Tuesday's Tip #65: Use OneNote Reason #2

Why Use OneNote Reason #2: One Word - Search!

 In my humble opinion, the most valuable feature of OneNote is Search and here's why...

Most of you know after reading this blog for a while and maybe even working with me a little about my business. I won't bore you with the details but only as it relates to OneNote.  I provide software consulting, virtual help desk support, access database support and development, Microsoft Office training and courseware development and content. I have phone calls and emails with prospective clients probably at least daily, RFP's (request for proposals),  referrals and inquiries. Before OneNote, I used notebooks to document this information and refer to later. Often times, as a result of my initial phone call, I need to follow up, do research, put together a proposal and such. In the past, I would use a note book to make these notes, contact info, project details, items to research and proposal information and maybe verbal pricing and/or budgets.Now the paper notebooks worked ok - especially if it was all happening fairly quickly BUT the odds of me finding the right page if the project got tabled or maybe stretched out over months or even years caused a disconnect. THIS is what won me mover to OneNote. When I started a Project Notebook in OneNote and created a Prospects section and then a new page for each lead. When this lead became a client, I moved them to the Projects section. What this meant may seem somewhat trivial, but it streamlined my notes and meant I had everything in one place and at my finger tips. Further, I didn't have to try to remember those initial conversations, contacts, discussions because they followed the project and lived in the section forever. Since I work on so many different projects, sometimes I forget some of the details but because the search feature is so amazing, I'm able to search for whatever it is I remember and in seconds find the details. Beyond that, if I have a similar project and want to use another project to help with pricing or budgeting, this allows me to easily find that information to compare it.

4 Cool Things to Know About OneNote's Search

• It's FAST....like REALLY fast
• You can search all notebooks or just a page in a single click
• You can search attachments and recordings
• You can search handwritten text and text on images