Have you heard about Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 but aren't yet convinced it's right for you? Or are you simply curious about this new product? Well, you're a couple of minutes away from giving OneNote a try on your very own computer. We're offering you a brand-new way not only to learn about OneNote but also to try it without having to purchase or install the full program.

Once you click the Try It Now button just below you'll have a chance to see for yourself what everyone's been talking about. So what's stopping you from checking out OneNote? Nothing!

When you click Try it now you'll be linked to a OneNote session on a terminal server. This means that nothing is downloaded to your PC — you'll just connect to another computer already running OneNote and you take charge from there. A list of step-by-step instructions will help you explore some of the basic features and uses of OneNote, and then you're free to spend some time playing with OneNote to see what it can do.

Notes  

• Not all OneNote features are enabled in this online evaluation. To try out all of the features, you can either install the OneNote Downloadable Trial version or purchase the product.
• The hosted evaluation session lasts for 15 minutes, though you can leave earlier if you like.

For more information about the hosted evaluation environment, click Help in the See Also section of this page. You can also click Help to find troubleshooting advice if you're having any problems getting the evaluation to open. The Help page is also available from the hosted evaluation environment.

Once you're in the hosted environment you will be able to explore OneNote for yourself, but here's some quick start information about what OneNote can do for you.

Understand the basics

In OneNote, you take notes on pages, just as you would on paper. Your notes can include text and graphics (including text or graphics from Web pages and a variety of other Office programs), handwriting, audio, video, and more. Unlike a paper notebook, your OneNote notebook grows as you use it. You can add new pages or create extra space on a page for adding more notes anytime you want.

Add flags to your notes

No more folding down corners in your notebook or hoping that you remember what your action items are. By using note flags, you can get even more mileage out of the organizational features of OneNote. A flag is a symbol that provides additional information about a note, such as the importance of a note, whether you need to take any action to follow up on a note, or simply a prompt to remember something for later. You can also collect all the flagged notes together in a summary page, which is a great way to create a To Do list from notes you've already taken.

Get organized

You can organize your notebook into pages, sections, and folders according to subject — similar to the way you would organize the contents of a binder or file cabinet. You can organize pages into sections, and you can organize sections into folders.

Find a note

Did you ever make a note of something important, and then forget where you put it? The information in even the most detailed of notes is helpful only if you can find it again. By using OneNote, you can easily perform a search to find specific information in your notes — and much more quickly than flipping through pages and pages in a paper notebook. There are two powerful search options in OneNote. You can search for particular words or phrases, or search by date, section, or title. Don't worry, you'll be able to find that important note again. You'll see how in the evaluation.

Click the Try It Now button and see for yourself how OneNote can help you be more efficient and organized.

Adapted from “Microsoft® Office OneNote™ 2003 Step by Step.” c. 2004. Adapted and reprinted by permission of Microsoft Press. All rights reserved.