Microsoft OneNote

What is Microsoft OneNote?
Microsoft OneNote is a computer program that is designed to help organize your work life, personal life, meetings, and other activities. This computer software allows you to manage all of your important information on one template, instead of using multiple sources of technology. For example, people may their computers to access files contained in their email while also relying on an actual physical calendar to remind themselves what time their meeting is for work. In order to access and organize all of this type of information in one place, a person can simply use Microsoft OneNote.

How does Microsoft OneNote work?
Microsoft OneNote is a tradition Microsoft software program that is designed to gather and organize text, audio, video, pictures and digital handwriting all in one place. Within actual program, users can upload important files and organize them into different "notebooks". In each of the individual labeled notebooks, the user can add more pages to the digital "notebook" if they need to add more information to the folder. Not only can users just organize and upload files to their personal OneNote, but they can also change the privacy to allow data and file sharing and transfer. Filing sharing over OneNote is done by editing the hard copy of the notebook and just saving the new changes (just like a Microsoft Word or PowerPoint file on a computer). The file sharing aspect of OneNote allows the user to connect to other users to keep up-to-date information in the digital notebooks.



(2007 OneNote Template Design)

Affordances of Microsoft OneNote:

User-Friendly Interface and Template- The actual OneNote interface is designed to be very user friendly to people of all computer skill levels. The actual software that is used is apart of the Microsoft Office software so it has similar features to Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. If a user is familiar with the Microsoft Office software, they will know how to organize all of their information in no time. There are also hundreds of templates to download and choose from so you can properly organize your information. This allows for a the user to personalize their individual OneNote to cater to their individual needs of the software program.


Data Filtering- One clear advantage to using OneNote is the simplicity of data filtering. A user can take all of their files, emails, links, and personal information and store it in one location. Once the user uploads their information, they can organize their schedules and files into separate notebooks. However, OneNote takes it one step further and introduces the use of custom tags. The user can add custom tags to their files, pages and notebooks in order to create a type of search engine within the software. Custom tags allow the user to place tags on specific pieces of data so they can retrieve it at a later time by just typing the tag keyword into the search box. The use of custom tags to filter through all types of multimedia files in just one step.

Mobility: The biggest affordance to using OneNote is the mobile capability. Microsoft has developed OneNote software to be used on a desktop, tablet, browser or cellphone. A user can use and update their OneNote whenever and wherever they want. There is unlimited access to OneNote, which allows 24/7 availability without having to be on a personal computer. This provides users constant accessibility to their files and information, despite their geographical location. The constant interactivity allows for users to update and share information on their OneNote effectively and efficiently.

References: Microsoft