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Help with One Note, note taking

nalbagli

Member
Hi I bought my SP3 a month ago, and I've been loving it. It's a great device, and my 15' Macbook Pro Retina has been on the drawer since I bough the device.

One of the main reasons I bought this device is for note taking, I am a College Student and I hope this replaces all my notebooks, until now I am still on vacation so I have only used the stylus to try it, so I would really like if you could give me some tips to make the transition easier and also help me solve some of my doubts.

First of all I haven't been able to decide between the Metro Version of One Note, and the desktop one. Thing is desktop version is clearly more complete and has a lot of useeful features, but I do feel that the touch version is kind of simpler to use and easier also. Which one do you use?

Second thing is that i've been trying to practice my notes, and although I feel it is great I have encountered a problem since I decided to format the page to Letter size just in case I decide to print my notes. My problem is when I write on the pages without using zoom the printed version looks good but my letters are way too big so in a whole page and can't take a lot of notes, on the iPad (where note taking was awful) a box zoomed and I wrote bigger there and the when I saw the page the size was more normal. Is there a good way to be able to take notes in a size that does look good on a printed page?


Thanks for the help and sorry if I wasn't very clear on explaining my problem.
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
I use both versions, I typically use the desktop for management and outlook integration, but I prefer inking in the MUI version.

I wouldn't try to get all fancy with formatting the page to be its analog equivalent, use OneNote as intended as a digital note taking system with a virtually infinite canvas. Write normally, it will take some time to get used to writing on the screen but once you do you won't go back to paper. If it feels to slick to write on the screen you can invest in a Screen Protector that will give it more friction.

Use the desktop client to configure all of Notebooks and Sections, I personally store all of mind on my OneDrive so I can access them from any machine including my phone.
 
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nalbagli

Member
I use both versions, I typically use the desktop for management and outlook integration, but I prefer inking in the MUI version.

I wouldn't try to get all fancy with formatting the page to be its analog equivalent, use OneNote as intended as a digital note taking system with a virtually infinite canvas. Write normally, it will take some time to get used to writing on the screen but once you do you won't go back to paper. If it feels to slick to write on the screen you can invest in a Screen Protector that will give it more friction.

Use the desktop client to configure all of Notebooks and Sections, I personally store all of mind on my OneDrive so I can access them from any machine including my phone.

Thanks for the help, regarding the formatting, my problem is that there are sometimes that I need to print my notes, so I don't know what will happen if i do not have it formatted as a Letter sized page.
Do you have any suggestions of a good Screen Protector that could increase friction but also not ruin how clear the screen is. My father bought the Micrsoft screen protector for SP3 which is really good, as it is easy to install and looks great, problem is that friction for me is the same as before.

Thanks !
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for the help, regarding the formatting, my problem is that there are sometimes that I need to print my notes, so I don't know what will happen if i do not have it formatted as a Letter sized page.
Do you have any suggestions of a good Screen Protector that could increase friction but also not ruin how clear the screen is. My father bought the Micrsoft screen protector for SP3 which is really good, as it is easy to install and looks great, problem is that friction for me is the same as before.

Thanks !
If you need to print your notes export them to PDF first and it should put in page breaks....

The Incipio Screen Protector gets good reviews, I personally don't use screen protectors....but I've been using Tablet PCs since 2003. If you search these forums you'll get some good reviews.
 
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nalbagli

Member
If you need to print your notes export them to PDF first and it should put in page breaks....

The Incipio Screen Protector gets good reviews, I personally don't use screen protectors....but I've been using Tablet PCs since 2003. If you search these forums you'll get some good reviews.

Thanks for the help, I will search
 

johnj2803

Member
I've been using onenote for school as well. The beauty of one note is you can insert pictures or tables too inside your note.

Scenario: prof is lecturing and on he whiteboard there is a graph or illustration. Take a picture with your phone or tablet and insert it in your note.

Scenario 2: you have a handout. Take a picture or scan it and put it in one note and you can annotate and highlight it right in your one note.

The beauty of this is that when it's I one note, I you can open the note in whatever operating system you have that has your one note account. So you can study virtually anywhere if needed.

Good luck!
 

Redguard

New Member
Have you tried turning on the "lined paper" feature and using it as a guide? It should help you to get the formatted feel that you're looking for when writing your notes and then printing them out later.

Because of all of the available features, I use the OneNote 2013 version more often than the MUI. But I'm currently trying to see if there are any ways for me to format the menu bar display so that I can choose my pens/highlighters more easily.
 
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