You don't need the Internet to use Onenote.
You just need to signup first with the Onedrive account. Then, block it with LittleSnitch if you want. It will keep on working offline if you don't care about the syncing.

Onenote 2016 also syncs by default; unless you block it.



I totally agree with the privacy issue. But, this is not a problem for Onenote per se. It is a problem to the Cloud at large.
- If Apple reads our stuff in iCloud; if google does the same with our Google drive; and Dropbox does the same, Evernote...every syncing tool....the cloud is basically doomed. We are doomed.

it is not an issue with Onenote. it is a global issue with the cloud.

Dellu wrote:

You don't need the Internet to use Onenote.
You just need to signup first with the Onedrive account. Then, block it
with LittleSnitch if you want. It will keep on working offline if you
don't care about the syncing.

Onenote 2016 also syncs by default; unless you block it.



I totally agree with the privacy issue. But, this is not a problem for
Onenote per se. It is a problem to the Cloud at large.
- If Apple reads our stuff in iCloud; if google does the same with our
Google drive; and Dropbox does the same, Evernote...every syncing
tool....the cloud is basically doomed. We are doomed.

it is not an issue with Onenote. it is a global issue with the cloud.

I'm happy to admit that I may have missed something - but if I use OneNote on more than one device, how do I sync if I disable Onedrive? I assume that, if I work offline, I'm working on a cached copy and I've already commented on the risk of relying on cached data on a permanent basis.

Just to be clear - I'm not commenting on OneNote as a product (I did that separately) - I'm simply saying that cloud-only has restrictions that matter to me. They *are* restrictions and they *do* matter to me.

My only comment on the privacy issue is that there are other products that let me (a) keep local copies and (b) sync via my private Webdav service. I don't have to depend on the goodwill of MS (or Apple, since you mention them) to keep my data private.

Chris Thompson wrote:

As a related point, does anyone know a decent Windows-hosted alternative
to DevonThink? There's the DevonThink Pro web interface, so it is usable
from Windows, but I find it strange that there is almost nothing to turn
to in this specific area.

I don't know much about DevonThink, but normally ConnectedText is mentioned as a Windows alternative (keeping in mind CT is no longer being developed, though apparently the current version is going to be maintained).

I've never used DevonThink, but based on what I've read about it over the years, I always thought Ultra Recall was sort of in the same ballpark, since it lets you index external folders of PDF files, for example.

ConnectedText can't search PDF contents. However, ConnectedText has the "Like this" (related items based on text content) feature that UR doesn't have.


Chris Thompson wrote:

As a related point, does anyone know a decent Windows-hosted alternative
to DevonThink? There's the DevonThink Pro web interface, so it is usable
from Windows, but I find it strange that there is almost nothing to turn
to in this specific area.

--Chris

I'm not familiar with DevonThink or UltraRecall, but RightNote can index PDF files, if that's what you're after.

The next version of MyInfo will do that also.

Thanks for the replies... I probably should have been more specific. The DevonThink features I associate with the product are the ability to digest large collections of source documents (PDFs, Word/RTF docs, etc.), index them automatically and perform searches (including proximity operators, e.g., term X close to term Y), and the auto-classification/categorization/like this features (e.g., based on the indexed information, suggestions that this document fits into X, Y, and Z categories in an evolving taxonomy). I find that as a taxonomy gets complicated enough, it's hard or a lot of work to manually sort information into the right categories.

It supports wiki-like document linking too, but that's not how I use it. That being said, I definitely suggest that people who are into ConnectedText give TiddlyWiki a try. It's a pretty powerful system (and someone just announced an actual outliner plugin-in for it last week!) and can do basically everything ConnectedText can. The problem is that you really have to follow the mailing lists to understand its myriad of options and plugins, and I found it a bit exhausting since I'm not a huge wiki-user. But if I was, that would be my go to product these days.

--Chris

I think to get the most out of DevonThink, one must use tags quite a bit.

As I recall, One Note's tags aren't hierarchical, and I remember them being cumbersome if you defined too many. That may be unfair of me, but that's what I recall.

On projects that involve a lot of files or a lot of correspondence, I've found it works well to store things in categories that make a sort of top-level sense. A letter from the State Attorney General, for example, will go in the AG's group, which is within the State group.

When I file it, I add tags for any dialog or fact it pertains to. Each time I review something I've stored, I check out the tags to make sure every topic in the letter is represented by a tag.

The tags then become sort of like The Brain's jump links (the ones that appear to the left of the current topic, if you're familiar with The Brain).

DevonThink would be perfect if it had a reporting tool. I'd like to define a report much like a smart group or a tag and print the file names, or extract fields by regular expression from the files. File names can be listed, but it's sort of like a screen print. If DevonThink shortens the filename with ellipses, that's how it appears when the list of files is printed.

OneNote 2016, the desktop version, is back from the dead.

https://www.thurrott.com/cloud/office-365/221340/microsoft-brings-onenote-2016-back-from-the-dead

The only new feature announced is dark mode, but in a blog post Microsoft says it is taking requests for new features and will install it again with Office 365 and Office 2019.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Office-365-Blog/Your-OneNote/ba-p/954922

In the comments a Microsoft employee says the newer Windows 10 app (aka UWP), which was supposed to replace 2016, "will continue to be developed, last I heard."

Mark wrote:

OneNote 2016, the desktop version, is back from the dead.

https://www.thurrott.com/cloud/office-365/221340/microsoft-brings-onenote-2016-back-from-the-dead

The only new feature announced is dark mode, but in a blog post
Microsoft says it is taking requests for new features and will install
it again with Office 365 and Office 2019.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Office-365-Blog/Your-OneNote/ba-p/954922

In the comments a Microsoft employee says the newer Windows 10 app (aka
UWP), which was supposed to replace 2016, "will continue to be
developed, last I heard."

Very interesting news. Thanks for posting.

--Ken

Wow! Great News! Thanks for the update!

I'm not sure how to feel about this as I've been forcing myself to use the UWP version for about a year knowing that the old desktop one was being mothballed. It is tempting to switch back as there are some UI things I miss, though the UWP one is pretty good these days. The problem is that they forked the platform a while ago and have been steadily adding features to UWP that now has a few tricks that 2016 doesn't have and will probably not get. It's true that there are some tricks that 2016 still does better and always will. Here are some key considerations:

Tagging: It took forever, but they added custom tagging to UWP not long ago. Though the custom tag list doesn't sync to mobile which is annoying because I thought the whole point of migrating to a 'universal' platform was to match the same features across web, desktop, and mobile screens. However, that custom tag list does sync to....hold on, just checked, and it doesn't sync to the web interface from desktop either.... what the holy heck? The issue with the desktop tagging was it stored the customized tags in local files for every installation. So the only method to 'sync' those were to literally copy a configuration file to the other desktop....or constantly re-build your tag list, I used to have a specific page for that routine. I was going to make the point that surely the tagging platform for 2016 and UWP are surely completely different animals so would probably conflict with each other. Now I have no idea. It's....possible that Microsoft took like 6 years to....just kludge in the desktop's tagging that doesn't sync anywhere?

Backup: This may be the biggest one. The desktop version was old-school installed Office software and the notebooks were local file based. It synced by syncing those files, you could even do it with dropbox if you wanted. That also gave you complete control over archiving and backups, 2016 even has a backup-to-a-specific-directory feature. UWP of course is cloud-first, you can't navigate separately to the data files locally. It just stores and syncs stuff magically in the background. That means the only incremental backup option you have is a manual export/import via the web interface...which is a manual process for each notebook. So I might just switch back to 2016 for a couple years just because it's backup friendly.

Drawing: UWP does some drawing tricks that 2016 doesn't, like automatically recognizing shapes. Not important to me.

Attachments: This one could be interesting. UWP recently gained the ability to attach from OneDrive as link, which really opens up some nice methods of embedding working files within a unified cloud ecosystem.

Tasks: This is probably huge for some people. 2016 can link to outlook tasks, so you can have an 'inline' task in your notes and pop open the outlook version with full metadata and check it off from either side. Same with calendar events. But...that 2-way link only worked within the one desktop installation. The relationship wouldn't sync. There's no such insert Outlook/ToDo task in UWP. It's just a dumb checkbox. If Microsoft ever does get around to being able to embed 'MS ToDo' tasks in OneNote, I doubt 2016 would match that. That could create a funny situation where, since ToDo nicely syncs tasks with desktop Outlook, we'd have a loop of conflicting task syncing between Outlook, ToDo, UWP OneNote, and OneNote 2016. I think we'd at peak Microsoft at that point.

The upside is that all these different versions seem to do a complete sync, meaning you can pick and choose which one to create with and know the content won't be erased when syncing to a version that doesn't have that feature. But I'll be really surprised if the two versions don't keep diverging in capability.

But I’ll be really surprised if the two versions don’t keep diverging in capability.

A Microsoft employee was explicit about that in the forums when talking about new features in the works for OneNote 2016 (apparently it's going to be called OneNote for Office 365 subscriptions)



DSHackerc

We’re excited to be building out some of the same premium features you enjoy in other Office apps in OneNote for Office 365 subscriptions. Some of the other exciting features we are working on include:

Advanced Sharing (sections) – the ability to share only a section of your notebook, allows you to collaborate with confidence, knowing that your collaborators are seeing the pages you intend

@Mentions – allows you to bring collaborators into your notebook and draw their attention to specific notes

Tasks – the ability to assign tasks to those you are collaborating with

Advanced Editor – advanced editing suggestions to improve your writing

Microsoft Search – powerful search capability to find your noted quickly and easily

Best is what's best for you. I think having Win10 features to match exactly 2016 is not a goal we are looking for.



From

Source URL got cut off: https://www.reddit.com/r/OneNote/comments/driyn0/microsoft_brings_onenote_2016_back_from_the_dead/

Mark wrote:

Source URL got cut off:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OneNote/comments/driyn0/microsoft_brings_onenote_2016_back_from_the_dead/

Wow thanks, from that link "No, we will not be releasing OneNote 2019. OneNote for Office 365 subscriptions is the evolution of the desktop application and will include premium value"

That clarifies things and is encouraging. After years of narrowing functionality and focusing on eye candy to attract casual users, they are now considering a paid tier for power users? I'll believe it when I see it but that's encouraging.

More details:

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/11/7/20953691/microsoft-onenote-to-do-integration-fluid-framework-future-features-ignite-2019

Microsoft delists the OneNote UWP app from the Microsoft Store – Microsoft has announced that the OneNote UWP app will no longer show up in the Microsoft Store, though it will continue to work for now.

https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-delists-onenote-uwp-app-microsoft-store/

Talk about following the bouncing ball of Microsoft Office updates!!! Yuk!

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Microsoft delists the OneNote UWP app from the Microsoft Store –
Microsoft has announced that the OneNote UWP app will no longer show up
in the Microsoft Store

It still available, at an unobvious link

https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/onenote/9WZDNCRFHVJL

App is deprecated but Microsoft says it will continue to work until 2025.

This may be of interest:
https://www.howtogeek.com/onenote-sticky-notes-windows-11-rollout/

Microsoft is going to integrate Loop components in OneNote:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/use-loop-components-in-onenote-ed8a43d9-f6fd-4ad6-bc9d-8841db4da459

Best,
Dominik

I’m a bit baffled by Loop. I joined and had a play a few months ago, but was appalled to find that the Search function was almost totally useless. Otherwise, Loop is a very attractive environment. But for me, any kind of collaborative wiki/knowledge base solution has to have a competent search function.

I did feed this back to Microsoft. I guess it’s time I had another look...