Multiple notebooks in OneNote 2003.

[Vespasian]

Hello,

I use Onenote 2003, and will likely eventually use OneNote 2007. I was
looking at a trial version to see how nice it would be to be able to have
multiple notebooks.

Looking behind the scenes, it appears that all that has been done is that an
additional level of folders (directories) has been added in the Notebooks
folder, and a some UI work has been done for a navigation bar. I was hoping
for something different, like having a notebook be an individual, single file.

Given that OneNote 2003 is still in mainstream support, and that this
'multiple notebook' feature that has been trumpeted so loudly appears to be
not too much more than the addition of a navigation bar, why not add this to
2003 before it's too late? I plan on using 2003 on older computers with 2007
on newer ones.

 

[Michael]

I do not see Microsoft spending the time or money to do this. They will put
their efforts into 2007 and the next version, not a version that is now over
4 years old.

 

[Vespasian]

It's not like they're being asked to move mountains here. They don't even
need the full functionality of the 2007 version, with an 'All Notebooks' part.

If they have a problem with providing mainstream support on a product that
is over 4 years old, they shouldn't offer mainstream support on a product
that is over 4 years old.

Some people actually take support dates into consideration when buying a
product, and not everyone bought OneNote 2003 the day, or year, it came out.

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP]

"Mainstream support" is not the same as "Add new features" and certainly
isn't the same as "make significant changes to the file system." Sorry, but
the only changes you're likely to see to ON2003 at this point are bug and
security fixes - not new features.

ON2007 is a lot more than adding another layer to the file structure.
Internal hyperlinks, instant search, background OCR of images and other
features are all quite significant.

--

 

[Vespasian]

As far as adding new features... that appears to be incorrect.

See here for details...
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

I am quite well aware of all the specific additions you listed. But guess
what, I'm not asking for them. Adding a navigation bar to emulate the
multiple 'notebooks' that are in OneNote 2007 (which seems to emulate them
anyway) appears to me to be something that could have been done a long time
ago. It's the low lying fruit of the new features offered by OneNote 2007,
and I'm guessing with relative ease, compared to other changes, it could have
been added to a service pack long ago.

Significant changes to the file system? That doesn't seem to be the case here.

 

[Ben M. Schorr, MVP]

I'm simply explaining why you're not likely to see any new features added to
OneNote 2003 at this point. The development focus of the OneNote team is
entirely upon upcoming service packs for OneNote 2007 and starting to
develop the next version of OneNote. They have neither interest nor
motivation to reopen the OneNote 2003 code base at this point except for a
security fix or a serious bug fix. You can choose not to believe me if you
like. One of us has actually sat around a conference table with the OneNote
team on a few occasions; I'll leave it to you to decide which one.

 

[Erik Sojka (MVP)]

Al new feature dev work on ON2003 is stopped. There will be no new
features added to either 2003 or 2007. Only bug fixes will be provided to
these products at this point. That MS added new features to ON2003SP1 is a
fluke.

The multiple Notebook feature in ON2007 is more than UI 3-card monty -
there's no reason why each separate Notebook can't be stored in a different
location! By default, the sample Notebooks are all contained in the
"OneNote Notebooks" folder under your user profile, but newly created
Notebooks don't have to be homed there. My work machine contains Notebooks
from 5 different servers/sources.

Besides, the multiple Notebooks feature, while cool, isn't the only reason
why you should move to ON2007!!

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Erik Sojka (MVP) shared these words of wisdom:

Besides, the multiple Notebooks feature, while cool, isn't the only
reason why you should move to ON2007!!

100% D'accord.

He who still works with ON2003 and does not upgrade, punishes himself
day by day.

Rainald