No Arrange or Sort Note Options

[Charles]

I'm new to OneNote, trying to see if I can use it as a replacement for
pencil and paper.

Perhaps it's me being perverse, but I'd very much like to

- sort my notes on a page by the date I wrote them in
- arrange them so they all line up with each other down the left-hand side
- show the date each note was last updated on in the margin against each
note
- sort the notes in order of tag priority

and generally that sort of thing.

Am I missing something, or are these features just not available? It would
seem like quite an omission if they are not there.

TIA

Charles

 

[Rainald Taesler]

I'm new to OneNote, trying to see if I can use it as a replacement for
pencil and paper.

Perhaps it's me being perverse, but I'd very much like to

- sort my notes on a page by the date I wrote them in
- arrange them so they all line up with each other down the left-hand
side
- show the date each note was last updated on in the margin against
each note
- sort the notes in order of tag priority

and generally that sort of thing.

Am I missing something, or are these features just not available? It
would seem like quite an omission if they are not there.

No, you are missing nothing. The features you are after are just not
available.
ON is good for at lest 1001 things, but it's not a replacement for a
database.

But perhaps the following PowerToys might be of help to keep things
sorted:
Sort Pages (2007)
http://www.onenotepowertoys.com/index.php?s=sortpages

Sort Sections PowerToy (2007)
http://www.onenotepowertoys.com/index.php?s=sortsections

Table of Contents
http://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/07/12/award-winning-powertoy.aspx

Rainald

 

[Charles]

Hi Rainald

Thanks for the reply.

That's a shame. I had come across the powertoys but as none of them were for
sorting notes on a page I hoped it was something built-in.

Oh well, back to the drawing board, or my pad and paper anyway.

Charles

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Hi Rainald

Thanks for the reply.

That's a shame. I had come across the powertoys but as none of them
were for sorting notes on a page I hoped it was something built-in.

I've been working with ON since the first Beta for ON 2007 appeared.
I did never regret that I did so.
I have gained that much from ON and I hardly know how I might work
without.

And that's why I am asking myself:
"Why in heaven might 'sorting notes on a page' really be an issue??"
I would just make up a new page

Oh well, back to the drawing board, or my pad and paper anyway.

This for sure would be the *BIGGEST* mistake possible!!
ON is such a powerful application.
Using it - instead of piling up notes on paper - really makes live much
easier.
Just make yourself acquainted with the way one can work with it.
Test all of the features.
Try to really *work* with it.

I'm really sure that - sooner or later - you'll be joining my praises
;-) ;-)

Rainald
P.S. Before long there will be a new version with many improvements.
Just see David Rasmussen's preview:
"OneNote 2010 – What’s New For You"
http://blogs.msdn.com/david_rasmussen/archive/2009/07/15/onenote-2010-what-s-new-for-you.aspx

 

[Charles]

Hi Rainald

I'm not sure how making up a new page would get over the sorting issue? When
I come to work out the priority for some tasks it will be based on date. So,
if I have a set of high priority tasks the only way to tackle them is by
starting the oldest one first and working through them on that basis. If I
can't easily sort by date, or even have the date displayed neatly against
each one then it is really quite difficult to prioritise properly.

In principle, I like the idea of ON, which is why I decided to try it out. I
also dislike the jumble of notes and notebooks I have, so perhaps I will
persevere. But already I see that ON does not solve some the problems I have
with my notes, being the reason for trying it in the first place.

I have looked at the new features but don't see any related to my
observations. Perhaps others don't have the same requirements as me, but I
would have thought that sorting, automatically organising and simple
aligning of notes on a page would have been a benefit to everyone.

I'm going to give it another chance, as you speak so highly of it

Charles

 

[Rainald Taesler]

I'm not sure how making up a new page would get over the sorting
issue?

Well, you could manually sort the pages.
And the "Table of Contents" Powertoy will create a TOC list sorted after
the date of last editing if a page.

When I come to work out the priority for some tasks it will be
based on date. So, if I have a set of high priority tasks the only
way to tackle them is by starting the oldest one first and working
through them on that basis. If I can't easily sort by date, or even
have the date displayed neatly against each one then it is really
quite difficult to prioritise properly.

Perhaps you did not yet notice that ON does show the date of last change
made to any paragraph is shown in the right-mouse context menu.

Apart:
Do you have Outlook installed?
IMHO OneNote alone not really is an instrument for professionally
working with tasks.

In principle, I like the idea of ON, which is why I decided to try it
out. I also dislike the jumble of notes and notebooks I have, so
perhaps I will persevere. But already I see that ON does not solve
some the problems I have with my notes, being the reason for trying
it in the first place.

OneNote is a really versatile instrument but it will not cover in life
;-)

I have looked at the new features but don't see any related to my
observations.

I thought the paragraphs in "Sharing and Collaboration" and "Better ways
to Organize ..." might point to some really useful things.

Perhaps others don't have the same requirements as me,
but I would have thought that sorting, automatically organizing and
simple aligning of notes on a page would have been a benefit to
everyone.

As said above: Outlook might be most useful for you when working with
tasks. And both - ON plus and OL - are powerful companions.

I'm going to give it another chance, as you speak so highly of it

;-)
Do so. Play with whatever feature that comes to mind. You'll for sure
detect a whole lot of most useful features.
IMO you'd loose a lot if you'd skip OneNote without really having got to
know it.

All the best
Rainald
http://blogs.msdn.com/david_rasmussen/archive/2009/07/15/onenote-2010-what-s-new-for-you.aspx

 

[Dan Okon]

Charles,

Just a FYI, you might want to look at a little program called List Pro.
It's a wonderful list/task/note manager that offers the functionality you
seek.

I also would love ON to work like List Pro and do sorts and simple tables,
but alas it does not. Too bad. Because, IMHO without simple table
management ON is just a fancy pile of sticky notes.

check out www.iliumsoft.com

Dan

 

[Charles]

Hi Dan

I'm glad to hear it's not just me who would like these features in ON.

I'll take a look at the link.

Cheers

Charles