OneNote Reviews & Insights

Score8.4 out of 10

927 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for OneNote are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Ease of Cross-Device Switching: Users have appreciated the seamless transitions between devices for project brainstorming and content development. This functionality enables users to work efficiently without disruptions, contributing to a smoother workflow.

Instant Saving and Password Protection: Many users value the instant saving feature and password protection, ensuring secure storage of important information. The combination of these features provides peace of mind regarding data security while streamlining the saving process.

Versatile Media Integration: Reviewers highlight the versatility of adding various media types like graphs, pictures, recordings, and videos for comprehensive idea capture. This diverse range of media options allows users to create dynamic and engaging content within their notes, enhancing creativity and information retention.

OneNote Reviews

16 Reviews

Small Businesses (1-50 employees)

A must-have for digital note-taking

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

September 20, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use OneNote for all sorts of note-taking. This includes meeting minutes, brainstorming ideas, to-do lists, etc. By leveraging OneNote's features such as collaboration and integration with other Microsoft tools, it enables us to improve our overall productivity and streamline our workflows. Creating dedicated notebooks helps with categorizing everything for efficiency.

Pros

Handwriting recognition
Separate notebook creation for different categories of notes
Sharing with coworkers
Integration with other Microsoft tools

Cons

Integration with Outlook could be better
Better version history could simplify tracking changes
Advanced filtering would help find the right notes faster
Template library could be expanded

Likelihood to Recommend

OneNote is well-suited for all sorts of note-taking, whether it's meeting minutes or class notes. It also works well as a personal journal. For creative individuals, it works great as a sketchbook. On the other hand, it does not have advanced formatting options and is not the best for collaboration on complex documents.

Verified User

Employee (Online Media company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

OneNote

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

March 7, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

OneNote allows us to take digital hand written notes with clients converting notes into the CRM easily and effectively. It allows additional notes to be inserted into previous notes, time stamps for industry compliance and best of all convert the notes to PDF at the end. It works naturally within the Microsoft Office environment and industry specific software platforms

Pros

Note taking
Handwritten notes
Convert notes to PDF easily

Cons

Sometimes notebooks and certain pages are hard to find but the search function assist with this

Likelihood to Recommend

Handwritten notes are helpful during client meetings and the best part is having the program handy without worrying about pen and paper. At the end the notes are easily converted to PDF instead of worrying about scanning.

Deon Coffey

Broker in Finance and Accounting at Coffey lending (Financial Services, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

OneNote: Create and organize notebooks and binders digitally

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

August 9, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Being a Managed Services Provider I need to take a lot of notes and store most of them. I wanted software that would replace having to use so much paper and than having those papers filed away which takes time and valuable space in a one room office. OneNote solves all of that by being my only note taking software as well as organizing all my notes in digital notebooks.

Pros

Simple and easy to use interface
Organize notes just like a traditional notebook binder with tabs
Able to see and use all notebooks on mobile phone

Cons

Implement MFA ability to specific notebooks instead of using a password

Likelihood to Recommend

OneNote is best for individuals or organizations that want to reduce paper and paper storage such as notebooks and binders. Also good for those that need access to such notes on the go using a mobile phone, tablet, or laptop. May not work well if the notes you have are highly confidential and contain sensitive information.

Rich Lusk

Owner at DiamondNet, Inc. (Information Technology & Services, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

Reseller

10 years of experience

Useful where needed, but make sure it works for your use FIRST!

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

November 25, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I mainly use OneNote to backup data from Facebook (posts in my own small group) and to use each note (each post is a new note) as a to-do list putting them in different sections of a notebook once the issue is raised in it has been handled. I use Pabbly to integrate between the two.

Pros

It has Notebooks and sections and then individual notes allowing organisation.
They are multi-format - Pictures, words, formatting and can move things around the page.
The information is accessible both online and offline once synced to the computer (Windows 11).
It has image searching.

Cons

It would be helpful to be able to work with multiple notes at the same time.
Search isn't always perfect.
It'd be great to be able to edit the order that the notes are in based on a specific format (date/name/format etc).

Likelihood to Recommend

It's appropriate where someone is using notes across multiple devices, has a Microsoft office plan, and is just needing it for general notetaking using multi formats. It's not so helpful for someone who doesn't have a Microsoft office plan and needs to deal with multiple notes at the same time or sort by specific measures.

Verified User

Director (Health, Wellness and Fitness company, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

12 years of experience

Organize your workload with OneNote and relax

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

November 9, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use OneNote across the whole organization. Associates use it to organize their workflow.

Pros

Autosave feature saves as you go so you never lose work.
Tags are really helpful. Note things as you go and access them later with Find Tags.
OneNote works with Outlook so you can email pages directly from a notebook.
Create tasks that sync with Outlook.

Cons

I would like to have more Word formatting options available.

Likelihood to Recommend

Using OneNote has helped me organize my workload at the office and at home. I work more efficiently and effectively with all my notes in one place.

Verified User

Director in Corporate (Financial Services company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

6 years of experience

OneNote Review

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

October 17, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use OneNote mainly for copying web addresses and articles into one location. I have multiple tags all for different uses. I find that sometimes when I am researching an issue for a client, instead of printing out the article I tag it under various topics in OneNote. In addition, while I am searching for information on one topic I may run across another topic that sparks my interest. So OneNote has become the one place where I can not only place research topics for current use but also store ideas and resources for future problem solving or brainstorming.

Pros

OneNote is a great tool for storing ideas that can be accessed for future use.
OneNote works great for storing "how to's" about workflow and work ideas that I don't use often. I don't have to worry about remembering where it is or how to do it.
OneNote is an excellent tool for having all you want or need in one place. I use it for both personal and work.

Cons

Since I use Office 365, I sometimes have difficulty with the sync feature. It doesn't always seem to sync immediately between the desktop and the cloud versions.
Sometimes the different types of ways to save a web page or document don't display properly. It may be the difference between the desktop and the online Office 365 versions.

Likelihood to Recommend

OneNote works for copying web addresses and web articles. If you like to have all your resources in one place and want to organize them by topic or otherwise, OneNote is perfect. I have used OneNote only slightly for entering fresh data and ideas and it seems to work well. I just love that instead of having to copy or print documents or webpages all over the place I can have everything in one place.

Jeff Henkel

Owner in Finance and Accounting at HighRoad Accounting (Accounting, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

View profile

OneNote the Last Note-taking Software You'll Need

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 25, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

OneNote is used by several of the sales agents in my department as a digital file folder. It becomes home to all the important information needed for a sale: web research, budget projections, proposals, important emails from clients, brochures for the client, and anything essential to the travel project we are working on. It is a wonderful way to combine information from different programs into one location. For example, you can easily read emails and a printout of a spreadsheet without leaving the program.

Pros

Data Gathering - It is extremely easy and efficient to get information into OneNote. Outlook has a button to send emails directly to the program, there are browser add-ons to clip research, and you can print to OneNote from any program. Once in the program, filing the information into the right note/tab is a sinch.
It is not complicated. Several of my tech-challenged coworkers, use this program with ease. I even hear comments about how much they like it.

Cons

The styling and formatting options of the notes are limited.
Sizing an embedded spreadsheet is challenging.
Table columns auto size unnecessarily.

Likelihood to Recommend

OneNote is great for projects. It can hold information in notes, notebooks and various tabs. This helps keeps projects organized and the information you need just a click away. It is also easy to share information with teammates. The online, desktop and mobile versions are handy when you need a cross-platform solution for your note taking needs.

Verified User

Employee in Sales (Leisure, Travel & Tourism company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Review: OneNote

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

December 17, 2018

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

OneNote is a powerful tool for personal note taking and client organization. OneNote makes locating specific notes easy using tags and search functions. I use OneNote personally and know others that use it as well.

Pros

OneNote has an excellent organizational system. Users can create a multitude of folders and subfolders, then drop whichever notes and files into each that they'd like. It's quick and easy to create notes and begin typing away. You can also draw images or insert pictures and hyperlinks.
OneNote has a great mobile app. You will need to wait for it to sync, but once this is done, you are able to take notes on the go, or reference notes taken on your laptop/PC.
OneNote makes locating notes/files easy and fast. You can search for keywords and instantly be able to reference any notable files or notes you've taken. Finding specific information is extremely fast, which makes for quickly referencing things in meetings on demand.
OneNote's interface is very quick to learn. It is not dissimilar to Office and other software, so the learning curve is short.
OneDrive can sync into OneNote, making for fast usability between the two.

Cons

You can import catalogs of notes from other users, but this process is not an easy one. It messes up some of the functionality of previous notes, and it's not user friendly to import. This is mitigated by sharing your notebook with another user instead of exporting it. This process is simple, but if you want a separate copy of a catalog, it's not easy to do.
You are able to click anywhere into a note to begin typing in that location. It's a nice feature because it's more freeflow than other document process programs (Word or Google Docs) but it's a learning curve, honestly. You won't think much of it at first, but if you prefer a more straightforward document style, it's a bit jarring.

Likelihood to Recommend

OneNote is great for note taking for personal use. It's good for referencing clients as well. I imagine it could be useful in a small business to help take notes on what certain clients are expecting and how to address them when meeting together. This could be useful to share among business partners as they prepare for meetings and for them to be mindful of how best to be respectful and effective.

I find it's most useful for personal note taking and organizing data.

Chris Hecox

Business Owner in Marketing at Lucky Whisker LLC (Online Media, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

View profile

OneNote for better briefing and sharing

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

July 25, 2016

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

OneNote is being used to keep track of brief activities that occur within my department. All meeting notes, to-do lists, and activities' key notes that come out of them are stored in there and then shared among all the employees that are related to each one of them. It is the easiest thing to use and share with others. This helps a lot in having things done quicker. Transmitting the message across the department is much faster without the need to personally meet the employee and discuss any changes in the activities or projects.

Pros

Create pages that can contain a vast amount of information in there.
Provides the option to share any page that you like with someone else.
Can create tables.
Can insert images.
Syncs perfectly with OneDrive (for those that want all their work to be on the cloud and across devices).

Cons

The current features are more than enough for my work, so currently there is nothing else that I would want in there. Adding more features to this application might just make it complicated and would lose its simplicity that it has currently.

Likelihood to Recommend

OneNote is a very usable application for any kind of organization that does give brief tasks, to-do lists, or quick changes to activities of their projects and transmits them to specific employers. Since you have the majority of the Word functions in OneNote you can easily work in there as you are working on a document, and what's more positive about it is that you can share that whole page with all relevant actors that need to see the content.

Verified User

Former Employee in Information Technology (Computer Software company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

OneNote. One great productivity tool that integrates tightly into Office and your devices.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

June 3, 2016

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I employ OneNote across my Windows 10 desktop, my Linux laptop (OneNote online), and on my Windows 10 Mobile device. The seamless and rapid syncing of note content across my devices is very useful and makes OneNote a great productivity tool.

One of the biggest advantages to OneNote when used stand-alone (not in the context of Office 365 or Enterprise use with Lync/etc) is the rich data that can be imported, captured, or recorded with & in OneNote. If you can see it, hear it, or think it, you can put it in OneNote with ease.

Pros

Cross-device syncing (I can get my notes nearly anywhere). Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and the web. Linux is a notable omission, but the OneNote webclient is acceptable for now.
Rich data capabilities. Photos, videos, drawings, voice recordings, files, tables, etc.
Ease of use is quite high. The mobile app is very smartly designed with a UI that morphs based upon orientation and screen resolution, exposing finer controls when needed.
Quick start-up time, especially with more recent builds of the mobile app

Cons

Linux support with a native program. Office for Linux wouldn't hurt, either.
Ability to log more rich data from various attached sensors on devices: Geolocation, temp, humidity, RSSI, etc. Anything that Windows can access.
Improve first-use sync/download time and experience. Toggling an option to enable background downloads of all content is not intuitive, and waiting to retrieve content when you view a note is not pleasant.
Better Share To OneNote functionality from Windows 10.

Likelihood to Recommend

Any situation that calls for a centralized way to store notes and other data, OneNote is easily the best tool that I can think of. Previously, I toyed with Evernote but I found that OneNote offered me a much more pleasant experience and supported my devices better.

Verified User

Employee (Environmental Services company, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

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Review: OneNote

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

December 17, 2018

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

OneNote has an excellent organizational system. Users can create a multitude of folders and subfolders, then drop whichever notes and files into each that they'd like. It's quick and easy to create notes and begin typing away. You can also draw images or insert pictures and hyperlinks.
OneNote has a great mobile app. You will need to wait for it to sync, but once this is done, you are able to take notes on the go, or reference notes taken on your laptop/PC.
OneNote makes locating notes/files easy and fast. You can search for keywords and instantly be able to reference any notable files or notes you've taken. Finding specific information is extremely fast, which makes for quickly referencing things in meetings on demand.
OneNote's interface is very quick to learn. It is not dissimilar to Office and other software, so the learning curve is short.
OneDrive can sync into OneNote, making for fast usability between the two.

Cons

You can import catalogs of notes from other users, but this process is not an easy one. It messes up some of the functionality of previous notes, and it's not user friendly to import. This is mitigated by sharing your notebook with another user instead of exporting it. This process is simple, but if you want a separate copy of a catalog, it's not easy to do.
You are able to click anywhere into a note to begin typing in that location. It's a nice feature because it's more freeflow than other document process programs (Word or Google Docs) but it's a learning curve, honestly. You won't think much of it at first, but if you prefer a more straightforward document style, it's a bit jarring.

Likelihood to Recommend

Chris Hecox

Business Owner in Marketing at Lucky Whisker LLC (Online Media, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

View profile