Microsoft OneNote 2003

Microsoft isn't known for getting its products right on the first release. But Microsoft OneNote 2003, the company's new note-taking program, is one of the best Microsoft debuts we've seen. This handy application provides a single interface for taking notes, which can include formatted text, outlines, graphics, snippets of Web pages, and even drawings. OneNote is very simple to use for entering information and—most important—finding it later on.

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Notes are organized into Pages and Subpages. Subpages appear as tabs down the right side of the screen, and Pages appear as tabs at the top of the screen. For one more level of structure, you can store multiple Sections in Folders.

OneNote is a good solution for creating rich-text outlines. Simply place the cursor anywhere on a page and you can start a new outline. If you have multiple outlines on a page, you can easily drag and drop items among them. You may have to play with the width of each outline section, however, to make things fit properly.

You can easily add pictures to your notes. And if you have a Tablet PC, you can also add handwritten notes, which OneNote can either convert to typed text or simply recognize for searching. Additionally, you can paste pieces of Web pages into OneNote, and the program will automatically generate links to the source.

OneNote includes an interesting if not yet perfected audio-recording feature. You can record meetings to an audio file, and the application automatically synchronizes the sound with your notes. You can then click the audio icon next to any part of your notes to play back what was recorded at that time. Unfortunately, when we simultaneously recorded a meeting and took notes on our laptop, the recording consisted mostly of the sound of typing on our keyboard.

Searching is generally very easy. Enter a search word and the program looks through all your notes and lists results, showing the pages in which the item was found.

Double-clicking on the OneNote icon in the system tray lets you add a Side Note, which looks like a sticky note on a piece of paper but is really a miniaturized version of the complete program. If you enlarge the Side Note window beyond a certain point, the whole application appears.

OneNote is not included in the Office 2003 suite. Like Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Visio, and some other Office-related programs, it is sold separately. The program is available for $99 direct, after a $100 rebate.

We'd like to see some security options in OneNote—such as password protection and encryption—as well as true integration with Outlook. While OneNote makes sharing notes via e-mail or SharePoint posting easy, it would be useful if OneNote were used as Outlook's native note format. Similarly, although you can easily create to-do lists within OneNote or turn bits of notes into Outlook Tasks, Microsoft needs to integrate these two concepts.