AppFlow

Now we’re all familiar with Microsoft Word.  It’s the alternative to iWork, is slower and has cooler icons than the windows version.  I know people that use the MS Office suite over iWork, I know people who use iWork and won’t touch MS Office.  Personally, I’ve always preferred iWork.

Recently, however, I’ve been forced to use a netbook running Windows.  Being one to go open minded into such situations I played around with some Windows software and found one program that I fell in love with: Microsoft Office OneNote. If you haven’t heard of it, I encourage you to have a look.  This brief encounter with this piece of software got me thinking: Do we have OneNote for Mac?

Some of you may have already linked my talking about OneNote for Mac and MS Word in the introduction!  Sure enough, Microsoft Word for Mac has a nifty little feature where by you can get some, even though not all, of the functionality of OneNote.

Switching to Notebook

‘Turning On’ Notebook layout is as simple as clicking it from the view menu.  Once you have done this, your blank page disappears and is replaced by a ring binder style page.  The toolbar also changes to offer you new tools such as ‘scribble’ and ‘audio’.

Notebook Layout

Switching to notebook changes your conventional blank page to a rather swish looking ‘notebook’ themed page.  It has spiral binders on the left for effect and “Sections” added along the left side.  These sections work in almost exactly the same way as tabs in OneNote.

This page offers a really neat way to take notes and, to be honest, I really like the notebook theme.  If however, this one notebook theme doesn’t tickle your fancy, there are four others, and all five are available without those notebook rings on the left.  Simply select the ‘appearance’ button at the top to bring up the menu.

Notebook Tools

There are a few major changes to the toolbar in Notebook mode.  The toolbar no longer has your classic formatting tools because these are not needed.  Instead, you have a new set of buttons to play with.

The scribble tool lets you draw pictures to accompany your notes.  Possibly my favorite tool here is the ‘Audio’ tool that allows you to record a little audio-bite to go with each line of notes.

In addition to the toolbar changing, the toolbox changes.  There are a number of useful features for re-ordering notes added, as well as one for turning off those grid lines.  My favorite here, however, is the ‘Note Flags’.  These allow you to ‘flag’ a note with an exclamation mark if it’s important, or even a check box for making to-do lists.

Conclusion

Microsoft Word’s ‘Notebook Mode’ is an excellent way to take notes.  It offers dedicated tools for note taking, and eliminates all of the tools you won’t need while note taking.  This speeds up your work-flow so you never miss a crucial moment during a lecture, lesson or meeting.