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When your computer is connected to the Internet or a network, you can participate in shared note-taking sessions with other Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 users, such as classmates, co-workers, or family members. During a shared note-taking session, you and the other participants can view and work on each other's notes together.

Note  The feature or functionality described in this topic is available only if you have installed Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 Service Pack 1. To learn more about the service pack and how to download it, see Service pack features in OneNote 2003.

You can also use shared note-taking sessions to present your notes to others, such as in a school lecture, a presentation, or a business meeting. In this type of shared note-taking session, others can view your notes but cannot modify them.

During a shared note-taking session, you can share as little as a single page of notes or as much as an entire section of pages. Text and handwriting are transmitted in real time, as though you are watching a participant work on his or her own computer. In addition, all handwriting is rendered as drawings. However, audio or video files that a participant records during a shared note-taking session are not shared with the other participants.

It's a good idea to use an additional method of communication during a shared note-taking session, such as a telephone conversation or instant messaging. This helps to convey additional information, and shows which participants are adding comments or editing notes.

As a OneNote user, you can either start a new shared note-taking session or join an existing session as a participant. When you participate in a shared note-taking session, the names of all of the participants are listed in the Current Shared Session task pane. If you initiate the shared note-taking session, you can set a password for the session, so that only participants who enter the password can join.

Notes

• Use strong passwords that combine upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Weak passwords don't mix these elements. Strong password: Y6dh!et5. Weak password: House27. Use a strong password that you can remember so that you don't have to write it down.
• If you want to send the password or IP address for a shared note-taking session, it is recommended that you use an e-mail program that supports Information Rights Management, such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. By creating an e-mail message with restricted permission, you can help secure the password or IP address (IP address: An assigned number used to identify a computer that is connected to the Internet, much in the same way a telephone number identifies a telephone on a telephone network. An IP address is four sets of numbers separated by periods.) for a shared note-taking session. If recipients don't have Outlook 2003 or later installed on their computers, they can download the Rights Management Add-on for Internet Explorer or another program that supports content with restricted permission.

If you initiate a shared note-taking session, you can select the pages you want to share, and then invite the participants you want to collaborate with. If Microsoft Outlook is installed on your computer, when you invite others to a shared note-taking session an e-mail message is automatically created that contains the invitation to the session, the IP address of the session host's computer, and the password for the session if one is needed. After you review the e-mail message, you can send it to the participants.

If the person who initiated the shared note-taking session — the session host — leaves the session, a new session host is automatically selected, as long as there are one or more remaining participants. However, if the session host is presenting notes — allowing participants to view, but not modify, their notes — all of the participants will be removed from the session when the host leaves. As a participant, you can choose to leave a shared note-taking session at any time.