What is better OneNote app, Microsoft office notes app, Evernote's or Apple notes?

[Bubble99]

What is better OneNote app, Microsoft office notes app, Evernote's or Apple notes?

I hear you can do lot more with OneNote app and some other third party note app than say Apple notes .

I hear you can change the background and choose templates and layouts that Apple notes do not allow you to do at all.

You can display all open projects for week or month or more and assign priority and assignment.

 

[Bart Kela]

My use of Evernote has screeched to a near halt ever since they limited the number of client devices to two for their basic free service a few months ago. I understand that they consciously did this to generate more revenue, but I was one of those who was not convinced to pony up the extra dollars for enhanced service.

In the same vein, I didn't pay extra for Flickr Pro when Yahoo curtailed that service when they acquired it. It just ended up in severely minimized usage of that service on my part.

That said, I think this is going to come down to the individual user and their specific needs. I require very little from my notes application/service, so what Apple provides is perfectly adequate. I also value the deep integration with the operating system from the native Apple applications.

You don't provide a specific usage case scenario for your particular needs, so it is difficult to make any recommendations.

Anyhow, good luck.

 

[thingstoponder]

I always use Apple apps. I just prefer the integrated experience.

 

[loby]

Many times when people ask, "Which is better"...? It is hard to say. But when it comes to software, I think it comes down to needs. Each of the software that you mentioned have their strengths and weakness. The notes app from Apple is good for general basic stuff and I personally like and prefer.

But I would say what I think the best note app would be the Windows version of OneNote. Currently, the Mac version is very limited, but works, but the full Windows version is ideal. Since migrating away from Windows many moons ago, OneNote (Windows version) was the one that I can say I miss.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Of the few you've listed, OneNote is more versatile. It's the one I taught my boss to use since you can draw/write your notes and are not limited to typing.

 

[Bart Kela]

Of the few you've listed, OneNote is more versatile. It's the one I taught my boss to use since you can draw/write your notes and are not limited to typing.

Apple's native Notes app supports drawings and photos. When you compose a new note, there are options for photos (the camera) and drawing (the squiggly line).

 

[AlliFlowers]

Apple's native Notes app supports drawings and photos. When you compose a new note, there are options for photos (the camera) and drawing (the squiggly line).

You can't even sort apples notes. I dislike having to do a search every time.

 

[Bart Kela]

True, but that's a separate issue completely unrelated to the ability of drawing a note.

Again, it's really dependent on how any given person works.

Not knowing how the OP is going to use notes, my comments address the features.

As far as OneNote, I don't know why the OP simply doesn't install and try it out. It's not like it's payware.

 

[jeff_in_MD]

I use Evernote but not needing any of the fancy features I'm down to only 2 devices. Like others have said a lot depends on what you want and if you use multiple OS's.

 

[loby]

What is better OneNote app, Microsoft office notes app, Evernote's or Apple notes?

I hear you can do lot more with OneNote app and some other third party note app than say Apple notes .

I hear you can change the background and choose templates and layouts that Apple notes do not allow you to do at all.

You can display all open projects for week or month or more and assign priority and assignment.

Maybe a better selection: Growly Notes. You can look it up in the Apple Store.

 

[Easttime]

OneNote is my preference after trying many alternatives over the years. It is cross platform and cross-device. The iOS version is very well done. Depends what you want to do with it. I use it to organize information for projects and reference. Easy to grab web pages from Safari extension.

 

[Moakesy]

Shopping Lists; basic stuff > Apple Notes

Projects; work stuff; taking meeting notes on iPad with the pencil which then can refer to later on your laptop etc...I use One Note

Both have their use cases....Apple Notes isn't up to major work stuff, One Note is overkill for a shopping list. I use both pretty much every day.

 

[rhett7660]

For shopping lists I use AnyList that I have shared with the wife. We can both update it etc and it is geared towards shopping, so we have everything from Vons - Home Depot/Lowes in it. A separate list for each store.

I have tried out a few note programs. I don't do written notes, yet. But I have used Evernote, OneNote, Outline, Notebooks, and a few others. I have pretty much given into Evernote. The others all have nice features, but they are missing one or two key things for me which Evernote has. For now though, the free plan is working, however I might be upgrading my plan to the second level. Again.

It all really depends on what you want out of your program.

 

[piperbarb]

Another note application that no one mentioned is SimpleNote. It is a cross-platform notes application that works with MacOS, iOS, Linux, Windows, an Android. I started using it when Evernote stopped supporting Linux. It works seamlessly among all my devices: iPhone, iPad, MBP, and Ubuntu Linux laptop. It's free and has no ads. It is not as powerful as OneNote, but it works really well.

 

[tmagman]

I was in the evernote camp for several years because of the cross device compatibility when I had an android phone, plus Penultimate was a great note-taker for the iPad Pro. However in the recent few weeks I've been finding some shortcomings with the evernote, mainly related to marking up PDF documents. I've found the experience for this to be clunky and not well integrated (if they could make it so you can import PDFs into penultimate rather than just evernote, i'd probably be back). I've been moving to OneNote for these features just because of the PDF markup. The writing features of Onenote have also come a long ways.

 

[Bubble99]

I was in the evernote camp for several years because of the cross device compatibility when I had an android phone, plus Penultimate was a great note-taker for the iPad Pro. However in the recent few weeks I've been finding some shortcomings with the evernote, mainly related to marking up PDF documents. I've found the experience for this to be clunky and not well integrated (if they could make it so you can import PDFs into penultimate rather than just evernote, i'd probably be back). I've been moving to OneNote for these features just because of the PDF markup. The writing features of Onenote have also come a long ways.

Is OneNote or evernote free or do you have to pay for it?

 

[xraydoc]

I moved from Evernote to OneNote about a year ago. The iPad version of OneNote has nice writing/drawing features which I integrate in to my work flow.

Another reason, and I kind of hate to admit, is that since I keep important work and personal information in my notes app, I can make an easier migration to Windows should I need.

 

[infantrytrophy]

For quick notes to sync among phone, iPad and Mac - Apple Notes app. Free, but limited to Apple platform. Some have reported occasional problems with syncing files apparently related to Apple's syncing engine <sigh>. Good integration w/Apple Pencil and handwriting recognition keyboard app.

For taking class or meeting notes with iPad, especially iPad Pro - Notability. Clean, simple interface, seamless integration with Apple Pencil for handwriting notes, allows voice recording synced with your handwritten or typed notes. Works well with the MyScript Stylus handwriting-recognition keyboard app. Also allows insertion of pictures and other files into your notes. Inexpensive, one-time fee (a bargain, IMO). The developer is doing a good job keeping the app updated - most recently with a quick little feature to straighten lines drawn free-hand w/Apple Pencil.

For complete cross-platform integration w/Windows - OneNote. Robust feature set, also works well w/Apple Pencil. Also good for class/meeting notes. Larger "footprint" (very large file size for app), but runs quickly in my iMac and iPad Pro. Like Notability, works well w/Apple Pencil and with handwriting-recognition keyboard app.

I was never able to warm up to Evernote, even when it was "free". And I don't like its new subscription payment model. There are equal or better choices, either free or at a small, one-time cost.

 

[Bubble99]

I moved from Evernote to OneNote about a year ago. The iPad version of OneNote has nice writing/drawing features which I integrate in to my work flow.

Another reason, and I kind of hate to admit, is that since I keep important work and personal information in my notes app, I can make an easier migration to Windows should I need.

Do you need Microsoft office suite for OneNote?

 

[Bart Kela]

Do you need Microsoft office suite for OneNote?

No

 

[Penn Jennings]

OneNote is my preference after trying many alternatives over the years. It is cross platform and cross-device. The iOS version is very well done. Depends what you want to do with it. I use it to organize information for projects and reference. Easy to grab web pages from Safari extension.

What is better OneNote app, Microsoft office notes app, Evernote's or Apple notes?

I hear you can do lot more with OneNote app and some other third party note app than say Apple notes .

I hear you can change the background and choose templates and layouts that Apple notes do not allow you to do at all.

You can display all open projects for week or month or more and assign priority and assignment.

I have tried using Notes, Evernote and OneNote. My opinion is that Apple's Notes seems fine at first, once you have a lot of notes though it begins to be a royal pain and you can see just how primitive it is. I settled on OneNote over a year ago, I moved my notes from Evernote and I couldn't be happier. I sync my notes between my work Windows 7 system, iPad, iPhone and MBP. No problems and even with hundreds of notes across a dozen notebooks everything works fine and no hits me up for money.

 

[MacGizmo]

They're all great apps and great services. I think OneNote is inarguably more feature-packed than any of them. Evernote is clearly the most ubiquitous of all of them. But for me it comes down to two things in Apple's favor:

Ease-of-use:
Apple's Notes app ships on every device. It syncs with every Apple device. It's scriptable (if you're into that sort of thing). It doesn't have any financially-driven limitations. EVERY other notes app does has at least one of these limitations.

Reliability:
It's made by Apple, so there is no danger of it going anywhere any time soon (if ever). It's always going to be updated and compatible with the latest version of macOS and iOS. They aren't trying to make money with it, so Apple is more inclined to keep it user-friendly.​

Bottom line:
Evernote is about one year away (two at most) from bankruptcy if it doesn't sell-out to a larger company. There are too many options out there to play their silly games and live with their restrictions... and most of their users have figured that out. Either way, Evernote as we know it now (which is also dramatically different than when it started) will be going away. And that's the problem with these small, third party apps & services—particularly free ones.

OneNote is quite nice, and MS doesn't need to make money off it for much the same reason as Apple. The problem here is that MS has shown that more often than not they are more than happy to kill an app or service if it isn't a money-maker.

Apple's Notes app is the least feature-packed, the least ubiquitous, the least "friendly" app of them all. But it's the only one that's guaranteed to be here tomorrow, the next day, the day after that...

 

[AlliFlowers]

Is OneNote or evernote free or do you have to pay for it?

Both are free, but Evernote limits you to two devices even on its free tier. That's why so many have moved away from it and exported their (our) notes to either OneNote or Apple notes.

 

[Bubble99]

Both are free, but Evernote limits you to two devices even on its free tier. That's why so many have moved away from it and exported their (our) notes to either OneNote or Apple notes.

What do you mean it is limited to two devices? And when did they start that? A year ago or two years ago.

 

[sos47]

I use Apple Notes for private use, Microsoft OneNote for business.
MS OneNote has a lot more functions than Apple Notes. You can edit in multiuser mode (collaboration) which is great in team Meetings.