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The extra layers of organization are the most infuriating things about OneNote. I find its interface a little overwrought: your notes are kept in “pages,” which are nested into “sections,” which are then nested into multiple “notebooks” (and you can even have subpages nested within your pages). You can put it behind a two-factor login and the data is encrypted using the same tools (and following the same rules) as other Microsoft Azure services.īuy for $0.00 from Microsoft Buy for $0.00 from Mac App Store Buy for $0.00 from Google Playīut I have to admit that I don’t love OneNote.
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OneNote is also secure - or at least as secure as any data that Microsoft keeps, which is pretty darn secure. It has very impressive document scanning, allowing you to extract the text from even very long documents. What puts OneNote over the top is the quality of its apps across different platforms and the fact that it doesn’t limit you to only syncing your notes to two devices on its free tier. The mix of features, price, and availability OneNote offers is very nearly unique, though there are other apps that come close. Even then, Microsoft’s OneDrive starts at as little as $1.99 a month for 100GB - storage you can also use for lots of other purposes, like files or photos. The only cost is cloud storage that kicks in once you’ve stored more than 5GB - that would be a gigantic amount of text notes, though you might hit it faster if you attach a lot of large images. It doesn’t cost anything for most people. It offers lots of different kinds of text formatting options and drawing tools, plus a “web clipper” for quickly adding notes from websites you’re browsing. Microsoft OneNote is the best notes app for most people because it hits all of the most important requirements: it’s reliable, fairly fast, and works across Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android, and the web. The best for most people: Microsoft OneNote Nothing is perfect.Īll that said, the best note-taking app for most people is Microsoft OneNote.
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And even the ones that do have annoying aspects to them, which means that I don’t have a standout, unequivocal recommendation. There are surprisingly few apps that meet all these requirements. Those are my priorities, and I think that they should form the basis for any app that wants to be the universal default note-taking app. It should also be inexpensive, or even free. It should protect the security and privacy of your notes. It shouldn’t be bogged down with too many confusing features - but it also can’t be so bare-bones that it won’t meet your needs. It should have lightning-fast search across all of your notes. It should be available no matter what computing platform you use now or might switch to in the future.
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It should sync your notes across multiple devices quickly and accurately. Instead, what I mean is an app where you can quickly create a note and it will automatically be saved and synced to your other devices.Ī good note-taking app should be fast. There are people who swear by just using Notepad or TextEdit and then manually organizing the text files they save. Strange as it seems, it’s useful to actually say what I mean by a “note-taking app.” I mean more than simply a text editor. I won’t be able to cover every one of those cases, but I’ll make some extra recommendations. There might be one special feature you really care about, for example, or you might be willing to spend a little money every month to get a better experience. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t exist, if only because everybody’s definition of “perfect” is different when it comes to something as personal as a repository of all your notes.Īfter my most recent round of testing, I have landed on what I believe is the best note-taking app for most people, even though it might not be the best note-taking app for you. I have spent the past few weeks - but really, it’s been the past few years - hunting for the perfect note-taking app.
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