Microsoft continues to evolve productivity tools

Microsoft OneNote has over the years evolved from a simple note taking app to a bona fide collaboration, organisation and project management tool. OneNote 2016 continues this evolution with some great new features as well as enhancements to existing favourites.
Says Michael Watts, business unit manager at Drive Control Corporation (DCC): “Microsoft OneNote is an excellent tool for organising both personal and professional information. It truly is a digital version of a binder or multi-subject notebook that allows you to capture web information, make notes in various formats, and collaborate with others.”
OneNote has indeed moved beyond text to include audio and video input. Whether you’re sitting in a meeting or attending a seminar, you can capture notes without having to look at your keyboard all the time.
Simply put, you can record audio or video directly into your notes. To add audio or video a note, click on the page where you want the audio or video file added. For an audio file, click Insert > Record Audio. And video with optional audio, click Insert > Record Video.
With either format, recording will start as soon as the file icon is added to the note. Use the play, pause, and stop buttons on the Audio & Video tab to control the recording.
You can now make your notes more interactive by embedding video from YouTube, Vimeo and Office Mix. Open the note to which you want to add the video, then click Insert > Online Video. Paste the link into the address field and click OK.
Furthermore, OneNote clipper lets you capture all or parts of a web page and drop them into your notes.
You’re human and at some stage you’ll miss something. With OneNote 2016, you can collaborate with your colleagues, take notes together and then share your notebooks afterwards.
To do this, you first need to share your notebook on OneDrive. Then go to File > Share > Invite People and add the other meeting participants. Each will receive a link to the shared notebook.
Make sure you’ve enabled editing permissions for everyone so they can add their own notes. OneNote will automatically sync and reflect everyone’s contributions and ongoing edits.
Last but certainly not least is OneNote’s myriad of features that makes a strong case for its role in the business environment:
• Use context menus to send information to a OneNote page from Internet Explorer or Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. For example, you can highlight contact information on a website and send it to OneNote for future reference; you can even flag it to be reminded in the future to call that contact;
• Type quick notes from the taskbar using the “New Side Note” feature – it’s like a little popup notepad that capture those quick ideas that are often lost.
• Create task lists or calendar events that sync with Outlook;
• Embed links to other Office files and create notes about it; and
• Access your notebook online via Office Web Apps or on your Windows Mobile phone.