I've been using OneNote for well over 15 years. I have notebooks for personal life, as well as work life. On all my tech devices (2-in-1 laptops, phone with a stylus, and tablet with a stylus), OneNote is a must have for me. I do a lot of typing and handwriting, and even though I've experimented with many other notetaking apps, OneNote is really the best tool for me to keep all of my thoughts and ideas. I really wish, though, that there were more types of paper templates and planner templates for free, especially for all of us who pay the yearly subscription price for M365.

Organizations spend massive amounts of money in the hope their employees will benefit, in some cases without much training. I've been retired for a dozen years now but have often wondered what the real return was on those investments I pushed through my organization as IT Director. I'll never know but would really like to see the difference in the effectiveness of organizations like mine, and those that have the same tools but are properly trained. We live in a world where many people believe technology is easy and they can point to mobile device in their hand as their evidence. That "Easy Button" mentality causes them to believe you just have to roll out the latest hardware/software and people will be able to figure it out for themselves. I know firsthand that's not usually the case, so investments won't achieve the results hoped for. This video is thought provoking.

OneNote on the iPad with Apple Pencil is a great experience. I moved to Apple notes but would go back to OneNote if they added better integration to MS todo for tasks.

Markdown support for OneNote most definitely wouldn't hurt. It would just add a cool possibility. Not everyone using OneNote has a tablet with a pen. So if type my notes I have to invest a lot of time properly formatting them. E.g. typing a text, selecting it with the mouse, marking it as a heading. In Markdown i would simply type "# My Heading Text" and I'm done. For my use case OneNote isn't right. I used it extensively over 5 years with my Surface Pro but I found better solutions. By the way if you install Excalidraw in Obsidian you have a canvas to freely write with your pen. And if you have to share your notes Markdown ist the way to go. It's plain text and can be flexibly converted to almost everything.

Your videos and explanations are amazing!

I rely on OneNote as a student because it combines hand writing, with the ability to link digital resources on the page along with hand written notes - like web links, videos and podcasts, and images.

Totally agree. One Note is a great tool. I can type when necessary and writes tons of notes with the pen... It's a very usefull tool for me as a teacher.

Super. Exactly the video I was looking for. Was initially looking for an alternative for Apple Notes after my switch to Android. By chance, I came across the method "The second brain". At first I looked at Notion and Obsidian. Great tools but too much overhead for me. In the end, I found the combination of OneNote and Microsoft ToDo to be best for my needs. Your video was an enrichment for me. I'm looking forward to learning more about OneNote through your channel and thank you in advance.

Well presented and referenced. You didn't mention Roam Research, but your point is about writing rather than typing. Deep associated memory is imbedded more easily through writing and recalled through trigger words. I am wondering if you have applied mind mapping on Onenote? A feature on this would be useful. I used mindmaps to prepare presentations and could use single words to trigger complex concepts. From one sheet I could present a 20 to 30 minute oral presentation, without the need for written scripts. This was a time saver and allowed me to react to audience feedback that made the presentation more natural. Writing mindmaps, recording speech and converting to typed text on the Onenote canvas. Perhaps you could demonstrate something like that!

Well said. I am a OneNote user since it's beginning. The ability to convert my handwritten notes to text was the best thing ever! I am still waiting for a more nuanced search capability. I do use TheBrain in conjunction with OneNote as a visual relational database, especially now that it has dropped markdown.

Your explanation is so good. Even though your points are good I still prefer obsidian and notion for classic notetaking

This was really thought-provoking. Thanks from a fellow OneNote fan! ~Michele

Great video Brett. I use logseq and love it. I do a lot of research and reading, plus I use it as a bullet journal. In saying that, I still use onenote as a big filing cabinet and for handwritten notes. Most people aren't me and aren't going to invest hours into learning a complicated markdown based note taking system with tagging and queries.

I tried to get into Notion as my job requires the use of Chromebooks (M365 isn’t available on Chromebooks outside of the web interface which is awful for OneNote) and fully agree that it wasn’t able to help me recall to the same level that OneNote can with its integration of typing and handwriting. I’m glad you discussed that it’s highly reliant on markdown tools because it seemed even for typed notes, the process of bullet pointing out what my the lecturers in my training materials were saying was far slower than OneNote. I couldn’t figure out why that was, but the explanation makes much more sense now. I do wish OneNote had the ability to do pagination to a similar degree as the iPad apps GoodNotes and Notability with various customizable templates. Being able to fully replicate a notebook with the power of things like PowerPoint and PDF markups would be far more useful than the infinite scrolling design of OneNote.

Just got the slim pen för the duo 2 after watching your other videos. is it possible to use the pen as camerashutter? click in the top can activate the camera but can it be used to take a photo? awsome video as always

I started wither Evernote, but when I discovered OneNote, that became my primary note taking tool. It is so flexible with the types of information you can input into it. In fact you demonstrated some ways that I embarrassed to say I have never tried, despite using OneNote every day for over a decade! I was still using Evernote for my deep and rambling thoughts. Though I was considering shifting these across to Obsidian, while still keeping the bulk of my notes on OneNote. Though from your comments around mark down, I'm considering whether to just keep it simple and use OneNote for everything - reference notes, meeting notes, technical notes, journaling, thoughts and ideas. It doesn't have linking the way Obsidian does but I'm not sure it is as important as people say it is, well at least for me anyway.

Great thought and yes writing makes databases in head while writing in markdowns makes database in computer

Brett, you are so right, I have been using OneNote for a while now with the Pen and it does allow you to think and conceptualise ideas. The Pen is mightier than the keyboard, I think I just made that up. I have created templates in my One note to structure my thinking, maybe I can show you these? R

I work for a corporate as an engineer, so data security is extremely important. For that reason, OneNote is the choice. Obsidian is nice and maybe useful when we first heard of its features. But the truth is, the power of OneNote comes from its ecosystem, aka MS office, which is why MS office is used at large corporates.

Great video! I use notability on iPad but thinking of getting a surface and switching to one note

Very rightly said , OneNote is the tool I would use. I did try Obsidian, Logseq and other tools but will stick to OneNote.

It is good to have a generic setup so if an app is no longer available, you don't lose access to your notes. I started using computers in the 1980s. I can't get to most of the things I have written because they are on old systems. This is why I want to learn about markdown so I don't lose my information

Handwritten notes are searchable in Obsidian using OCR plugins. Also notes can be dictated. + Obsidian is free, offline, and secure. Also this "highly structured" criticism is interesting. OneNote is a conventional folder based notebook which enforces a top down hierarchy, whereas Obsidian enables both hierarchical and lateral thinking through folders, tags, and direct links.

Amazing!

So, if there will be an app like obsidian where we could write with a stylus, then that would be the best of both worlds and probably the best note taking app ever.

You really misrepresented what Markdown is and how difficult it is to use. I am not a software developer and I never have programmed anything but I learned the basics of Markdown in five minutes. I understand that you have an agenda but you should have been more fair. You can use Obsidian and Notion without ever having to write any code. You can simply type text and never use any of the features of Markdown. That would be a shame since you would be missing out but it can be done. On another note, I agree with your point about writing over typing. That is absolutely true. So, get a physical notebook and a pen and start note taking. It's way better!

I agree with you 100% - I've been looking to move off of Evernote after 10+ years - too much $$. So, I tried Obsidian - not intuitive - and continue to endure Notion because other people I work with use it. But I finally got around to exploring OneNote and I fell in love. I can't believe I didn't use it before. It has a natural flow and is intuitive. I exported my 10 years worth of Evernote brain dumps and migrated to OneNote, and I am not looking back! Everyone is different, as long as a note taking method provides hours of creativity and not hours of having to learn how to use it - that's a WIN!

One year late but this video is gold . I feel like notion/obsidian crowd in note-taking space is like the "audiophiles" in the music listening space . You understand that their priority lies elsewhere when you keep hearing them throwing phrases like " highly structured notes " , "markdown is superior" , "look at our superior organisation and sheer volume of notes" , "look how many and how sophisticated plugins I use" . It's like they are trying to replicate the activity of a computer forgetting the organic aspect of note-taking . Seriously you don't need all those fancy stuff for just taking notes which will just facilitate your organic memory and recalls .

Thanks for the video, I will try to lern how to use one note better, I really tryed but I dont like it, probably becouse I'm not using it properly but I don't know how to do. It do not allow me to connect the things like I do with logseq, When I try to type thare are all that blocks that appear when I click with the mouse .... I hate them, make me so confusing.

I will have to agree and disagree with you. Btw, I have been fervent and passionate OneNote user for 6 years from 2013 ~ 2018. OneNote used to be my ONLY notetaking app and helped me to ace all my University grades (graduating Summa Cum Laude). Thanks to OneNote, I've invested myself into the Windows / Surface / Outlook ecosystem (and currently a user of the Surface Laptop Studio). Let me get to my point. Like you said, OneNote is highly capable of taking each rich note, individually. However, while they are good at taking notes individually, I would have to argue that OneNote has some drawbacks for the usuability of the notes TOGETHER. The individual notes themselves are small pieces of information and knowledge that you processed, but when it comes to the knowledge management standpoint, you need to link them, add more context to each note to be able increase its usability. I've moved over to Notion in late 2018 (used it very heavily), and moved to Obsidian in late 2021. What made me move away from OneNote was that it is difficult to LINK notes, which it is possible indeed possible in OneNote with the double brackes[[]], but very very difficult, while Obsidian and Notion makes it easy to do so. With OneNote, after making a link with [[]] double brackets, the links are not dynamic but static: if the names of the note that I connected change, the link is disconnected. This is why I had to go for another Note-taking app as my primary notetaking system and change to another platform. Since 2018, I've moved from OneNote to Notion, and eventually to Obsidian because of the searchabiilty and the graph view, which shows your connections. You referenced a quote from Tiago Forte, but he also emphasizes the importance of connections between your notes. So after graduating from university, and when I started working, and now pursuing my Masters, I am seeing the importance of linking your notes, and this is what OneNote lacks. And the point about Markdown, while yes, it is another "language" that you have to learn, markdown was created to format writing easily as you go. Those who are invested in Notion and Obsidian, even though they have been new to markdown, it makes the notetaking process even more easier. I won't necessarily say that markdown is a hassle to learn. However, this doesn't mean that I do not love OneNote. (As I mentioned, I am invested into the WIndows, Office, Surface ecosystem THANKS to OneNote, and I am locked into it.) I do agree that for a Windows user, it is the best notetaking system capable of dynamic and rich text + image + drawing + free-form notetaker. I still use OneNote for quick capture, and whenever I would need to annotate a pdf and requires handwriting. However, for long-term processing, connection, and using the note to -- borrow from Tiago Forte's vocabulary -- "Distill" and "Express" using the knowledge that I've connected.

Onenote have this excellent feature called "printout" which is very usefull for students. Does any other note taking app has similar feature??

I'm not convinced that OneNote should not support Markdown. In the context of content creation (note taking), it provides the ability to format information more efficiently. Because you can format on the fly and more quickly, it's easier and quicker to take notes in real time, providing formatting options that make them easier to consume later - rather than having to choose between formatting now (and lagging behind the information stream) or formatting later and having to remember what needed to be emphasized. Supporting Markdown really comes down to being able to access and use text formatting features of OneNote, like italics, bold, Headings, tables, etc. using efficient, in-context text identifiers rather than multiple keyboard shortcuts to fly around the menus or, worse, taking a hand off the keyboard to use the mouse to click 'I', 'B', bullet list, etc. I don't think I would go so far as to call it another language as that might imply something much "heavier" than what it is, i.e., formatting/text markup . In several of the comments below, the Author mentions to change note-taking techniques -- they don't say it but they suggest techniques like short-hand, which I see as an input format not much different than markdown, an input formatting technique. If text markup was not appropriate or undesirable in OneNote, they wouldn't offer text markup functionality; and at that point, OneNote would just be a fancy text editor. And fancy only insofar as it organizes information into book-like structures, but no fancy text - boring to consume.

I would use a pen... However, my typing speed is much faster than my writing. I don't need a markdown tool, but since OneNote refuses to introduce features that deal with syntax, I've been forced to move to Obsidian. Also, Obsidian offers their full desktop client on Android. Really! It adapts perfectly to my screen size on a tablet or a phone. Additionally, OneNote for Android is abysmal. On my Samsung devices I still haven't received an update for OneNote that shows my feed and stickies. Seriously! On my outgoing Galaxy S21, and my new Z Fold 4 running Android 13, I still have the old OneNote interface with no access to Stickies. Microsoft needs to get it together. I've already left Surface for my tablet needs and I've been onboard since the SP1 Pro! Lately I've been questioning the worth of OneDrive for my family. I've been paying for it for years and it just seems a bit behind some of the competition. What Microsoft needs is simple. All the Office apps should be scalable web apps with great responsive design that adapt to all screen sizes, which is what the incoming Outlook purports to be. iPad, iOS, Windows, and Android versions should be, essentially, the same exact thing. Lastly, Microsoft needs to realize how valuable engineers are. They already offer world-class tools for building software. In fact, VS Code is the de facto standard for web development. Integrate it with OneNote! Let us, simply, copy-and-paste code! Obsidian will never allow pen input, meaning it would be so easy for OneNote to become the best note-taking tool for everyone. The criticism they're getting is well-deserved.

Thank you so much for creating such an informative video about OneNote as a note-taking tool. I really appreciate your clear explanation of why OneNote should not be considered a markdown tool, and your discussion of the unique strengths of OneNote, such as its handwriting recognition and drawing tools. I completely agree with your points about the limitations of typing notes and the superiority of OneNote over other note-taking tools. I use OneNote from its day one and I am currently working on a massive notebook with more than 7000 embedded videos about mathematics, computer and data science, as well as some top universities etc. Everything is linked, indexed and well organized. Can’t reveal its name yet but has the word …Brain in it. I’ll let you know when it’s out for free for everyone to use and learn from.

I'm logged in to One Note via 365 Business Std licence - there is no transcribe option in One Note (or even Word). So how do I activate this on my surface laptop studio please?

Dear friend, maybe you already know, maybe someone has already wrote about, but by simply installing a plag in in Obsidian (called Excalidraw), you can write on a white (or black) A4 sheet with the digital pen. Could be interesting? For that reason I switched to Obsidian.

Obsidian serves a different purpose than OneNote, at least for me. Obsidian is excellent for building a knowledge base. Everything said here makes complete sense, and I agree; however, it's just the first phase of an incremental process. I believe knowledge bases are very important. It's extremely difficult to reconstruct the context and knowledge solely from notes and fragments of information. I know this because I've encountered the problem a few times; a few months are enough for me to forget the details. Furthermore, someone else might be interested in the information. Imagine if your spouse needs to pay the monthly bills because you're traveling or in the hospital; if there's a knowledge base, they'll be able to complete the task without needing assistance. That said, OneNote can indeed be used to build a knowledge base because it's possible to connect pages through references, links between pages, or Wikilinks. In conclusion, it's essential to process notes as soon as you have the time so that the information is not lost; I call this process compilation.

Unfortunately Apple Pencil is not working with OneNote iPad

Solid.

This reminded me of why i love Onenote, and taught me about transcripts which i didn't use previously, but I'm going to try it now. Thank you!

One note doesn't have syntax highlighting, which makes it difficult to read code blocks and it can't paste with reserving the formatting.

I used onenote for many many years - until two years ago when I came across notion, and then obsidian this year. I would still be using onenote if only it had robust tagging and linking, especially tagging. I want to be able to tag my notes on the fly and get back to it later. Onenote doesn't allow me do that.

If more companies issued touch enabled devices one note would be great. But I've only ever gotten bare bones 15 year old barely functional laptops as work devices.

ye ye, transcription is great feature, as long as the meeting is facilitaed in English.

I have almost never heard such a long list of false dilemmas xD

I use OneNote for Windows 10 everyday for personal and business. I use many different applications for design, graphics and video, and regularly need to look a particular how-to. OneNote is the place that I add these references. It's also helpful taking notes in the doctors office with my pen. And I can reference these notes from any of my five computers and cellphone. I'm looking forward to future updates when I finally move (maybe in 2024) to Windows (not yet ready for prime time)11.

I don’t understand his point. I write notes to remember, but I don’t remember what and where I wrote it. I’ve never used a pen once for Onenote. So isn’t he contradicting what he said? Or is he condemning OneNote users who don’t use a stylus? I have an iPad and pencil. Love them. I have GoodNotes and think it’s great but I struggle with organizing my notes. That’s why I use obsidian. It’s far more organized. Maybe someone should teach me how to organize digital paper notes so I have a clue where to find them like I do with obsidian.

They removed the Evernote import tool.

Spot on Brett. Nothing compares.

Great point about the digital pen -- makes me want to get a drawpad for my laptop. With that said, I would like to point out that if you master Markdown (which takes about 15 minutes), you do NOT have to think about coding as you type. It just is an easier form of keyboard shortcuts. Very easy to learn. Very intuitive. And very quick (except for tables). And it can be used for much more than just taking notes. Need to write a paper, markdown is so much more enjoyable and efficient then using one's mouse or even most keyboard shortcuts.

Why did you stop making videos :( ?

I guess if you are a MS heavy user OneNote is the tool for you. If not, Obsidian is way better in every sense, even if dont use the markdown capabilities.

Excalidraw in obsidian solves this gap and its open source!

If you REALLY want add think time, hand write with a fountain pen.

that’s exactly why i’m quitting linux. i love LMDE 5 but i need onenote for my studies, all my notes are there and i really need its tools which aren’t fully available on linux OS, since there’s no full support for windows apps on it.

Excalidraw

I saw in a video that in Obsidian you can write normally and format text just like in OneNote. The markdown code is hidden but can be viewed easily if needed. Maybe this is an answer to how formatting in markdown slows down the flow of writing.

nice you convinced me! now i am never joining those cults!

Great knowledge Oztabletpc, always be enriched from your tube! But why and how to sort onenote on android phone? Thanks Guru.

1:04 dude looks like cheap ai version of elon musk 😂

"second brain" stuff. like, wtf.. I'm just trying to take notes, not make a wiki page

BOY!, YOU REALY HAS LOST A LOT OF WEIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 👍👍👍👍

You can do all of this in obsidian thanks to it being open source, community driven software.

If your point is that OneNote has many great feature so you don't need Markdown, then I cannot agree with it.

Check out Scott Scheper's work on Zettelkasten