It’s great for finding your notes, but it can be a little cumbersome if you’re trying to note something in a pinch. You really have to buy into OneNote’s organizational scheme. That’s because the only spot inside of the app to create a new page is after you’ve opened one of the sections. Quickly creating a note is done best with the OneNote widget on either Android or iOS. Any note can be reformatted to a list (as in the above example), but the results may look odd.

Longer articles or notes taken with your pen may require a little extra effort to view, especially on a smaller mobile screen. Some of your OneNote finds may not translate particularly well to mobile. There’s a pretty useful search function that combs all your notes, but a good organizational strategy shouldn’t be overlooked. If you plan to use OneNote for light note-taking, you may be fine with one notebook if you break up your items into different sections. If you’re a student, you may want to organize notebooks by your classes or projects. If you have a Microsoft Surface device, the pen can be used for handwriting notes, marking up documents, or adding a splash of color. OneNote has a basic organizational strategy that is easy to follow on both Mac and Windows versions. There’s also a collaborative element, as you can share notebooks with a team. It can become a depository for articles that you need for research. If you’d rather keep things sparse, OneNote can be a home for quick lists or keeping track of to-do items you need to finish. You can highlight, draw, enter text, and pinch and zoom just like on your smartphone. OneNote pages are built to be a free-form canvas.

For example, I have notebooks for distinct tasks: article research, personal items, and other important subjects. By default you’ll start off with one notebook, but you can create more. OneNote has a tiered organizational system: notebooks, sections, and notes.

Microsoft onenote desktop