Newbie observations - OneNote2007 functionality, wishlist

[Schooner]

Fascinating application (1N7 running on Vista Ultimate, shared to several XP
machines). A key use for me is tabular links to documents viewable/clickable
by multiple users. For local docs, that means one has to map a drive to
MyDocs folder (to force automatic full-share-path hyperlinks) & share out a
the directory/subdirectory. For some reason, I have trouble with .ppt
insertions (opens with some kind of viewer instead of PowerPoint proper, I'm
sure I can tweak something to fix that).

Troubles:
1. No sort utility for tables/lists?
2. No "group" function for drawing objects? Big annoyance.
3. No "fill" functions for drawing objects. OK, make 'em in Word or
PowerPoint.
4. Primitive implementation of numbered lists - no nested list function (1,
1.1, 1.11)
3. Can't figure out how the built-in templates manage to square b/g pics
against the upper left corner - I get unavoidable lhCorner margin space when
I try making my own templates. Generally, I have trouble getting pages to
"fit" without scroll handles showing up - the 1N "containers" seem to demand
a bit of margin.
4. Zoom. Somehow my mousewheel once locked on an apparent page-zoom
function, can't seem to repeat it.
5. Live link between outlook tables (or even to displayable spreadsheet or
doc) would be "wow". e.g. - one page has a to-do list for financial stuff,
another has a to-do list for music stuff, and so on... on an "omnibus" page I
can place hyperlinks to those to-do lists, but I cannot make them appear on
the omnibus page & behave as "slaves" to their "masters". Or is it somehow
possible to embed such objects (with updating link to original)?
6. Subpage behavior - I expected permanently subordinated & indelibly
linked subpages, surprised to see they don't behave so. Would be more
intuitive/useful if subs glued to their parents (as is, drag a parent page up
the page list & you've lost the subpage's apparently tenuous association
thereto).
6. Mac version, I won't be the first to wish for that one. Then my Mac
could do more than keep my cat warm.

 

[John Guin]

Great ideas, thanks!

1. I hear you. It's on the "to do" list for the shared source OM at
www.codeplex.com/onom. That powertoy would be a great demo.

3 (the second three in the list): Have you tried the template manager at
http://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/12/13/template-manager-powertoy-for-onenote-2007.aspx
? It may give you a bit more flexibility, but I can't guarantee that.

5. I'm not sure what you want, but noticed "Outlook" was mentioned. Can
you describe it differently, and maybe even include a rough image of what you
want? Maybe a picture would help me understand.

 

[Schooner]

Thanks for reply. Let me add two more "wishlist" items & clarify the odd one.

1. A ruler! For layout checks. I'll build one or use a 3p applet.
2. A "shift=symmetrical" drawing function (forces oval=circle,
rectangle=square, etc.).

What I meant re embedded objects (terminology?):
Suppose you have 3 sections - financial, family, work. Each contains a
"dashboard" page including a category to-do list. It would be nice to have
an overview page - a universal dashboard page - upon which those lists are
replicated. Changing one (parent instance) changes the other (daughter
instance). Or - a project list appears on each of several staff pages, could
be rolled up into a project-focused overview (instead of a set of hyperlinks
to the individuated pages). Or even... an MSXL spreadsheet/list populated
with current (not time-of-creation) data, and displayable as if embedded in a
Word document. Where this leads is I suppose a massive extension of
function/utility to include embedding/linking (and/or some database-like
functionality).

I can visualize innumerable extensions of 1N7 (from the luxurious perch of a
nonprogrammer) - the thing is, 1N7 out-Macs the Mac. This is how people
think, organize & visualize things, and its flexibility means it accomodates
idiosyncratic categorization, focusing & drilldown. I wish it did
"everything" including embedded databases, or was positioned as the founding
paradigm upon which all other MSOffice apps were based. I downloaded the
trial and had it set up the same day as a corporate pseudo-intranet, an
extension/refinement of shared-directory substructure (I did need a 3rd party
applet & drivemapping to conveniently snap up fullpath/sharename directory
links), and a shared meeting agenda/minutes focus point for a chemical R&D
group. Notwithstanding warnings to the contrary, 1N7 works brilliantly with
my NAS, yet tolerates local shared file refs. It's incredible to see how
differently the wife & kid have arranged theirs (it actually offers a curious
insight into how other people think). One of the 1N7 guys should be
dispatched to MSOutlook team to fix the no-simple-synch curse, he'd be
greeted as a Messiah by SOHOs with three laptops, two networks, multiple ISPs
& a Blackberry (and he'd remove 99% of the motivation to defect to
GMail/GCal).

Back to reality: Oddly, I am spending a lot of time fiddling about with
layout - trying to get it to arrange things in ways it doesn't like.

 

[John Guin]

You might want to try "virtual folders." You can create shortcuts to the
folders which hold .one files and they will show as sections in a notebook.
Here's the "how=to":
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/david_ra...tebooks-that-include-files-from-anywhere.aspx

 

[Rainald Taesler]

I can visualize innumerable extensions of 1N7 (from the luxurious
perch of a nonprogrammer)

In order to be heard, you may post your suggestions - one by one pls -
in "Connect", the place for submitting
suggestions and bug reports to the developers team:
http://connect.microsoft.com/onenote/

When done, pls drop a note with the URL in here so that we can jump in
and vote for your suggestion.

Rainald