intensely & with great aplomb. I can’t imagine you have many friends being the supercilious, boorish & bilious little boy brat you are.
Please take your pissing contest elsewhere. Only insightful, useful comments here.
Man, I miss the comic relief that Ballmer T. Clown provided, he was like the Tricky Dick Nixon of tech…
mem’ries, like the brown Zune in your toilet…
Evernote is a much better archiving tool, and much more powerful. Beautiful interface as well. Learning curve is higher though. Evernote Premium is worth the money.
OneNote’s notetaking area is also too freeform for my tastes; I like the note formatting limitations in Evernote, which helps with consistency across all notes.
Also, OneNote on the Mac lacks some of the features on the Windows version.
I’ve been using OneNote happily now for about 2 years on all my devices (iMac, iPhone, iPad Pro & MBA). In contrast, only use other Office apps under protest as they are required for my work. Anything personal is done in Mail and iWork. The UI is pure MS, but it’s free, syncs decently across all devices, and does what I need with almost no pain.
Funny, how people seem to constantly and consistently report that MS Office is used exclusively at “work”. No one apparently uses Apple Works in the real worlds of business and academia.
Frank, are you aware that AppleWorks does not exist on any Mac since Snow Leopard? It was discontinued years ago.
Frankly, Frank doesn’t. Or if he does, he is ‘ZuneTang’ reborn. Or he is the alter ego of Derek Currie, Jekell to his Hyde, Hyde to his Jekell.
Who knows? Frank could be Steve Dullmer in troll mode. Anything is pissable, just be happy you’re pissed off rather than pissed on.
Does OneNote allow the user to store a copy of a document on a device in case one is not able to access the Internet?
I was happily MS free until I found OneNote was the only app like it. I started using Evernote for simple notes and information, although I now replaced that with the iOS Notes app. For richer or collaborative documents, OneNote is unbeatable. I did search for the Circus Ponies product, but their website only holds a message saying they’ve packed up because MS stole their product!
So for rich documents, where collaboration is necessary, or you want to hand write over web pages and stuff on your iPad Pro, OneNote is, sadly perhaps, unbeatable.
Because of this, I didn’t feel so bad about installing the latest Office on a friends Mac. Maybe that had improved? Nope. Bag of hurt. He’s given up, written off the money, and gone with my original advice of using Pages.
Err…am I the only one who thinks Notes is just fine?
You obviously fail the Apple fanboy test.
OneNote is the best thing MS have ever produced. The only good thing. I use it all the time. First started using it for work (an MS infused IT dept), but now I use it for everything. Free syncing to as many devices as I can think of is the big draw.
Scrivener is a writing App with great note taking tools and it now is on iOS, in additional the Mac.
The best thing about OneNote is that it’s not Evernote.
The feature I like the best on Evernote is the clipper that allows me to ‘clip’ a website and store it for later reading. That and the ability to store notes for offline use when the Internet is not available.
Notes on the Mac and the iPhone work just fine.
To be honest- never used it.
“Typical Microsoft Interface?” Well, then- not for me.
Nothing from M$ is ever actually free. I’m sure they are siphoning off tons of personal data to monetize.
“…not a fan of… Office…”
OneNote is a Microsoft Office product.
If you don’t like Office, It’s because you don’t need to make spreadsheets that function (Excel) or a full featured email application (Outlook). Fact is, for REAL work, Office is second to none.
“for REAL work, Office is second to none.”
except it’s not 1992 anymore.
“Windows Phone has insignificant marketshare..”
Wait, didn’t IDC tell us a couple of years ago that Windows Phone would have 10% marketshare in 2017? Maybe they’ll have a stupendous Q4 🙂
One analyst had Windows Phone passing Android by 2013. I believe she is no longer an analyst, but rather has been promoted to manager.
http://bgr.com/2011/05/10/windows-phone-will-beat-android-in-2013-analyst-explains/
I’ve been a long time user of OneNote on my Mac, iPhone and iPad. Honestly, if it didn’t have the MS name branded on it, I think more folks from the Apple world would use it. It’s really a complete and powerful note app and works well on all my devices. I think it gets a bad wrap because of the name. So I challenge folks to cover up the MicroSoft part and just give it a fair test. You may be surprised by how well it actually works and how many features it offers! And yup… it’s free, fully functional, and quite professionally executed on all my devices.
Would love to hear why someone would prefer OneNote over Evernote. Personally, I still consider DevonThink Pro Office to be the best organiser ever…with the drawback that its dated UI, lack of iOS client and cloud sync feels, well, dated. Still, in terms of functionality, DevonThink still doesn’t have a proper contender.
I’m in the Evernote camp. I’ve used OneNote, it isn’t bad, but I don’t see it as the archival tool that Evernote is. Also, I find not having to deal with where my OneNotes are to be convenient – I’ve lost data before using Outlook.com as the repository, which was fatal to me. I could see where others might prefer to have some control of where the data is stored…
I have tried both One Note and Google Keep, but find the Apple Note app the most convenient because of the ecosystem.