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Redesigned Version of Microsoft OneNote Now Available on Mac and iOS

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This week, Microsoft took the unusual step of pushing out a redesigned version of OneNote for Mac and iOS ahead of its release on Windows and Android. The update to the note-taking platform introduces a new interface that aims to enhance usability for users of assistive technologies, simplify navigation controls, and create consistency across devices, according to the company.

Microsoft said it has listened to user feedback to learn how it could improve the navigational layout of the note-taking apps, especially for larger digital notebooks with more sections. As a result, the new interface places all navigation panes in one collapsible area on the left-hand side of the app, instead of having menus for notebooks and sections/pages on either side of the window.

Redesigning-OneNote-1-800x395.jpg
This allows users to easily switch between their notes and dramatically improves usability with assistive technologies. With the new consolidated and simplified design, screen readers can easily navigate through the app to help those with disabilities. In addition, content is front and center--helping students to focus and avoid distractions.
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To switch to any other page or section, users can click its name in the navigation panes, or Control-click the name of any page or section and then choose from more options. To open a different notebook, users can click the Show Notebooks button and select it in the list, while options for creating new notebooks/sections/pages now appear at the bottom of the associated navigation panes. On Mac, each pane can also be resized by moving the mouse pointer over the vertical edge and click-dragging it.

Redesigning-OneNote-800x476.jpg

The new design philosophy also brings greater interface consistency across Mac, iPhone, and iPad, enabling users to transition between devices quickly and easily, which Microsoft hopes will benefit those with visual impairments and also help in learning environments where device variety is increasingly common.

OneNote for Mac is freely available on the Mac App Store [Direct Link]; likewise OneNote for iOS is a free download on the App Store [Direct Link] The overhauled interface has also been applied to Microsoft's web app. Windows and Android versions are expected to roll out in the coming weeks.



Article Link: Redesigned Version of Microsoft OneNote Now Available on Mac and iOS
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/21/microsoft-onenote-ios-mac-redesigned/
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Two of my main gripes have been no spotlight integration nor print to onenote from the standard print dialog.

Have either one of those been addressed yet?
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marvz said:
Looks way better and easier to use but before I really make the switch from Evernote they need to make their freaking web clipper usable.
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I agree. I find the Evernote webclipper amazing.
 
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This is the most used app on my Mac... which is weird since I'm a designer and pretty much live in CC...
Its the best thing to come out of MS since... forever I think.

But having a huge navigation on the left side... sort of feels off to me... Where my eyes start to read, I want my content to be. The Nav is a secondairy item of importance and should be on the right I think.
 
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Have they added touch bar support with the new release? It is available for all of the other MS Office Apps (Word, Excel, PPT, Outlook). Unable to easily decipher via the Release Notes page on MS website, but I don't see mention of it there.
 
Takes a bit of getting used to, but I'm starting to like it. It's nice that you can hide all of the nav columns - when they first tested it you couldn't and nav took up too much real estate.
 
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H.Finch said:
This is the most used app on my Mac... which is weird since I'm a designer and pretty much live in CC...
Its the best thing to come out of MS since... forever I think.

But having a huge navigation on the left side... sort of feels off to me... Where my eyes start to read, I want my content to be. The Nav is a secondairy item of importance and should be on the right I think.
Click to expand...

Agree, I use it extensively as well. I'm willing to give the new layout a chance but I have a) grown accustomed to the current layout as I've been using OneNote since 2010, and b) feel the navigation panes on left can get unwieldy and take up too much screen real estate, even if collapsible. I'm also curious whether how content displays on a page has changed.
 
I'm glad they are focused on this. I use OneNote all the time. I think it's the killer app for the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil- makes the iPad Pro an outstanding digital replacement for pen and paper.

That said, I'm not sure how I'll like this new update. I've got a deeply organized set of notebooks with sections, section groups, etc. With iOS, this update seems to help with navigation (it took multiple clicks/taps to access deep notes and hard to remember where everything was). But on windows (which i use for work) I rely heavily on the pinned notebook view and was actually hoping that Microsoft would use it across the board. It shows (with collapsibility) all of the organization of your notebooks, with the power of drag and drop to organize. I rely on this view, and would do most of my organization in this view. With he new setup, you can only see the org of one notebook at a time, you can't drag and drop notes around, and while viewing the full org of one notebook, it takes up most of your screen. I'm not sure if I'll be able to function as well once they push this version to windows.
 
chek1234 said:
Agree, I use it extensively as well. I'm willing to give the new layout a chance but I have a) grown accustomed to the current layout as I've been using OneNote since 2010, and b) feel the navigation panes on left can get unwieldy and take up too much screen real estate, even if collapsible. I'm also curious whether how content displays on a page has changed.
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I'll give it a chance because I have to :D, my life is in OneNote... But If we could choose a left or right nav that would be ideal... But I don't hold my breath just yet.

Just this friday I talked to a guy who’s an extremely smart developer and he put it best, he said: Microsofts interfaces manage to make even smart people feel dumb and question their own logic…
 
What about local network onenotes?

It's available on windows but not Mac.

Cloud-based notes are worthless in a corporate environment. I cannot collaborate with my colleagues being the only one on the team with a mac.
 
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I use OneNote for the management of complicated projects, probably not what it is designed for but it works well for me. Just updated OneNote on my iPhone and MacBook and it looks like a useful update so far.
 
ArmPol said:
I use OneNote for the management of complicated projects, probably not what it is designed for but it works well for me. Just updated OneNote on my iPhone and MacBook and it looks like a useful update so far.
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I'm curious if you have used and/or do you have an opinion of Microsoft Project?
 
dmylrea said:
Congratulations on your accomplishment! :)
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macs4nw said:
Congrats! What are you going to specialize in?
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Thank you. Will specialize in business and international business law.

OneNote worked great for school. I will probably continue to use it in the future.

Played briefly with the update. No Touchbar support, which is unfortunate (but not a show stopper). I like the new navigation pane, but mainly the fact you can hide it.

One of my favorite things right now is it seems much easier to move sections and pages among notebooks. It took me a while to find an organization that I like, and now I can combine my old notebooks much easier.
 
Mobster1983 said:
Nice. Just graduated from Law School on Sunday. Used OneNote for all three years. Figures they would release an update right when my usage pretty much stops. lol.
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Yes. That's why they waited. Now you're done they can finally roll out the update they've been sitting on.
 
The new interface is nice and all, but the slower than a turtle syncing between my devices and the inconsistent attachment file formats has totally turned me off.
 
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