Anyone using Microsoft OneNote to take notes during nursing school?

Ike Arumba · Jul 16, 2009

I'm not in nursing school yet, but I've used it while taking my pre-req classes and it's been useful to me. You can print your online syllabus and things like that to it, so that you don't have to haul around all that paperwork if you don't want to. It's networkable so if you have more than one computer in your house you can share it between them. There are templates for note taking, it will audio/video record while you are typing notes so you can go back to the point in the lecture you were typing. Overall after playing with it for a while I found it helpful when I used it last semester. I will probably continue to use it until I don't think it's helping me. HTH :typing

obicurn · Jul 16, 2009

I haven't tried using it during a lecture before, but when I rewrite my notes, I put them into OneNote. I'm not using the program to it's full capacity but I love it.

msdeannah · Jul 16, 2009

is it only useful with a tablet style laptop. I was thinking of purchasing this also.

Agrippa · Jul 16, 2009

No, you can use it for any laptop. Actually, i think a tablet would be at a disadvantage with Onenote.

Onenote is a very well designed and powerful tool. Many of my classmates and I used it during law school and it was very handy. I advise that if you have at least 2gigs of ram if you have Vista for it to run smoothly. Also, its a good idea to get acquainted with it.

allthaticanbe · Jul 16, 2009

I'm not in nursing school...but I used it for my undergrad biology classes.

The biggest problem is that printing from it is messed up. It never prints the way I want so I just use word. But if you download the pdf marker from the website it will make the printing a bit better.

However it keeps everything very organized. So thats a big plus and also if your computer crashes it saves everything, unlike word.

msdeannah · Jul 17, 2009

I never get a very clear idea from the demo's.. How is it more helpful than lets say word (or openoffice in my case).

Agrippa · Jul 17, 2009

So many ways. You can make a notebook for each class/subject. Then you can make tabs or sub sections in that subject. You can also directly copy any screen shot from a webpage just by dragging and paste it onto your note.

You can also make tables very easily. You can type anywhere and you're not limited to the formatting of word. I think its worth it to just get the microsoft student office package where you get excel, word, one note, power point, etc. Or just get one note.

CuriousMe · Jul 18, 2009

I just finished my first year of nursing school (3 year BS program). I've used Microsoft OneNote for two years of pre-reqs and through my first year of NS. I love it!! I do have a tablet laptop....but I use OneNote whether I type or write. I have a notebook for each term, a tab for each class and then a page for each day's lecture. If my Prof gives me a PowerPoint file, I can print it to a new page in OneNote and then take notes on the powerpoint slide. If they don't, well then I just take notes.

Taking notes in OneNote allows me to organize my notes A LOT more efficiently. It also gives me a full word search (inclusing words from PowerPoint slides or words that I've written/typed). I can record the lecture and synchronize that recording what I've written/typed (so it puts a play button next to whatever I type or write, so that I can play back from 5 seconds before I wrote or typed). I can not only copy and paste straight into my notes (I copy from Online Tabers or from textbook websites frequently) but it provides a link back to the website I copied from, so I can get more information if I need it.

Somone mentioned that there are printing issues, I've never noticed them because I honestly don't print from OneNote. The main advantage of OneNote for me is decreasing the amount of paper in my life, so keeping my notebooks digitally is a marvelous thing for me :-)

HopeForMelissa · Jul 19, 2009

Thank you guys for all the responses! I am glad to know that it is mostly positive feedback. I am excited about using it.

The only hiccup I have found is that I am running Windows Vista, and there is apparently an issue with OneNote "printing" power points directly to OneNote. There is supposed to be a backdoor way around it until they fix the issue. (This isn't a problem for Windows operating systems other than Vista, I have been told.)

I'm dying to set up my notebook and tabs, but I really can't do that AT LEAST until orientation. :nuke:

CuriousMe · Jul 19, 2009

Thank you guys for all the responses! I am glad to know that it is mostly positive feedback. I am excited about using it.
The only hiccup I have found is that I am running Windows Vista, and there is apparently an issue with OneNote "printing" power points directly to OneNote. There is supposed to be a backdoor way around it until they fix the issue. (This isn't a problem for Windows operating systems other than Vista, I have been told.)
I'm dying to set up my notebook and tabs, but I really can't do that AT LEAST until orientation. :nuke:

I have OneNote 2007 and Vista Ultimate...I haven't had any trouble at all and I used it for every lecture all year long.

sparky99 · Jul 20, 2009

I'm using the trial version of OneNote now for Micro, and will be purchasing it to use when the Nursing program starts next month. I checked out some of the free note-taking websites (Evernote, Google Docs etc) and still like OneNote enough to buy it.