{"slug": "microsoft-onenote", "name": "Microsoft OneNote", "category": "notes", "category_name": "Notes and knowledge", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 19, "warners": 6, "score": 0.674, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2025-11-12", "latest": "2026-10-31", "why": "I've tried alternatives, but OneNote has been simple and reliable, it just works everywhere.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 8, "compare": 2, "warn": 7}, "spark": [0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I've tried alternatives, but OneNote has been simple and reliable, it just works everywhere.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.onenote.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["OneNote", "Microsoft OneNote"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 794764256, "item_id": 49672766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49672766", "by": "VCFundedGenYer", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "once OneNote 2013 hit, I dropped Evernote like a rock in a lake.", "excerpt": "I remember using Evernote in the very early 2010s, pre acquistion, and before OneNote got really good/had a cloud sync service. Evernote was...fine, but the UX was very stilted. Text placement was very restrictive, and the spontaneous nature of taking notes was suppressed by it generally forcing you to type linearly as if it were a Word document. I used it for the ability to seamlessly sync between devices, but once ", "context": "", "use_case": "note-taking with sync", "switched_from": "Evernote", "story": "My last six months at Evernote"}, {"id": 755983312, "item_id": 47248957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47248957", "by": "wpsimon3", "date": "2026-03-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The OneNote app sync is quick enough that I could type lecture notes on the laptop", "excerpt": "I used to use both...laptop for quick typing, and then the iPad for hand-written notes or annotation. The OneNote app sync is quick enough that I could type lecture notes on the laptop, and then quickly switch to the same document on my iPad to sketch out a diagram. It was overkill for sure, but very useful", "context": "", "use_case": "lecture notes across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Introduces MacBook Neo"}, {"id": 743875808, "item_id": 46492238, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46492238", "by": "randycupertino", "date": "2026-01-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love One Note, use it for work constantly", "excerpt": "> I do get annoyed by how Microsoft has jammed it into every nook and cranny of their product suite. It's infuriating that you can't even minimize it or close it. I love One Note, use it for work constantly and it's great for tracking meetings, notes, to do lists, vendor contacts, whatever. Now there's a giant COPILOT icon in the middle of the notebook and you can't move it, close it or minimize it. There's no way to", "context": "", "use_case": "Work notes and tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft CEO resorts to blogging in defense of AI"}, {"id": 739791168, "item_id": 46236948, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46236948", "by": "bottlepalm", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've tried alternatives, but OneNote has been simple and reliable, it just works everywhere.", "excerpt": "I used to have a zillion todo txt files in the early 2000's, migrated to OneNote around 2005 and have been using the same OneNote notebook for 20 years now. My life is in there - 20 years worth of todos, lists, thoughts, ideas, etc.. always evolving, perfectly synchronized across computers and mobile. I'm referencing and updating my OneNote all day as I get things done, have ideas, and think of new things to do, or t", "context": "20 year user", "use_case": "todos, lists, and ideas", "switched_from": "text files", "story": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 769785031, "item_id": 48111564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48111564", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-05-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "which is horrible in every other way compared to Obsidian", "excerpt": "\"Ink\" for drawing (big miss in the standard feature set IMO, the only one thing I missed coming from OneNote which is horrible in every other way compared to Obsidian). \"Self-Hosted Livesync\" for syncing on your own server (I don't want my stuff on other people's computers even when encrypted) \"Copilot\" for AI integration (I use two local ollama servers as you might have guessed from the above :) ) \"Whisper\" for text", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Future of Obsidian Plugins"}, {"id": 762185056, "item_id": 47636566, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47636566", "by": "necovek", "date": "2026-04-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I have tried shared notes in One Note, but as soon as someone else edits something in the same spot, it creates a forked history", "excerpt": "An aside: I am generally good at keeping notes while in a meeting, and I have tried shared notes in One Note, but as soon as someone else edits something in the same spot, it creates a forked history requiring manual reconciliation: does this work for you? I've switched to Word akin to how I used to do it with Google Docs as that works much better. Perhaps it's given away by \"One\" in the name (one simultaneous editor", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor"}, {"id": 757128240, "item_id": 47320515, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47320515", "by": "glimshe", "date": "2026-03-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "OneNote, for instance, has serious delays and glitches when syncing notebooks changed on other machines or web.", "excerpt": "I use office on Mac and Windows. It works fine on Mac, but not better than Windows. OneNote, for instance, has serious delays and glitches when syncing notebooks changed on other machines or web. I lost work multiple times before stopping using it altogether on the Mac.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows: Microsoft broke the only thing that mattered"}, {"id": 743903472, "item_id": 46493967, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46493967", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-01-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I really hate onenote", "excerpt": "You actually like onenote? Note taking is my primary tool at work but I really hate onenote. The web version can't even search properly in all folders. And there's no desktop Linux version. Privately I use obsidian with self hosted livesync which is amazing. But at work I have to use Copilot. In some ways I don't mind it in onenote because it actually succeeds in finding stuff the search function doesn't. Syncing to ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft CEO resorts to blogging in defense of AI"}]}], "who": [{"by": "coffeethursday", "context": "VC", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50313325", "date": "2026-10-31"}, {"by": "MrMorden", "context": "student in math classes", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49660851", "date": "2026-09-11"}, {"by": "bottlepalm", "context": "20 year user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46236948", "date": "2025-12-11"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["note-taking", "family knowledge management", "note-taking with sync", "math homework notes", "stylus-based note taking", "shared family notebook"], "compared": [{"slug": "obsidian", "name": "Obsidian", "co": 8, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "microsoft-word", "name": "Microsoft Word", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "copilot", "name": "Copilot", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "self-hosted-livesync", "name": "Self-hosted LiveSync", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "fusion-360", "name": "Fusion 360", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "microsoft-office", "name": "Microsoft Office", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "sublime-text", "name": "Sublime Text", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47710149", "title": "How Microsoft Abuses Its Users", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47597159", "title": "Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46489890", "title": "Microsoft CEO resorts to blogging in defense of AI", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46236037", "title": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50313324", "title": "Show HN: How I take notes as a VC, and the app I built for it", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49881747", "title": "Windows 11\u00bd", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 2}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-05": {"warn": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 805013204, "item_id": 50313325, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50313325", "by": "coffeethursday", "date": "2026-10-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "once even opened Microsoft OneNote", "excerpt": "If it's not obvious from the title, I'm a VC and I spend a ton of time in meetings with founders. What's less obvious is all the other things. After treading water for at least a decade, I am deeply suspect of any VC's organizational capabilities. Mostly my own. Believe it or not, for the longest time, my notes lived in saved (and unsaved) text files in Sublime Text. At some point I've tried using TiddlyWiki, bandwag", "context": "VC", "use_case": "note-taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: How I take notes as a VC, and the app I built for it"}, {"id": 798130356, "item_id": 49883147, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49883147", "by": "qwerpy", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my wife refuses to move off of Onenote for our family knowledge management", "excerpt": "Some other ones to add on from my fresh install: Start menu search will search the Microsoft Store for apps they want you to install, some key combinations will launch copilot and if it's not setup it will take you to a webpage that will help you set it up, every office application has a cheap looking unhideable jeweled title bar button to \"Upgrade your plan\". Solutions in order of the problems listed: https://superu", "context": "", "use_case": "Family knowledge management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 794764256, "item_id": 49672766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49672766", "by": "VCFundedGenYer", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "once OneNote 2013 hit, I dropped Evernote like a rock in a lake.", "excerpt": "I remember using Evernote in the very early 2010s, pre acquistion, and before OneNote got really good/had a cloud sync service. Evernote was...fine, but the UX was very stilted. Text placement was very restrictive, and the spontaneous nature of taking notes was suppressed by it generally forcing you to type linearly as if it were a Word document. I used it for the ability to seamlessly sync between devices, but once ", "context": "", "use_case": "note-taking with sync", "switched_from": "Evernote", "story": "My last six months at Evernote"}, {"id": 794573616, "item_id": 49660851, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49660851", "by": "MrMorden", "date": "2026-09-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use OneNote on my desktop (copy in the homework problem) and tablet (do the work).", "excerpt": "For math classes where the instructor requires you to upload the work I use OneNote on my desktop (copy in the homework problem) and tablet (do the work).", "context": "student in math classes", "use_case": "math homework notes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Instagram's head says engagement falls by half without the algorithm"}, {"id": 791692288, "item_id": 49480768, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49480768", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use OneNote and Macromedia Freehand and so forth w/ a stylus", "excerpt": "Where possible, there should be keyboard shortcuts/navigation. Where appropriate, the labeling of fields and so forth should be such that it will work for a screen reader. Often, the expedient option is to use an HTML front-end so that one can off-load most of that to the user's selection of web-browser (and where possible, things should be engineered so that Lynx is a valid option). That said, I use OneNote and Macr", "context": "", "use_case": "stylus-based note taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven"}, {"id": 769785031, "item_id": 48111564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48111564", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-05-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "which is horrible in every other way compared to Obsidian", "excerpt": "\"Ink\" for drawing (big miss in the standard feature set IMO, the only one thing I missed coming from OneNote which is horrible in every other way compared to Obsidian). \"Self-Hosted Livesync\" for syncing on your own server (I don't want my stuff on other people's computers even when encrypted) \"Copilot\" for AI integration (I use two local ollama servers as you might have guessed from the above :) ) \"Whisper\" for text", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Future of Obsidian Plugins"}, {"id": 763540211, "item_id": 47721263, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47721263", "by": "caconym_", "date": "2026-04-10", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I don't think it's a drop-in replacement for OneNote", "excerpt": "I understand that everyone has their own needs and Linux still might not be a great fit, but just in case it's helpful, here are some possibly-comparable Linux-friendly alternatives to what you mentioned: > Fusion360 Depending on your needs, Onshape could be a good portable option since it runs in a browser. I use it for all my 3D printing pursuits and have made some fairly complex parts. And it's free if you don't m", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Microsoft Abuses Its Users"}, {"id": 763399601, "item_id": 47712475, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47712475", "by": "qwerpy", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "OneNote (shared notebook with my non-technical wife that syncs to mobile)", "excerpt": "For me the apps that don\u2019t exist on Linux are Fusion360 (3d printing modeling) and OneNote (shared notebook with my non-technical wife that syncs to mobile). I also have zero tolerance for needing to tweak settings to make a game work on Linux. So I\u2019m stuck on windows for now. Every month I have to spend an hour fighting some new asshole behavior concocted up by some ambitious Microsoft product manager. The latest on", "context": "", "use_case": "shared family notebook", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Microsoft Abuses Its Users"}, {"id": 762232336, "item_id": 47639521, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47639521", "by": "NikolaNovak", "date": "2026-04-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "it seems to have a bit more learning curve and needs more discipline and structure", "excerpt": "I use onenote as a personal note taking system. For shared artifacts we use word, excel or PowerPoint in corporate onedrive and it works shockingly well, with minor but important caveats - you can't usually edit the same exact box at the same time, and it can get confused with offline changes by multiple people. But online changes by multiple simultaneous people seems to work really well. I especially enjoy when one ", "context": "", "use_case": "personal note taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor"}, {"id": 762185056, "item_id": 47636566, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47636566", "by": "necovek", "date": "2026-04-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I have tried shared notes in One Note, but as soon as someone else edits something in the same spot, it creates a forked history", "excerpt": "An aside: I am generally good at keeping notes while in a meeting, and I have tried shared notes in One Note, but as soon as someone else edits something in the same spot, it creates a forked history requiring manual reconciliation: does this work for you? I've switched to Word akin to how I used to do it with Google Docs as that works much better. Perhaps it's given away by \"One\" in the name (one simultaneous editor", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor"}, {"id": 757128240, "item_id": 47320515, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47320515", "by": "glimshe", "date": "2026-03-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "OneNote, for instance, has serious delays and glitches when syncing notebooks changed on other machines or web.", "excerpt": "I use office on Mac and Windows. It works fine on Mac, but not better than Windows. OneNote, for instance, has serious delays and glitches when syncing notebooks changed on other machines or web. I lost work multiple times before stopping using it altogether on the Mac.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows: Microsoft broke the only thing that mattered"}, {"id": 756840049, "item_id": 47302503, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47302503", "by": "ikr678", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "compare", "quote": "a simple local only wysiwyg alternative to Onenote", "excerpt": "I have been looking for a simple local only wysiwyg alternative to Onenote and there just.. arent any good ones? Joplin is close but everything is now markdown and I hate it, I've gone back to phyiscally writing down notes. I'm old, these are notes for me only, I don't care that they arent 'web publishing' ready.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreOffice Writer now supports Markdown"}, {"id": 755983312, "item_id": 47248957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47248957", "by": "wpsimon3", "date": "2026-03-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The OneNote app sync is quick enough that I could type lecture notes on the laptop", "excerpt": "I used to use both...laptop for quick typing, and then the iPad for hand-written notes or annotation. The OneNote app sync is quick enough that I could type lecture notes on the laptop, and then quickly switch to the same document on my iPad to sketch out a diagram. It was overkill for sure, but very useful", "context": "", "use_case": "lecture notes across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Introduces MacBook Neo"}, {"id": 752567336, "item_id": 47035458, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47035458", "by": "criddell", "date": "2026-02-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "OneNote for todos and project planning", "excerpt": "I'm your opposite. I use Pages for letter writing, Word for documentation, PyCharm for Python, Visual Studio for C++, VSCode for Javascript, Outlook for email, vi for bash and config files, SublimeText for markdown and html, OneNote for todos and project planning, Obsidian for my work log and outlines, the Notes app for on-the-go capture, etc...", "context": "", "use_case": "Todos and project planning", "switched_from": "", "story": "Vim-pencil: Rethinking Vim as a tool for writing"}, {"id": 744984464, "item_id": 46561529, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46561529", "by": "GuB-42", "date": "2026-01-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Not only that but Markdown use the conventions people already used in text files (point 3 in the article). People wrote Markdown before Markdown existed, they just formalized it. In fact, I like to write notes and documentation in text form, and then I notice I have been using Markdown all along, so I rename my text file into .md, fix a couple of markers, and now it looks nice on a viewer that supports markdown, and ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Markdown Took over the World"}, {"id": 743903472, "item_id": 46493967, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46493967", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-01-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I really hate onenote", "excerpt": "You actually like onenote? Note taking is my primary tool at work but I really hate onenote. The web version can't even search properly in all folders. And there's no desktop Linux version. Privately I use obsidian with self hosted livesync which is amazing. But at work I have to use Copilot. In some ways I don't mind it in onenote because it actually succeeds in finding stuff the search function doesn't. Syncing to ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft CEO resorts to blogging in defense of AI"}, {"id": 743875808, "item_id": 46492238, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46492238", "by": "randycupertino", "date": "2026-01-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love One Note, use it for work constantly", "excerpt": "> I do get annoyed by how Microsoft has jammed it into every nook and cranny of their product suite. It's infuriating that you can't even minimize it or close it. I love One Note, use it for work constantly and it's great for tracking meetings, notes, to do lists, vendor contacts, whatever. Now there's a giant COPILOT icon in the middle of the notebook and you can't move it, close it or minimize it. There's no way to", "context": "", "use_case": "Work notes and tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft CEO resorts to blogging in defense of AI"}, {"id": 739849104, "item_id": 46240569, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46240569", "by": "wkat4242", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Onenote is a turd.", "excerpt": "Yeah I don't either, I have to use onenote at work and i use obsidian personally. I'd be a lot more productive if I'd be able to use obsidian there though. Onenote is a turd.", "context": "", "use_case": "Work notes", "switched_from": "", "story": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)"}, {"id": 739791168, "item_id": 46236948, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46236948", "by": "bottlepalm", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've tried alternatives, but OneNote has been simple and reliable, it just works everywhere.", "excerpt": "I used to have a zillion todo txt files in the early 2000's, migrated to OneNote around 2005 and have been using the same OneNote notebook for 20 years now. My life is in there - 20 years worth of todos, lists, thoughts, ideas, etc.. always evolving, perfectly synchronized across computers and mobile. I'm referencing and updating my OneNote all day as I get things done, have ideas, and think of new things to do, or t", "context": "20 year user", "use_case": "todos, lists, and ideas", "switched_from": "text files", "story": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)"}, {"id": 739207792, "item_id": 46200487, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46200487", "by": "raincole", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Weird view on how capitalism works. They raise prices because they (believe they) can and that's all. Prices are not tied to business cost. Even if all datacenters were subsidized by the government, this price rising would still happen. Microsoft is basically a B2B now. Their customers are those who use Team and Exchange. Those customers are locked in and with no real alternative to migrate to.", "context": "", "use_case": "Note-taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices"}, {"id": 734405489, "item_id": 45900343, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45900343", "by": "incomingpain", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "none of them are particularly good", "excerpt": "In history I did this with cybersecurity. I'd tried all kinds of apps like obsidian, one note, evernote, etherpad, dokuwiki, opennote. The reality is that none of them are particularly good. Obsidian is my current solution, but i dont like it. What I really need to give a chance: Llama Index. https://developers.llamaindex.ai/python/framework/#use-cases Obviously I'd need some time to customize it for my needs, but it", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Seeking advice on designing a personal document server"}]}