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The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

Are you a Mac user thinking of giving OneNote a try? You're not alone:​​Mac users have been curious ever since Microsoft made OneNote free. OneNote is now truly free with more features than before. OneNote is now truly free with more features than before as Evernote no longer rules the heap of note-taking apps. Microsoft recently announced that OneNote would be freer than ever. Let us show you what this means in terms of features and functionality. Read more, and versions offered for Mac, iPad and iPhone.

My recommendation:If you're curious, you should give OneNote for Mac a try. Forget any hate towards Microsoft you may harbor. Why brand loyalty is the enemy of productivity. Why brand loyalty is the enemy of productivity. You cannot know something that you are not willing to explore. Can you break your prejudices and try new things? Treat. Productivity could be just outside your comfort zone. Read More

We've gone over all the unique ways you can use OneNote 10 Unique Ways to Use Microsoft OneNote 10 Unique Ways to Use Microsoft OneNote OneNote is one of the most underrated apps from Microsoft. It is available on almost all platforms and can do a lot of tricks that you would not expect from a note keeping app. Read More In my case, I compile possible article ideas in one notebook and keep track of things that need to be done around the house in another. But any project that requires you to compile and act on a large amount of information could be made easier with OneNote. Here's how.

Getting to know OneNote on Mac

OneNote is definitely the kind of software you need to install before you find out how useful it is, but where it really shines is organization. The user interface is based on one main metaphor:a series of notebooks, each with its own tabs, where you can collect the information you need for projects on individual pages.

The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

The information on these pages can be arranged any way you like – click anywhere on the page and you can start typing. You can also embed images, full PDF printouts, and even archives.

Basically, it's designed to be a place to gather research for projects. However, the interface can be a bit weird at first glance, especially if you're the kind of Mac user who has never used the ribbon.

The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

It's not complicated, though:just three tabs packed with quick access to formatting and other options. If you prefer not to use the tape, that's fine; just click on the currently open tab to hide the ribbon. It's not necessary because, like all Mac applications, OneNote offers all the functions in the menu bar.

The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

As you can see, this is also a great place to learn the keyboard shortcuts for the app, most of which are mostly the same as in the other Office 2016 for Mac apps. What's new in Office for Mac? Mac 2016? Download it and find out what's new in Office for Mac 2016? Download and find out Microsoft is working on the next version of Office for Mac, due for release in 2016. At the moment, a (surprisingly stable) preview is available to download and use. Read more.

Below the ribbon, you will see the name of the open notebook on the left. Click here to browse your notebooks:

The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

You can add a new notebook, if you wish, by using the plus sign at the top right.

To the right of the notebook button are the tabs for the currently open notebook.

The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

You can add as many tabs as you like, scrolling if necessary. You can also change the color of the tabs, allowing you to keep things organized visually.

That's a short tour of OneNote on Mac. You'll have to figure out for yourself how many notebooks and tabs to create.

Things Mac users should know about OneNote

If you already have Microsoft Office 2016 installed on your Mac, there's a good chance you already have OneNote installed. But even if you don't use Word, Excel, and Powerpoint on your Mac, you can download OneNote from the Mac App Store for free.

However, you're not done after installing OneNote; You'll also want the OneNote clipper, which lets you quickly clip articles and entire web pages in the notebook of your choice.

The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

If you are a Chrome user, you can check out the official OneNote Clipper for Chrome. Safari and Firefox users unfortunately do not get an official browser plugin, instead they will have to use a bookmarklet. It works just as well as the extension, but it is stored in the bookmarks toolbar instead of with your other extensions.

Key Windows OneNote features missing on Mac

OneNote for Mac is relatively new:Microsoft only released it in 2014, a decade after the first Windows version released. Many features are missing from the Mac version, which means if you're an old OneNote user who recently switched to the Mac, you may be confused.

Users have documented these missing features on the UserVoice for OneNote forum, but here are some OneNote features missing from the desktop version that the Mac version doesn't offer:

The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

  • Custom labels . OneNote for Mac allows you to add from a preset number of labels, as seen above. However, unlike the Windows version, you can't add custom labels. As far as I know, Windows custom labels won't sync either. There is also no support for searching tags.
  • Drawing shapes . In Windows and mobile versions of OneNote, there is a section of the ribbon dedicated to freehand drawing. This doesn't exist on the Mac, but drawings you make on other platforms will sync.
  • Opening .one and .onepkg files . OneNote for Mac is strictly for syncing notebooks with OneDrive, and you can't use OneNote for Mac without a OneDrive account. Your notes are stored for offline use, but you can't save them to a .one or .onepkg file, and you can't open those files with OneNote for Mac.
  • Templates . OneNote for Mac does not offer templates.
  • Printing It is offered, but it is quite basic. You can't change the layout or size of the page, so sometimes things are going to be formatted wrong.

Migrating from Evernote requires Windows

One more thing for Mac users to keep in mind is that if you're migrating from Evernote, you've got a lot of work to do. I have described how to migrate your notes from Evernote to OneNote How to migrate from Evernote to OneNote and why you should migrate from Evernote to OneNote and why you should Do you think Microsoft OneNote is better than Evernote? Or maybe it just suits your project management style. Either way, here's how you can easily migrate all your notes from Evernote to OneNote. Read More Try as I might, I couldn't find a Mac compatible alternative.

The Essential Guide to OneNote for Mac

This means that Mac users looking to migrate need to tediously copy all of their notes using copy and paste. Alternatively, they could install Windows on your Mac. 4 Ways to Get Windows on Your Mac 4 Ways to Get Windows on Your Mac Want to get Windows 8 running on your Mac, but don't know where to start? Let us show you how. Read More Beer works, I think, as do cookies.

A great Mac version missing some features

If you are a long-time Mac user who has never used OneNote, I think you will be very happy with OneNote for Mac. The app has, in my opinion, surpassed Evernote as the best note-taking option for Mac users. .

But if you're a long-time OneNote for Windows user who recently switched to Mac, you might be disappointed. It's not clear if Microsoft will add all of these features to the Mac version.

Of course, I am just one person. I'm sure there are other opinions out there, and I can't wait to hear them. Let's talk about what you like and don't like about OneNote for Mac. I'm looking forward to it!