the worst thing about OneNote

[Sam]

For the most part I think OneNote is a great program, but
it has one major failure in my opinion.

When my phone rings and I have to do some fast note
taking, I don't have time to search around for the right
tab and location to take notes. I just want to start
typing. I can do that with OneNote, but 9 times out of 10
I'm taking notes in the wrong place.

When I'm finished taking notes I should be able to simply
drag the notes onto the right tab. OneNote won't allow me
to do this. Instead I have select the note, cut it, find
the right tab, click on it, and then do a paste on that
page. That might not sound like much, but when you are a
very heavy note taker there isn't enough time for all that
between telephone calls. So, instead, I've gone back to
paper and pad for the most part.

Drag and drop notes onto a different tab...it's sooo
basic. Why doesn't OneNote have this capability??

[Doug]

If you right click on the page title over on the right
hand side, there is a 'Move Page To' option that lets you
quickly reassign that page to the desired section. Not
as simple as drag n drop, but easier than doing the cut n
paste routine...

>.
>

[Andrew Watt [MVP - InfoPath]]

Sam,

I put forward a feature suggestion/request a while back which I think
(if it were implemented) might provide a better solution ... in
OneNote version 2??? ... to the kind of problem you describe.

What I suggested was the idea of "configurations". It might also be
called Views.

In the context of your situation, say you were working on Project X it
would be possible to switch to another configuration say Telephone
Calls (perhaps by a keyboard shortcut like the ones which allow
switching in Outlook 2003 between Contacts, Tasks etc) which had all
your telephone calls.

You might have a Telephone Calls folder with different folders for
each project. So as you are saying "Hi Jim, great to hear from you"
you hit the right section, let's say Project Y, in Telephone Calls.
And start typing. [When you finish a call you might always hit Ctrl+N
to create a new page so when you come back to the section you just
start typing on a blank page.]

But ... and this is where configurations comes in ... if when you have
more time you want to fully check out all the stuff relevant to
Project Y then you can switch configurations. Your Project Y section
in Telephone Calls would also appear in your Project Y configuration.

Do you understand what I am trying to describe? Would that work for
you in your situation?

Disclaimer: This is simply a feature request I made personally. There
is no indication either way whether Microsoft sees merit in it or not.

Andrew Watt
MVP - Microsoft InfoPath
Author "Microsoft InfoPath 2003 Kick Start", Sams Publishing
http://www.tfosorciM.org/blog/ - Reflecting on Microsoft
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/InfoPath
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/OneNote
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/XForms

[wiliam_dowell[AT]hotmail.com]

Chris,

I’ll add my name to this request J - Would be very good. It is at present, imho, a little bit too easy to over right a page.

If this could also be integrated into a security feature – ie: password protected so not all those who play on my computer can delve into the info would be even better. J

I just cant wait until version 2 J

William Dowell (one of your many blog readers!!)

nntp://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.onenote/<OiQ#aBZCEH...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl>

I see. Just so I understand, you want to lock pages because they are "done",
and you're concerned you might accidentally change or delete them, correct?

Chris Pratley (MS)
OneNote design team

<anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:aea901c40759$a01b6450$a401...@phx.gbl...
> Thank you, Chris. I'll follow your advice when an entire
> section has grown up to be suitable for read-only.
> However, in my case, the preferred unit for read-only is
> not a section but a page.
>
> I hope I could right click any page or section and there
> were "Lock" command in the context menu.
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >You can make an entire section read-only by using Windows
> explorer to find
> >the *.one file that is that section, right-click,
> properties, and check the
> >box to make it read-only.
> >
> >Chris Pratley (MS)
> >OneNote design team
> >
> ><anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >news:ac5601c4073a$57c71920$a501...@phx.gbl...
> >> Is it possible to make a tab/section read-only?
> >>
> >> My notes are growing. While some of them are still
> >> dynamic or volatile, many of them have become permanent
> >> for me.
> >> That's why I want to keep them from being edited by
> >> accidents. Accidents like that my hands sometimes CUT a
> >> block when I actually want to just COPY it.
> >>
> >
> >
> >.
> >

[microsoft.public.onenote]

[Chris_Pratley (MS)]

Hi Sam,

For phone messages, we included the "side note" functionality in OneNote.
Just use the Windows-N hotkey to pull it up (or click on the OneNote icon in
the system tray at lower right). Side notes are meant for quick notes you
need to take without taking time to think about where they go. They
automatically give you a new page when you open a side note, so you won't be
overwriting something else.

Once the note is captured, at any time you can go into your side notes
section (customizable in Tools/Options/Open and Save) and move the pages
there to the right place in your notebook. Right click on the page, choose
move to, and find the section to move it to. After you have done this once,
next time you right-click that section is listed right there, so it is much
easier to move additional notes to that location. I put things in my side
notes section all week, and "clean it up" about 1-2 times/week. Because I
generally move side notes to the same 2 or 3 sections, it is as simple as
right click and choosing the section (no need to navigate that long tree
control).

If you need to move several pages at once to the same place, just Ctrl-Click
on each page to select them all, then right-click and choose the section to
move them all to. One thing that is nice about this approach is that you can
move pages to sections that are several folders deeper or above where you
are now - anywhere in your notebook (this is one thing that would be harder
with drag/drop).

Drag and drop is high on our list for the next major release of OneNote - we
simply couldn't get it in to the first release (it is harder than it looks,
since we had to use custom controls to get our notebook to tlookt he way it
does). In the meantime, I hope my explanation has helped.

Chris Pratley (MS)
OneNote design team

"Sam" <anon...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:c60301c4092e$be5da410$a301...@phx.gbl...

[Sam]

Dear Sam & Chris,

Thanks for your replies. I was happy to see in Sam's note
that drag and drop capability is on the way in OneNote
version two. So no reason to belabor the point if it is
one the way.

Using SideNote and then moving the note into OneNote won't
get me where I want to be because it moves the note to a
section I have labeled "SPT" but it creates a whole new
page just for that note. Instead, I want to move the note
onto one of the subsection tabs (the tabs on the right
hand side). Cut and paste still seems like the only way
to go for the way I work.

Until drag n' drop is available, maybe I'll just have to
change the way I work.

>.
>

[anon...@discussions.microsoft.com]

Andrew,

I *think* I understand what you are describing, but it is
more complex than what I am after. I used to design
contact management software many years ago, and as a
programmer (I don't do that work anymore) I always was
looking for create ways to associate information. In the
end, few of our customers had much interest in that. They
just wanted easier ways to do things that closely mimiced
what they do with a notepad and pen. I could never get
them to work with creative cross referencing, in part
because most of their tasks weren't complex and didnt'
require the extra levels association.

I'm not suggesting that what you described has anything to
do with that, but does appear more complex than what I'm
after.

Now that I'm on the other end of things as a user, I can
understand where my old customers were coming from.

>.
>