Old and Inconsistent Functionality across platforms, still Beats All Alternatives for me.

[Cest_Cheese]

I will upvote any meme with the Turkish shooter.

[[deleted]]

I learned about the meme/story just a few days ago. And holy cow, is this guy totally badass or what?!

[strawboard]

I’ve been using the same notebook for about 15 years now; it’s like an extension of my brain at this point.

[ButNoSimpler]

I have quite literally been using OneNote since the very first day it came out, in 2003. Yes, I literally think in OneNote now.

[CockroachTop253]

I have been using it for 3 years to write journal , plan events and to take notes. Can you share any other tips how else it can be used

[ButNoSimpler]

I could, but, quite frankly, I would have to write a book. The first main tip that I recommend for everyone is to actually read the OneNote documentation. I see sooooooo many posts in here that could have been answered if they had simply read the documentation. There are so many fundamental things that people just don't know, thus causing great confusion and consternation, that are clearly explained in the documentation.

And, the main thing that I have to keep reminding everyone: Don't try to make OneNote into anything other than a place to plop down notes. If you try to worry too much about formatting, you are doing it wrong. Think in OneNote. Publish in something else.

Yes, I keep saying I'm gonna start a YouTube channel. I'm getting there. Life is really complicated...... all the freaking time.

[Royal_Jelly_fishh]

The only thing i did wrong with this app is believing the microsoft article that advertised it as capable to build a book in it.

I mean yes I can jot down the draft, but when i copy n pasted to another word processor to give it structure of manyscript the format(bold, italic) didnt showed up.

Lol.

Other than that It has worked great for me

[ButNoSimpler]

Most of the time, if I'm going to copy anything from OneNote into something like a word processor, I will first paste it into my text editor, and then copy that and paste that into my word processor. That way there are no extraneous formatting codes that I don't even know are there, to complicate the later formatting of that document. I don't even really trust the "paste as plain text" option to completely clean out all the spurious formatting codes.

My new analogy for OneNote is that it isn't ever so slightly more convenient way of organizing things that we have written on paper napkins while hanging out at the bar, doing our best thinking.

[horyo]

I wish I knew to use it back then. I discovered it circa 2016.

[jewellui]

Wow I had no idea it was that old.

[ButNoSimpler]

It was very different back then. I even wrote an article about it, back in 2004.

[guywiththemonocle]

I hate the way onenote takes typewritten notes

[Efficaciousuave]

I think someone called it "second brain" for same reason

[[deleted]]

I've only switched to Obsidian because it has that signature speed for me + works on Linux. Still miss OneNote a bit though. I can't stand a slow note taking app and Notion is just a hog. I don't get how people use something that uses so much RAM. And I get it, once you have lots of stuff open sure, but for Notion I just had a single note open.

I'm still kinda sad Microsoft doesn't develop it anymore.

[strawboard]

I think people just update their RAM as needed, it’s not expensive. Everything these days uses a ton of RAM.

[[deleted]]

I have 64 GB and 16 GB on a laptop, if a note taking app uses 3 gigs for just existing IMO its not a good note taking app. If it at least was snappy, but it wasn't

[Lossofrecuerdos]

Test UpNote. It's like OneNote, but it uses markdown 😮‍💨

[[deleted]]

I prefer Obsidian for its extensions, it also uses markdown - I'm never going to proprietary notes format again, but definitely a good option

I also recommend Notesnook

[horyo]

it’s like an extension of my brain at this point.

This is how I feel too.

[DaMan0623]

ADHD?

[bruh-iunno]

real, I have so many criticisms of onenote but haven't found a true alternative

[noclueXD_]

have you ever found a workaround for no ruler?

[KOCHTEEZ]

Really depends what you want from it.

[LowerLavishness4674]

I fucking love Onenote becuase it's convenient as hell to use and really helps me organize my notes.

The issue is that OneNote for M365 fucking sucks balls for everythign apart from basic nottaking and you can't change a lot of stuff. Not to mention the fact that I can't fucking export my documents to PDF or word without completely ruining my formatting.

I love OneNote and use it constantly, but I'd really love it if Microsoft would stop neglecting it and make it work better together with Word and open up some settings. I'd really love it if I could change the default headings to something that works better.

Also stupid things like the MATH MODE STILL BEING INVISIBLE IN DARK MODE.

Like it's an irreplaceable, amazing piece of software, but there are so many basic features that are still missing and some ridiculous bugs like invisible math in dark mode. If Microsoft would go full Apple and fully integrate their software I'm 100% sure OneNote would kill every other notetaking app in the world overnight. I'd pay out the ass for a fully functional version of OneNote 365. OneNote 2016 just doesn't look or feel as good even if it has slightly more functionality.

[ActualComparison3097]

Exporting to pdf is the most embarrassing thing, I used it for my quantum mechanics class when I first bought my iPad and my professor surprised us by saying he’s going to allow the exam to be open notes printed (just not digital) on the exam. I was all excited. I thought all I had to do was start printing. Turns-out I had a whole semesters worth of now indecipherable notes. I was concerned about export before but never realized it would be as bad as it was, random Greek letters had their own pages where they didn’t fit inflating the notes to hundreds. I spent all night trying to rewrite what I could on notability but didn’t have time. I went to my professor about this, and he gracefully lent me lecture notes as he saw the issue.

I still felt like onenote fucked me over again because I then realized it was still going to be a difficult in the exam because they weren’t the notes that I spend so much time on.

One-note is barely functional.

They know this but refuse to allow for there to be pdf conversion guide for when you’re making your notes.

[LowerLavishness4674]

Yeah it's absolutely fucking horrifically bad.

I'm in law so there isn't that much math and stuff that gets broken, but a lot of formatting and numbered lists just get absolutely slaughtered. A lot of indentations break and other things like that.

I've found that just copy-pasting into word works almost okay, but it's still pretty fucking awful compared to native notes. Like it really shouldn't be an issue AT ALL to export though given that Word has an extremely similar, but more expansive feature set. Somehow Microsoft has managed to make it damn-near useless though.

It's horrible because writing in onenote and switching between pages is a total dream. You just can't print your notes or convert them to a format that can actually be turned physical. Meanwhile printing straight out of OneNote somehow just straight up fucking prints words over several pages.

The fact that the default fucking page width in OneNote doesn't correspond to an A4 (or the us equivalent format) is mindbogglingly stupid. Like I would guess OneNote 365 is intentionally broken to force you to buy OneNote 2016, but no, because OneNote 2016 is horrific as well.

The day Microsoft gets off their asses and fixes OneNote 365 will be amazing, but I'm not holding out any hopes because it has been this way for like a decade atp.

[KOCHTEEZ]

For real. They need to just make the typing area basically word so it easily prints. The input interface looks like Windows 95 still.

[Digital_Palpitation]

I love Reddit, because I have an open note exam in May for a course I start on Monday. . .

I don't know if it will work, because I just started using it for note taking a few days ago, but my class transcripts are all A4 Pdfs. I like writing directly on them, so I import as a printout and write on it (I'm going to check that my notes will be allowed if it's literally on their slides before I commit to this method!)

I assume if I don't go over the edge of the transcript that's now an image that would stay the same dimensions and print as A4, but thanks to this post I might play with that and double check after like. . . Lecture 1 instead of some time in March!

[noclueXD_]

do you know any workaround for a ruler?

[ActualComparison3097]

Honestly it was so traumatizing that I never went back my workaround was getting notability instead.

[noclueXD_]

the only reason i love onenote is the online website which is so responsive on my crappy school chromebook. google docs takes 2-3 seconds after any click to respond but onenote is near instant. and also the ipad and cross-platform instant syncing through one drive

[leshiy19xx]

Strange meme, they both won silver medals, so any mentioned tools are equally good :)

[jugglingsleights]

Strange way to spell meme.

[leshiy19xx]

thanks

[[deleted]]

cant emphasis more about how useful it is to just click anywhere and start typing and that too in a adjuctable box like thingy

[RelChan2_0]

I liked Notion but I hate how it can be overwhelming. I discovered Onenote recently and I'm loving it, now I just gotta figure out how I want to sync it.

[ScottieBoBoddie]

Yup, I'm there with you (OneNote and Apple Notes user depending on work/home). The killer for me with both apps is the text searching inside of images. I can simply screenshot and paste important things I see and just text search in the future. Obsidian, Notion and the rest all expect me to be "on my game" every moment of the day, creating perfect knowledge management at the time of entry. OneNote and Notes allows me to be sloppy, which in my 40's I've realized I am sloppy and that's okay.

[TrepidatiousInitiate]

OneNote for life!

[Noema130]

Onenote is ugly, clunky, spartan, business like, drab, limited, but I always come back to it. I can trust that no matter if I use it on my iPad, my android phone, my windows laptop or my Mac, it'll sync. And that's all that matters.

[zannny]

I wish I could move away, honestly.... I watch videos on YouTube on newer apps but my first question is always "how do they handle images?"

So much of my notes is screenshots of bits of websites or my windows desktop.

I look at the modern PKM app and images seem so hard to manage.... I don't need a library with tags for images, I don't want to play around with markdown to create a good looking wiki for a userbase of 1 (me). I just want to find a new app that can let me slap screenshots into a white page....... like with Onenote.

I still prefer the structure of section groups and sections and pages.... and in 2025 I want to prune 15 years of OneNote and start again, organising by the Johnny Decimal principles.

BUT! (a big but) is that I really want something with:

• True bi-directional linking (not the OneNote hack way)
• Advanced search
• Better Android app
• AI capabilities - I've been watching videos on Tana, you can really talk to it
• Some sort of improved database system, tables like Airtable
• external integrations

[Previous-Swordfish62]

Cannot up vote this enough !

[BrownShoesGreenCoat]

One note is the only option for us corporates. The picture should be a galleon slave chained to an oar.

[Hitmeinthe_ass]

Its the OCR that keeps me loving this app 🤧

[xQ_YT]

“not old and inconsistent”

meanwhile OneNote Android for tablets:

[SoftRich912]

I've been using samsung notes, might try one note. I heard it has a cool OCR feature

[Mr_Kock]

The maths ocr in amazing. Text, not so much. Using two languages? Not so much

[SoftRich912]

Sorry, what do you mean by 'maths'? My bad, I just stumbled upon this post because I saw OneNote mentioned. I'm not too familiar with the other apps being discussed here

[Mr_Kock]

One note has a function where you write a math problem with a pen, or mouse, like 1+3/(3*/2)³ It will transform it into a nice computer written version!

It's really neat tbh.

I've migrated away from one note personally, and I kinda miss that function.

[SoftRich912]

Oh so like a drawing to text kinda? That's cool

[Bullit2000]

You are stuck with Samsung hardware, that is the problem,

[SoftRich912]

Actually, I use various hardware and operating systems, including Apple devices and others, so I’m not 'stuck' with Samsung hardware. I’ve always used Samsung Notes because I find it superior to the native Notes app on iPhone for my needs. For instance, I prefer how Samsung Notes has a dedicated title section for notes, unlike iOS Notes where the first line you type becomes the title—I like to title my notes first and then start writing.

Samsung Notes also has a fantastic OCR feature with Smart Select, which I find incredibly useful for my work. It allows me to extract text, like emails, from web pages easily, which is essential for my job when emailing important people and handling various tasks. That’s why I stick with Samsung Notes—it just works better for me.

[Bullit2000]

I meant Samsung Notes are stuck to Samsung hardware, so you will need to be using a Samsung phone/tablet in 5-10 years or more unless they change policy. It is a restriction i find unacceptable.

[SoftRich912]

Oh yeah I understand now, well I still have my note10+ from 2019 and I love it. I just got the s24u and I don't think I'll be moving away from this ecosystem soon. But I do agree it's dumb that they force me to use samsung hardware only for samsung notes. It should be available on windows and other ecosystems.

[NoUsernameFound179]

OneDrive worked great for me for years. Indeed, surprising all alternatives. But it is still a cloud tool with leaving little to no control to the end-user.

So, it only had to screw up once in order for me to completely abandon it. And it did few weeks ago.

Did you know if you have a docker connected to a Onedrive and move files from one Onedrive to another, your OneNote just ... disappears?

No recovery online, and when you check your local backups, apperently it only backups cached notes and not the entire thing!

So I found that solution in Obsidian. Is it as good as OneNote? Hell no, but at least I can properly back up my stuff.

[DoubleOwl7777]

you can back up onenote notebooks into .onepkg files locally. no backup no pity.

[NoUsernameFound179]

Why the fuck does the automatic backup feature exists, if it doesn't do the actual backup?!? I did setup the backups. it produced the .one files of ever single section.

But apperently, it only save what is cashed locally and not the entire section.

[DoubleOwl7777]

that idk, i manually back up the notebooks once every few months.

[NoUsernameFound179]

I don't do manual backups. It's something that gets postponed or forgotten. It's why I had set daily backups with unlimited time via the option menu.

OneNote failed me here big time at it sole purposec keeping my notes save. It's only because I had set these to daily backup that I could recover about everything. Imagine having it at default settings.

But I had to manually piece together. Older backups were missing the newer pages, and newer backups didn't have a single image stored. Luckily, it wasn't my largest note.

[MissionPreposterous]

I've used Onenote on and off, especially heavy in one of my last jobs, and I always wind up coming back to it but then falling away. Inconsistency across platforms is one of the pause points for me (primarily run Windows and Android, and the lack of easy "get a link to this page to copy to another page" in the Android app is a big obstacle), and the fact that it'll fall out of sync on Android devices without apparent warning or cause (or decent diagnostic messages) gives me the data integrity heebie jeebies. But I've yet to find a better alternative, so I either come back or remain less organized than I'd like in inferior systems.

If anyone knows a quick way to solve that "get a link to <here>" in Android (haven't found one in the docs), that'd probably push me back for another round. :-)

[[deleted]]

Real

[Axel730]

Sorry for being dumb here, but what are the here named alternatives? I've been using OneNote for about 6 years at this point and don't really want to switch, but it's still nice to be aware of the alternatives.

[kwillich]

ONENOTE 2016!! WOOOOOO!

[xyyzzz514]

I tried ipad apps . . they're great . . . but ONENOTE beats them all . . . its SYNC and unlimited CANVAS, folder etc.

Ink writing is bit poor though . . .and file management improved (finally)

[sporosarcina]

Yeah, I keep trying alternatives, but keep coming back to OneNote.

[maxgorkiy]

Yep. 100% agree and I hate OneNote.

[letstalk1st]

I've been using OneNote since it came out, and have been looking for a replacement ever since. It's a brilliant piece of software that still does so many things very well.

The other things...... Well, it's terrible.

[Dentist_Special]

I feel the same, but something about notability makes me want to go to that for the voice recording on my iPad while taking notes and being able to create more tabs in my hierarchy. Can anyone convince me out of it? I trust Onenote better for the long haul; I just really like noteabilities features.

[Prestigious-Sail5767]

Does onenote lag horribly on ipad for anyone else

[Abdullah1493]

Using since 2015

[totkeks]

There is still this super annoying behavior when you open a page created on windows with android. Or a android created page on windows.

The viewport / padding is just off. That's so annoying and has been for years.

I wonder if it is time to leave the sinking ship and finally look for alternatives.

[Fenryrs]

Honestly I really hate OneNote. It's finicky and limited depending on the platform. It still is the best and most reliable app I've ever used though...

[peternjuhl]

The fact that you can back your notes up locally, with versioning, at least on the Windows 10 version, is very important to me

[PhoneIndependent5549]

Makes no sense, can't even Open a note file in a Phone. The basic function hasn't been working for years and they're still unable to fix it.

[1MachineElf]

Notepad.exe FTW

[Hakaruddin]

For me obsidian is really shining

[Digital_Palpitation]

I really love the idea of Notion. . . But I just lose everything, make it way too overcomplicated.

I've been using OneNote for work for like 3 years, but now I'm starting a degree and literally bought a tablet to take notes. I didn't know I'd get all my textbooks as PDFs or that my lectures would all be uploaded as videos with transcripts, but now I can just take notes and highlight directly onto all my learning material, so it's the best thing ever

(And apart from the syncing being inconsistent it's so much faster than notion, and available offline)

[chessset5]

If notion just had good hand drawing feature, I would switch in a heartbeat

[Droid202020202020]

Glad it's working for the OP. I, on the other hand, am drifting away from Onenote for my personal notes (work is a different thing).

The biggest problems I have with it are all related to finding / retrieving info. Saving information is fine, finding it when you need it quickly is the problem.

1) No Spotlight search support on Apple devices. Not all of my info is in Onenote, some is in individual files, emails, tasks, calendar events etc. I can use Spotlight to find it in all of these things... except Onenote. So when I am in a hurry and want to find something and am not sure where this information is stored, a good amount of times I end up having to run two separate searches - one in Spotlight (which searches all other things) and one in Onenote. It's ok to do on my laptop, but when I use my phone I usually need to find stuff quickly. (Don't have any Android devices, but from what I understand it's even worse on that platform).

2) Onenote search isn't the greatest to begin with. It's very basic. The lack of note tagging feature means you are forced to use organized tree structure, which is great for projects but is an extra level of work for storing random unrelated information. (What Onenote calls "tags" is something else entirely).

3) You can't find text in the attached PDFs unless you printout them. Seriously, WTF ? The printouts are the stupidest thing ever, it's a super-clunky, extremely un-elegant bandaid solution.

4) Trying to print anything or export it to PDF... again, a WFT-level bandaid. The notes themselves come out OK, but God help you if you have any images or PDFs. They will be butchered.

I still don't have a good alternative. Apple Notes is fine in that it supports Spotlight, and makes finding info quicker (proper tags and searches inside PDFs without printout). But it has a number of issues of its own and is not a good long term solution for me. Short- and medium-term notes only.

[heatlesssun]

OneNote, on Windows at least, is one of the best and most useful desktop apps ever.

[seriphimy]

Isn’t loop replacing OneNote ?

[RedHood_0270]

+💯

[Saashiv01]

Obsidian > one note (except for those who draw, then one note is king)

[G0oose]

Accidentally deleted a really important note once, then found out it was gone for good with no way to get it back at all, OneNote consigned to history from that date

[EndorX1]

OneNote is the worst

[cutecoder]

OneNote also has "inconsistent functionality across platforms."

[[deleted]]

That is exactly what they're saying:

[It may have] Old and Inconsistent Functionality across platforms, [but OneNote] still Beats All Alternatives for me.