Note Talkers

I have been using the Office 2007 Beta 1 Technical Refresh for a few weeks. I did not expect new features in the system, but I did notice new things in OneNote. I do not know if they are new features or if I just didn’t see them in Beta 1. But, they are new to me and I have not covered them previously.

New Features:

• Full Screen Mode (Full Page View)
• Get more desktop real estate with the Full Page View. This view gets rid of everything on the sides and the bottom and keep the toolbars on top.
• Unfilled Notes
• Have random notes that aren’t filed yet? It’s ok, they are kept under “Unfilled Notes”
• Color Codes for OneNote 2003 and OneNote 2007 Notebooks
• In the previous OneNote 2007 Beta release, all notebooks were color coded. But now, only notebook created in OneNote 2007 are color coded. Imported notebooks are white.
• Screen Clipping Tool
• This screen clipping tool lets you clip from a previous windows and the screen clip is sent directly to OneNote 2007.
• Automatic and Manual Page Extend
• Pages can now be extended manually and/or automatically!

My thoughts:

Full Screen mode is amazing and I use it constantly. I don’t have to manually turn off toolbars to get more writing/typing space. I haven’t used the unfilled notes feature yet because I am having trouble understanding how to use it. The different color codes is nice and helps keep track out different notebooks, especially between OneNote 2003 and OneNote 2007.

The screen clipping tool is useful, but I have mixed feelings about it. You can only clip from a previous windows, not a window of your choosing or the desktop. I find the Tablet PC Snipping Tool more useful.

I am really glad the developers brought back the Manual Page Extend. One of the reasons I didn’t use OneNote 2007 a lot was the automatic page extend. I found it helpful, but it would “kick in” too late for my taste. I had to read a couple of inches from the bottom for it to extend. I like writing/typing near the top of page, not the bottom. What would be even better is if there was a way to the automatic page extend can learn your habits or if you can modify when it “kicks in.”

Coming Up: Screen cast of the New Features