Microsoft OneNote is a

note-taking Note-taking (sometimes written as notetaking or note taking) is the practice of recording information from different sources and platforms. By taking notes, the writer records the essence of the information, freeing their mind from having to reca ...

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

. It is available as part of the

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...

suite and since 2014 has been free on all platforms outside the suite. OneNote is designed for free-form

information gathering Intelligence assessment, or simply intel, is the development of behavior forecasts or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organisation, based on wide ranges of available overt and covert information (intelligence). Assessments ...

and multi-user collaboration. It gathers users' notes, drawings, screen clippings, and audio commentaries, and notes can also be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network. OneNote is also available as a free, stand-alone app via the official website and the

app store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the c ...

s of:

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on ...

MacOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

, iOS,

iPadOS iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its iPad line of tablet computers. It is a rebranded variant of iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones, renamed to reflect the diverging features of the two product ...

and Android. Microsoft also provides a web-based version of OneNote as part of

OneDrive Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a file hosting service operated by Microsoft. First launched in August 2007, it enables registered users to share and synchronize their files. OneDrive also works as the storage backend of the web vers ...

and Office for the web.

Overview

OneNote was announced by Microsoft's

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

on November 17, 2002. The software allows users to create notes that can include: texts, pictures, tables, and drawings. Unlike a word processor, OneNote features a virtually unbounded document window, in which users can click anywhere on the canvas to create a new text box at that location. OneNote saves data automatically as the user makes edits to their file. OneNote saves information in ''pages'' organized into ''sections'' within ''notebooks''. Microsoft designed this

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

to resemble a tabbed

ring binder Ring binders (loose leaf binders, looseleaf binders, or sometimes called files in Britain) are large folders that contain file folders or hole punched papers. These binders come in various sizes and can accommodate an array of paper sizes. Th ...

, into which the user can directly make notes and gather material from other

applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...

. OneNote notebooks collect, organize and share possibly unpublished materials – as compared to

word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current ...

s and

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...

s, which usually target publishing in some way. The difference shows in certain OneNote features and characteristics: * Pages can be arbitrarily large * Images can be inserted * There is no enforced uniform page layout or structure. Users can move pages within the binder and annotate them with a

stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision ...

or word-processing or drawing tools. Users may add embedded multimedia recordings and

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided by clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text w ...

s. They can also add embeddable content like

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

videos. OneNote also integrates search features and indexing into a free-form graphics and audio repository. It can search for images (e.g. screen captures, embedded document scans, photographs) for embedded text content. It also searches "electronic ink" annotations as text and phonetically searches audio recordings on a text key. It can replay audio concurrently with notes taken during the recording. It can also extract or copy texts from images and documents using

Optical Character Recognition Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a sc ...

Its multi-user capability allows

offline In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...

paragraph-level editing with later

synchronization Synchronization is the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. For example, the conductor of an orchestra keeps the orchestra synchronized or ''in time''. Systems that operate with all parts in synchrony are said to be synchronou ...

and merging. This allows collaboration among multiple individuals in a notebook when they are offline. More than one person can work on the same page at the same time using OneNote as a shared

whiteboard A whiteboard (also known by the terms marker board, dry-erase board, dry-wipe board, and pen-board) is a glossy, usually white surface for making non-permanent markings. Whiteboards are analogous to blackboards, but with a smoother surface all ...

environment. On March 17, 2014, Microsoft released the OneNote cloud service API that enables third-party application developers to integrate the service into their apps. The API runs on Microsoft's globally available cloud and sends data from applications into the user's OneDrive. OneNote can perform

optical character recognition Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a sc ...

on images of text and can render webpages as snapshot images. Microsoft also announced several new features in OneNote that use the service API: *OneNote Clipper: A browser

bookmarklet A bookmarklet is a bookmark stored in a web browser that contains JavaScript commands that add new features to the browser. They are stored as the URL of a bookmark in a web browser or as a hyperlink on a web page. Bookmarklets are usually smal ...

that uses the OneNote service API and enables users to save a screenshot of a webpage to OneNote along with the link. The text in the screenshot is made searchable using Optical Character Recognition. *Email to OneNote: A feature enabling users to send emails to the address me@onenote.com from pre-specified email IDs to have the contents of the email saved to OneNote.

File format

A OneNote notebook is stored as a folder with a separate

data file A data file is a computer file which stores data to be used by a computer application or system, including input and output data. A data file usually does not contain instructions or code to be executed (that is, a computer program). Most of the ...

for each section. A .one file can be a OneNote notebook or a OneNote section. OneNote files have a .one

filename extension A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (e.g., .txt, .docx, .md). The extension indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically ...

. Microsoft upgraded the file format twice after it had introduced OneNote 2003 — first in OneNote 2007, then in OneNote 2010. OneNote 2003 files can be opened by both OneNote 2007 and OneNote 2010 in read-only mode and subsequently upgraded to the later versions of the file format. OneNote 2010 can read and write OneNote 2007 file formats. It can also convert back and forth between the 2010 and the 2007 formats. Microsoft has documented the OneNote file format. It is an

open format An open file format is a file format for storing digital data, defined by an openly published specification usually maintained by a standards organization, and which can be used and implemented by anyone. Open file format is licensed with open li ...

that can store varied

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

content in a single .one file. OneNote file format is also supported by the Outline note-taking application for

IPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, ...

and Mac. Outline can open, edit and save notebooks in the OneNote file format. Multiple .one files can be exported to a .onepkg file, which stores multiple .one files (corresponding to the individual notebooks) in

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

file format.

Platform support

OneNote supports simultaneous editing of shared OneNote documents by multiple users when the document is stored in a shared folder in OneDrive.

Dropbox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007 ...

was supported for some time as a sync protocol, but after

Windows Live Mesh Windows Live Mesh (formerly known as ''Windows Live FolderShare'', ''Live Mesh'', and ''Windows Live Sync'') is a discontinued free-to-use Internet-based file synchronization application by Microsoft designed to allow files and folders between two ...

was discontinued, OneNote supported it for cloud-based storage and synchronization of OneNote files. OneNote clients, including the OneNote web app of

Office Online Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...

, can view and edit them. Microsoft made OneNote 2013 for Windows desktop available fore free. OneNote for Windows and Mac are both based on a freemium model. Premium features such as

SharePoint SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates natively with Microsoft Office. Launched in 2001, SharePoint is primarily sold as a document management and storage system, but the product is highly configurable and its usage v ...

support, version history and

Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily an email client, Outlook also includes such functions as Calen ...

integration were previously available only to

Office 365 Microsoft 365 is a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. It encompasses online services such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, programs formerly marketed under the name ...

and

Office 2013 Microsoft Office 2013 (codenamed Office 15) is a version of Microsoft Office, a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. It is the successor to Microsoft Office 2010 and the predecessor to Microsoft Office 2016. Unlike with Office 2010, no OS X ...

customers, but on February 13, 2015, Microsoft removed all feature restrictions, except creation of local notebooks — the free edition only stores notebooks on OneDrive — from the programs, essentially making the program completely free to use.

Windows

The first version, OneNote 2003, was only sold as a separate product for Windows compatible with

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...

and

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was released to manufacturing on December 15, 1999, and was officiall ...

as well as for Microsoft Tablet PCs with pen input. Starting with

Office 2007 Microsoft Office 2007 (codenamed Office 12) is an office suite for Windows, developed and published by Microsoft. It was officially revealed on March 9, 2006 and was the 12th version of Microsoft Office. It was released to manufacturing on Novemb ...

it was then included as part of the Office suite, as the software was positioned more as a student tool rather than business. A

Microsoft Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...

version of OneNote (formerly known as OneNote MX) was available for

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for downl ...

and RT, using

as a storage place. It is optimized for use on tablets by implementing a

pie menu In user interface design, a pie menu or radial menu is a circular context menu where selection depends on direction. It is a graphical control element. A pie menu is made of several "pie slices" around an inactive center and works best with stylus ...

interface and invoking operating system's tablet-specific functionality. In 2018, Microsoft announced that for OneNote on Windows, the

Universal Windows Platform Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a computing platform created by Microsoft and first introduced in Windows 10. The purpose of this platform is to help develop universal apps that run on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile (discontinued), Windo ...

(UWP) based OneNote for Windows 10, would be the default experience for Office users on Windows. The Win32/Win64 "desktop" version would remain known as OneNote 2016 despite the release of

Office 2019 Microsoft Office 2019 (Second perpetual release of Office 16) is a version of Microsoft Office for both Windows and Mac. It replaces Office 2016 and was replaced by Office 2021 on October 5, 2021. It was unveiled on April 27, 2018 for Windows ...

, would no longer receive new features, and would not be installed with Office by default, but remain available as an option. However, Microsoft reversed this decision in 2019; in the same year, the company announced that both versions would receive active development and the desktop version would once again be installed with Office by default. The desktop application was renamed to simply OneNote, matching the other programs in

. OneNote is no longer installed with Windows starting from

Windows 11 Windows 11 is the latest major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released in October 2021. It is a free upgrade to its predecessor, Windows 10 (2015), and is available for any Windows 10 devices that meet the new Windows 11 ...

, but is still available from

. In 2021, Microsoft announced that OneNote for Windows 10 would be discontinued and that they were working on migrating users and features to the desktop version. They also announced that it would be receiving some user interface changes to be more in line with Windows 11.

Mobile

OneNote is also available for cell phones. Microsoft currently has a stand-alone OneNote app for iOS and Android. OneNote Mobile for older

Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants. Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...

smartphones and pocket PCs was included with OneNote 2007. It was released with

Windows Phone 7 Windows Phone 7 is the first release of the Windows Phone mobile client operating system, released worldwide on October 21, 2010, and in the United States on November 8, 2010. It runs on the Windows CE 6.0 kernel. It received multiple large upda ...

in 2010. In 2011, OneNote Mobile went multi-platform as it was released for iPhone followed by a version for

Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typic ...

as part of Microsoft Apps. In 2012 Microsoft released OneNote for Android in a surprise move. On July 1, 2013, Microsoft released version 2 of its app for iPad, containing significantly updated features, to correspond more closely to those available on the Windows platform. On August 19, 2014, Microsoft updated OneNote for Android tablets to include handwriting support and touch-friendly navigation. This version supports notebooks stored on OneDrive or

. In 2022, the Android version got a major refresh.

Mac

On March 17, 2014, Microsoft released OneNote for Mac. It is compatible with

OS X Mavericks OS X Mavericks (version 10.9) is the 10th major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mavericks was announced on June 10, 2013, at WWDC 2013, and was released on October 22, 2013, wo ...

and above and can be downloaded for free from the

Mac App Store The App Store (also known as the Mac App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac ...

Version and licensing differences

The desktop OneNote and OneNote for Windows 10 have different functionality and user interfaces, which also differ from the versions for other platforms. Compared to OneNote for Windows 10, the desktop OneNote: has a full Office ribbon interface, features the most customization options, runs on multiple versions of Windows, and provides the possibility of local notebook support as opposed to OneDrive cloud storage; it is the only version for any platform to offer the latter feature, even as a paid option. In addition to the version differences, OneNote features on Windows and Mac vary according to whether it is installed as a free or paid program. If a "compatible" Office license (whether for the subscription Office 365 or the perpetual Office 2019) is present on the machine, the Windows desktop, Windows 10, and Mac versions all unlock additional functionality, which varies depending on the version: the desktop OneNote adds local notebook support, the Mac version adds stickers and OneNote for Windows 10 gains several features including stickers, ink replay, Researcher and Math Assistant. More premium features are in development for the Mac and Windows 10 versions.

Reception

Christopher Dawson reviewed OneNote 2010, titling his favorable review "OneNote is Office 2010's killer app in education". He speculated that the app would be particularly useful as a tool for student notetaking.

Release history

All release dates pertain to

general availability A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

Release to manufacturing A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

is usually two or three months in advance. This table only includes editions released for Windows.

References

External links

*
OneNote Download link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Microsoft Onenote OneNote Note-taking software Screenshot software IOS software WatchOS software Android (operating system) software Wear OS software Windows software Universal Windows Platform apps Classic Mac OS software Google Chrome apps 2003 software