{"slug": "onenote", "name": "OneNote", "category": "notes", "category_name": "Notes and knowledge", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.363, "rising": 0.67, "first": "2025-12-11", "latest": "2026-09-12", "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": 2, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I've tried alternatives, but OneNote has been simple and reliable, it just works everywhere.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["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": 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": [], "who": [{"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 with sync", "math homework notes", "stylus-based note taking", "todos, lists, and ideas"], "compared": [{"slug": "evernote", "name": "Evernote", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49672342", "title": "My last six months at Evernote", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49656564", "title": "Instagram's head says engagement falls by half without the algorithm", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49479837", "title": "GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46236037", "title": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "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": 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": 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)"}]}