EverNote vs. OneNote

Hi!
As a user of both Evernote and OneNote 2007, I think you made the right choice. I use Evernote in my job to help keep myself organized and as a place to store all of my phone call logs, significant emails, notes, etc. I throw everything in it and it works very well. However, I would much prefer to use OneNote. I have a copy of OneNote that came in my Office 2007 Home edition and use it at home to keep track of things like my son’s medical issues (meds, dr appt, etc) as well as my own medical issues, financial data, recipes(!), urls, etc. OneNote’s ability to include embedded media and files as well as it’s ease of use throw it over the top for me. The search capability is icing on the cake. OneNote is a fantastic application and one that just blows my mind as to why Microsoft does not promote the heck out of. In case you are wondering, I use Evernote at work since I did not want to purchase another copy of OneNote and my company would not spring for it (I work for a larg utility company…) So I set out looking for a clone and Evernote was the closest thing I found. It is a terrific application and very extensible. There is a nice support community and tons of custom templates. They are both great tools. Hmmm…you would have done well no matter what you picked.

I’m new to OneNote and loving it. However, I am having trouble getting it to search and find words in scanned images. No success with scanning my (legible) handwriting but it did scan printed matter just fine and could copy and paste the text…but it couldn’t find any of the words through a search. I’m perplexed as to why it can’t search and find a word in scanned text when it can clearly copy and paste the same text. Any ideas?

Has anyone looked at theBrain.com ?

theBrain comes free with the Personal version and has a good full feature set. I like the inter-connectivity of notes and ideas. The main downside is it does not index and search content that is linked to the file system such as other documents or folders.

I’ve seen in the EverNote forum some users are talking about how it would work well to integrate with the Brain. I mentioned this to the folks at theBrain but have not heard back.

One plus to EverNote, by the way, is that is can be run on other operating systems.

Hi, I have both and only use evernote (2.2) … my solution with the hand-writing was to purchase the cyberpad from adesso ($150) and import the bitmaps into evernote – works great although my hand writing is very poor.

Philippe

PS: would you share your ghostscript script ?

Philippe

Thanks for the post. However, months after you made this post, in mid-May 2008, Evernote added PDF support.

See http://blog.evernote.com/2008/05/11/evernote-for-mac-just-got-better/

Interesting article. After reading the list carefully I fully expected evernote to win. In fact, I’d say evernote did win, you simply ignored the results because editing and being connected to outlook was important to you. I despise outlooks, so that’s not a criteria for me.

I chose evernote. The price is great, and as noted, now has pdf support.

Very interesting review. Thanks very much.

I’m confused about the windows functionality. Evernote does handle online pdf files but it screws up on local hard drive files. Adding a link to the file gives rise to error code 31 on the first click and crashes evernote with a memory write error the second time I open the link. So it handles http:// urls ok but not file:/// urls.

So at present I can only create a link to the directory and then find the file in it which rather deflates its effectiveness. Or else I just link to online pdfs where they occur and keep downloads as backups.

However there is far better workaround – set up a local webserver and set up a http localost url to the document directory. I’ve just done that with an apache webserver and it works fine!

That’s probably a better solution all around if you are linking to a collection of documents since it means the document urls don’t depend on their absolute location on the hard drive and the links so can be used on a copy of the document directory on any machine and operating system with a local webserver

Er I may have misunderstood that you were referring to embedded files not links

Excellent articlet. I too went for OneNote – integration with MS office and Windows Desktop Search, and I too would like handwriting recognition from Logitech IO pen (ie convert to text, not just find all notebook pages) but since neither do this it isn’t an issue.
Comment on TheBrain – I use MindJet and that has a link to OneNote (advantage of using MS software – everyone builds links to it) which creates a mind map of the notebooks.
Keep up the fresh ideas
HugoM

Here’s another feature in OneNote: You can record audio while you take notes in real time–and the notes will be linked to the section of audio that was recording while you typed! You can also play back a recording made in OneNote (or anywhere else) and take notes while you listen–again temporally linking the notes to the audio.

I have used this functionality to great effect while doing field research. While other researchers struggle with endless hours of field recordings, I have instant access to any section of audio I want–searchable by keywords I added while listening. In fact, all of my MA research was done in OneNote, making things very easy to move over to Word.

I am totally sick of Microsoft and will soon be switching to a Mac. Unfortunately, this brilliant program will force me to put a copy of XP on my new MBP. I wish something else matched its functionality and searchability.

I finally got around to framing the question for myself…found this post…voila! I’m satisfied with the opinions above for guidance. I guess I’ll knuckle down and figure out how to make best use of OneNote. I’ve already got it, I’ve played with it some, I’ll take it to the next level or more.

I trialed OneNote ~April, 2008 along with the (at that time) current version of Evernote. At that time, I disliked the “paper tape” approach of EN and preferred the visual of OneNote. But I still wasn’t set to buy ON, b/c everything still seemed kind of kluged together. IE, your desk drawer has several compartments & each compartment contains like items…but that doesn’t mean you can quickly find the item you’re looking for, b/c you still have to look through 40 things to find it.

BUT…about a month ago, I dl’d EN Beta 3.x & am really loving it, eventhough I’ve only scratched the surface of what it can do. One neato thing is that I have a Livescribe pen. When I take some really important notes with the LS pen, I’m then able to add the audio to Evernote, along with a visual of the page, if I like.

I would have to say, in my short time with being “committed” (STS) to EN, I’ve mostly been adding notes. The true test, of course, will most likely be many months from now, when I have the need to actually FIND something quickly! LOL!

Your original text and the posts are really useful. I just began using OneNote and was wondering about EverNote. Would you be willing to do an updated version of the original table you made with the features of each of them? I would like to create tasks from the application (still only in OneNote?) but I also need to cut and paste stuff from the Web (OneNote still so lousy at it?). I do like OneNote, because up to now I had a whole bunch of Word files where I was accumulating lots of info – most of it being useless by now. I was wondering if it’s easier sorting out in OneNote or EverNote whatever needs to be deleted, after a while.

Greetings and keep having fun with WhateverNote!

Sacha.

Evernote won’t import onenote files with attachments correctly. This is a huge drawback for me but then I probably need to go do clean-up on my notes anyway. Evernote puts them online for me which is a HUGE plus! That and the ability to save any attachment, view ‘just attachments’, and tagging are probably my main criteria. The new 3.0 version is ‘almost’ there in my opinion. I am making the switch to an online system today!

Thanks Carl this is awesome!

I have been an avid note taker my entire life. I have a lot of detailed info with complex relations. All of my notes have been taken in excel 2007, using many different worksheets for topics and columns for subtopics. I have been stubborn to leave excel but i think its about time. However I really like the ability to sort (largest to smallest, alphabetically) and filter columns in excel. Do either onenote or evernote have this capability?

Also I would really like to know about the importing/exporting capabilities of both if anyone has a moment?

2) Will it be easier to import my excel files into onenote than evernote? (seeing as they are both ms)

3) If I try one of the programs and think it is awful after a while can I export from one to another easier (ie. i think you mentioned that you had difficulty importing onenote notes into evernote? is it easier to import evernote into onenote? making evernote a better choice to start with?

tx jamie

god onenote looks so tempting! so easy to relate to!

but everyone seems to be switching to evernote hmmmm…

I just finished “evaluating” both Evernote and OneNote. I decided that both have features the other lacks, and depending on your primary focus, you may be forced to choose one over the other.

Since I am more or less chained to Outlook for mail, contacts, etc., OneNote is better integrated (from an overall GTD point of view), especially where creating/linking tasks, etc. in Outlook is concerned. However . . .

1) OneNote web clipping doesn’t work in Firefox. That nifty feature is only available in IE (yuck!) Evernote is better in this regard.

2) The mobile counterpart to OneNote – OneNote mobile – sucks. Mulitple notebook support is non-existent, and the interface is clumsy. Here again, Evernote is superior.

3) Accessibilty to your notes from a web browser, i.e. in situations when you are not at your own computer or do not have mobile device access, is also non-existent OneNote. Evernote, of course, isn’t limited on this regard, unless you deliberately choose not to sync a notebook to the web.

4) Some of the cool Evernote features that are available on the Mac client are not availabe on the Windows client.

In general, I think Evernote is the superior product, but if you are stuck on a Windows platform, Evernote’s Windows client needs some polishing and will require better integration with MS Office apps. In the end, I opted for OneNote. (sigh)

tx carl

I used to use Evernote but have become a OneNote user all the way. It works, and works pretty well.

You state that EN allows: Ability to link to notes from other places

I evaulated the newest evernote3 and outlook and don’t see a way to link to do intranotes or to link outside apps to a (deep link) note in EN. This is a deal breaker for me. Have I missed it.

On the ON side, it can link to any paragraph and has a right click “url of paragraph” that you can give to any app to get directly to the page. It is great BUT it does not play well with MS competetors. So using the onenote// protocal url from the web works fine in IE – it opens onenote and gets you to the exact paragraph, in Firefox however ( my browser) the same link only opens onenote but does not deep link you to the exact paragraph. This sucks because I use a FF tasks program that I need those links – outlook is way to slow and bloated for me. Also going the other way – using a gmail url which on the winxp desktop or in a browser address bar would deep link you to the exact gmail message does not work in ON – it only takes you to the inbox ( MS and Google fighting with each other!). This same link gives you the correct deep link in EN.

If there are folks who have figured out solutions to the two ON URL communication issues please let me know(dipaola@gmail.com).

Might move to EN if an update give you interlinking. But actually they worry me as they are going from successful free ( hey now we have enought subscribers – lets screw them now) to pushing that you have to register and by more on the cloud. Look at google notebook users – they are screwed with google pulling it. As evil as MS is – onenote is yours and won’t go away or change with a business model for annoyed investors.

Does anyone have thoughts on sharing/online publishing capabilities between the two? Online collaboration?

It was only two posts back(less than a few days) that I worried that even though I liked evernote ( given a linking feature returned), I was worried that their on the intenet biz model would be an issue – and today I received mail from them, stuck in the middle of all the new features ( very few really) they mention – oh yea – all versions, including win desktop version now has ads. You can only get rid of them by- not buying evernote (cause you can’t buy it) but by signing up for the monthly service. This to me is doubly sneaky – within a short period of time of making even desktop apps be attached to the cloud ( ” for better server image recognition”) they add ads – so the real reason they made evernote be on the net ( the cloud in hip terms) is to own your desktop space and stick ads there – I call foul. MS might be evil at times but at least I own my copy with no tentacles to a changing biz model and hooks on my desktop space.
MHO of course – but this is more evil than I worried about just days OK

Thank you for your detailed comparison. I love OneNote, and we use it one more way that I didn’t find mentioned here, and don’t know if EverNote provides: SHARED. We have our primary notebook set up on a server. My entire staff and I have access to it, and use it for shared “how-to’s” reference material, screen shots etc. It’s easy to use, and updates everyone’s copy within a few seconds of adding content on one PC. When you take your laptop home, you still have the notebook copy local, and it synchronizes changes seamlessly when you return. This is priceless for us! No publishing needed, just create the notebook as a shared notebook and place in shared location.

I have used both programs, but Evernote is the one I continue to use, because it is far easier for someone like me who is busy with many things. I find OneNote to be too structured. I get bogged down in the text boxes and tabs. I don’t want to spend all that time with care and feeding of an organizational structure. I prefer a fast incremental search capability, at which Evernote excels, and I don’t use handwriting recognition. Basically, I just want it to remember random bits of info like passwords and emails that I know I will lose if I try to keep them in Outlook. Evernote is perfect for this, and it doesn’t force you to pick which tab to put them in. It just captures them and makes them visible when you search for them. Period. That’s all I need and want it to do, and it does it very well indeed. I am up to version 3.x of Evernote, and the decisive advantage of this is that I can see my notes from ANYWHERE, home (any of three computers there), work, or on the road. And this is automatic. Also, a unique email address allows me to forward anything I can email to my evernote file. This is huge. I don’t know if OneNote has anything that could offset an advantage like this. And, strangely enough, it’s free. I’ve never been tempted to pay for the extras, because I just don’t need them.

I’ve recently switched from Info Select to Evernote — I love it.
I was impressed with One Note but it lost out because:

1. I’d need to purchase 2 One Note licences for my 3 PCs.

2. The desire for no hassle synchronizing between those 3 machines. With Evernote it’s a no-brainer.

3. Can use Evernote (online only) with Linux.

4. I can access my data from any online PC anywhere.

I’m so pleased with Evernote V3 that I paid for the full version. Now I can add my Word, Excel, etc documents and they’re automatically synched as well. Heaven!
My experience here.
There are some improvements I’d like to see, but this is new software. Give it a couple of years it’ll be another Google.

i’m very glad i found your site and this discussion. i started using EN again recently (my first try was when it was in beta, but i gave it up) and was about to upgrade to deluxe, so i could upload .doc files, etc. now that i’ve read this discussion, i’m a little worried. it does seem as if their corporate mindset has changed a little. and since i use google desktop constantly, the lack of integration and lack of GD searchability may well be a deal-breaker.

the other big lack from my standpoint is sharing. i was hoping to use EN to share forms, info, etc., with the staff at my primary care medical office in marin, but not giving everyone the same username and password (with the possibility of a disgruntled employee having the ability to wipe out everything) is a deal-breaker.

i may stick w/ EN free for a while, but if EN premium offered the above features, i’d upgrade in a minute. heck, even if they offered features “a la carte” i’d buy some.

one note sounds interesting, but i’m really averse to using micro$oft stuff if there’s a reasonable alternative . . .

Carl, and all contributors:

Thank you so much for this comparison and the ensuing discussion. I am very new to both products, and am trying to pick one. All of the points made have given me a lot to think about. Right now EverNote wins because I can access it on my Blackberry. But I LOVE the OneNote feature of being able to highlight some text, tag it as “To Do” and search on “To Do” items. (I don’t use Outlook) I would love the ability to highlight sections of text in EverNote and mark it as “To Do”. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Thanks!

Laura

Carl,

Thanks so much! For some reason, I can’t get the keyboard shortcuts to work in any of my browsers (IE, FF, Chrome), but I don’t care. I hadn’t seen the “checkbox” item in the editor. Now that I know about it and know how to search on open “To Do” items, I am all set.

Brilliant!

Laura