Chapter 1: OneNote - How and Where to Use it?

OneNote is a Microsoft program like no other. However, before you can truly get a feel for OneNote, it is important that we identify why it is worth investing in.

There is an ever-increasing amount of information coming at each of us every day in many forms. With this information overload comes practical drawbacks: Where do we record this information? How do we remember what is important to us? Jotting down notes is usually a good solution to these issues, and in this chapter, we'll cover exactly why.

Microsoft OneNote is an application that is perfect for notetaking and capturing information in one place. Some examples of its usage are presented here:

• Projects and meetings: You can use OneNote to capture everything that you need to run a project. Things such as your notes from meetings and emails can be stored side by side with drawings or images, document attachments, and links to pertinent files or websites; best of all, this information can be shared with everyone on that project.
• Ideas: As ideas pop into your head, capture them in OneNote. Organize these ideas and get working on them quicker because they will all be together and easier to retrieve.
• Personal information: Track any medical information for yourself or your family by taking pictures of prescriptions or writing down notes during doctors' visits. You can also include research done on the web as links in these notes. Recipes are another perfect example of ways to use a OneNote notebook. You can capture recipes easily by using the built-in camera feature and taking a picture of an existing recipe card or page in a book. You can also link to a website for your favorite recipe, jot down notes, or record a conversation about recipe ideas or ingredients.

In this chapter, we will discuss why we use OneNote, and how to get started with it. We start here so that you can set yourself up to take full advantage of the power and flexibility offered within this program. In particular, we will cover the following topics:

• Why use OneNote as your digital notebook?
• Differences between OneNote and OneNote for Windows 10
• Notebook storage options
• Accessing your notebooks from different devices
• OneNote web application

A goal for this chapter is to get OneNote installed on your computer as well as on your smartphone and tablet. This way, moving forward, you can follow along with the instructions in this book.