Microsoft to Kill Off OneNote’s Desktop App

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
Staff member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
13,000
Coinciding with the launch of Office 2019 will be the death of OneNote for the desktop, as Microsoft has decided to switch all focus to the Windows 10 UWP app. Bug fixes and security updates will be provided until October 2020, and 2025, respectively.

While there is a lot of crossover in features between the desktop and UWP versions, there are still a few differences, and this is something Microsoft aims to address, promising a number of new additions to OneNote for Windows 10.
 
OneNote is pretty great! I think the UWP version is pretty good, but more options never hurt.
 
OneNote is pretty great! I think the UWP version is pretty good, but more options never hurt.
Like all the watered down, mobile-focused apps intended for a platform they already abandoned, the UWP version is crippled compared to the real desktop/Win32 version. And it doesn't work on Windows 7 or 8.1.

The bare minimum they need to do to increase UWP usage is make them better than the Win32 version - and their internal teams have seemingly thrown their arms up that that's impossible.
 
OneNote has been critical through my current stint in education. I'm glad I'll be done soon enough before this change goes through.
 
I just tired it don't really like it I like the virtual post it note programs instead of using real post it notes.
 
omg: I have almost ten years of hand written research notes, patient notes, journals, you-name-it, filed in Onenote. Its search function that can read my handwriting scrawl is super. The last time I looked at Win 10 Onenote it didn't have a tenth of the desktop version's versatility and features. I hope times have changed.

Onenote is one of two proprietary software packages that I use where I haven't found a suitable open-source alternative (Linux). Thanks for the heads-up.
 
I dont know anybody that actually uses it anyways, none of my hundreds of clients over the years have used it either.
 
Wish google would get their shit straight on this. OneNote was amazing but it’s basically the same as when MS bought it.


Google has keep, which is shit. Then they have Jamboard for meetings and it’s text recognition is borderline witchcraft. If they took that and built a note taking app around it, they’d knock it out the park
 
omg: I have almost ten years of hand written research notes, patient notes, journals, you-name-it, filed in Onenote. Its search function that can read my handwriting scrawl is super. The last time I looked at Win 10 Onenote it didn't have a tenth of the desktop version's versatility and features. I hope times have changed.

Onenote is one of two proprietary software packages that I use where I haven't found a suitable open-source alternative (Linux). Thanks for the heads-up.

I've used both on W10 and I don't really see much difference myself. When was the last time you used it?
 
A note taking app. Picture a digital version of post it notes.

It is NOTHING at all like post it notes. For proof of this, compare it in practice to the actual post-it-note app that you can get for Windows. The two are so different that there really is no comparison. Personally I find Post-it-Notes to be practically useless, while OneNote is fantastic. We use it at work and it has changed everything about how we do everything.

First there is the organization. You can have as many notebooks (on the left) as you want, each can have as many tabs (on the top) as you want, and each of those can have as many pages (on the right) as you want. In addition you can break notebooks into sets of tabs, and can create sub-pages. So it is immensely configurable in how you organize things.

There is the security. Create a notebook in a folder on the network that only your sub-team has access too, and bam, instantly limited to that team.

Then there is more organization. Everyone who has access to the network folder can read the notebook, meaning you can share notes easily, and keep them well organized in a single place. Remember when people used to create folders full of word documents that were just notes and thoughts and meeting minutes, all just jumbled together? Not any more. Now you put them all in OneNote, and since you have the OneNote organized appropriately for your team and your particular set of work everything ends up in the correct place... And when that job is done and you don't need the notes on it anymore you can just wipe them all out at once with ease. Yes you can do this with folders, but people loose track of what folder is where easily and put things in the wrong place. With OneNote this happens far less.

Then there is the fact that you can put your agenda for meetings there and everyone can see it and add to it at any time time. You can keep those notes in one place after the meeting, and assign tasks during the meeting that can be easily tracked there as well (Hint, Use Tables!!!!!). You can even all take notes in the meeting at the same time if you want. Great for meetings with clients, as everyone gets different information in their notes, and this way they are already in the same location if anyone needs to figure out what was said or decided.

You can also easily transfer emails, calendar items, excel and word documents, screen shots of anything, etc. to OneNote. With Office products it can either be something readable on the face of it, or it can be a simple attachment you can then edit.

It is also easy to create links, so you can do planning in OneNote and set up links back to network folders to do the work. At my work I also set things up so that my weekly meetings with my manager include links to the OneNote status page for each project we are working on, and each project includes a link BACK to the weekly meeting. We also include our charge codes in each project so staff know what time code to charge. It is so versatile it isn't even funny.
 
It's all going to the cloud.....

BasKet isn't a bad alternative.
 
Last edited:
UWP is much more secure than Win32. I will be glad for all of MS products to be UWP, as long as the basic functionality stays the same.
 
Coinciding with the launch of Office 2019 will be the death of OneNote for the desktop, as Microsoft has decided to switch all focus to the Windows 10 UWP app. Bug fixes and security updates will be provided until October 2020, and 2025, respectively.

While there is a lot of crossover in features between the desktop and UWP versions, there are still a few differences, and this is something Microsoft aims to address, promising a number of new additions to OneNote for Windows 10.

Sadly the whole Office has been steadily declining with each update. It is particularly bad in business environment and frankly I'm not sure what the heck MS is doing as Office is one of their main milk cows.
 
Well this sucks

Indeed. The UWP version has come a long way but isn't quite there yet. I've always kept an eye out for OneNote alternatives but there really aren't a lot of options. The power and flexibility of pages in OneNote set it apart. Fortunately most of that capability is in the UWP version currently. There's still seven years of support for OneNote 2016 so the situation will be different when time comes to have to migrate. I would love to see a nice open source alternative that's a serious effort and not just a side project.
 
The OneNote app for Android alone has over 100 million downloads. It's used a lot more use than people who aren't aware of it realize.

I'd love to see the percentage of those users that actually *use* it.

Probably less than 5%.
 
Last edited:
I've never needed it. There are already tons of apps that do the same thing. Notepad, Wordpad, "Stickies," MS or Google's online apps, or even just the Win 10 app. Hell, half the time I just send myself emails of important stuff since that's cross-platform and super quick/easy.
 
I never figured out how to use it. I don't think I've started it on purpose, ever. I have started it on accident a couple times, though. It seems useless.
 
I've never needed it. There are already tons of apps that do the same thing. Notepad, Wordpad, "Stickies," MS or Google's online apps, or even just the Win 10 app. Hell, half the time I just send myself emails of important stuff since that's cross-platform and super quick/easy.

FWIW, OneNote and the "Sticky Notes" apps are completely different. Same with OneNote compared to Notepad or Wordpad, which are really just basic text editors. OneNote is a bit more powerful and allows for much better organization of text. You can also add screenshots, audio commentary, etc.
 
Last edited:
How many text editing apps dop


I'd love to see the percentage of those users that actually *use* it.

Probably less than 5%.

Perhaps, but then that "no one uses it" quickly becomes 5 million and that's just on Android, Windows is probably the main platform with the bulk of users.
 
Just one more "Feature" removed from Office.

We have people that use it in the office, so it looks like we'll be sticking to Office 2016 for a long time.

Wonder how Microsoft will try to force people to upgrade?
 
I've never needed it. There are already tons of apps that do the same thing. Notepad, Wordpad, "Stickies," MS or Google's online apps, or even just the Win 10 app. Hell, half the time I just send myself emails of important stuff since that's cross-platform and super quick/easy.

I've been using OneNote daily for 15 years, what you're comparing it to here is not at all what OneNote is all about. The way I think of it is a digital notebook/freeform database. To me the defining feature is the very powerful and freeform nature of its page editor. Images, text, audio, ink, arbitrary files, etc. can be put into a page and arranged and organized in a freeform manner, conventional document editors just don't support this. And it is cross-platform with native iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and a web client. It's got a very loyal following because it's so unique and powerful, one of the most useful apps I think Microsoft has ever created.
 
Just one more "Feature" removed from Office.

We have people that use it in the office, so it looks like we'll be sticking to Office 2016 for a long time.

Wonder how Microsoft will try to force people to upgrade?

OneNote 2016 and OneNote UWP can run side by side. I do it on all my machines. The UWP has a couple of features not in the desktop version, like a ruler a, but the desktop version has much more solid search capabilities. I think having one version for Windows makes sense as long as the UWP has all of the capability of the Win32 version. There's no reason why shouldn't be the case by the time the Win32 goes out of support in 2025. Probably the biggest issue for many will be the lack of local file support in the UWP, you have to use on OneDrive on SharePoint if you want to not use OneDrive. Interestingly, Microsoft admits this and says if people want to avoid using the cloud, unless they want to setup a SharePoint server, is to find another tool. Which is a bit disingenuous I think because there really isn't much other there to replace OneNote with, especially if you're an ink user.
 
OProbably the biggest issue for many will be the lack of local file support in the UWP, you have to use on OneDrive on SharePoint if you want to not use OneDrive. Interestingly, Microsoft admits this and says if people want to avoid using the cloud, unless they want to setup a SharePoint server, is to find another tool. Which is a bit disingenuous I think because there really isn't much other there to replace OneNote with, especially if you're an ink user.

And that is the biggest issue. We don't want this information is the cloud, and I don't want the costs to setup a SharePoint server for the people that use it.
Much cheaper/simpler to just stay with Office 2016.
 
so it looks like we'll be sticking to Office 2016 for a long time.

Wonder how Microsoft will try to force people to upgrade?


now.. are you using a separate version of office 2016.. or is it through office365 that you are currently using office 2016. Cause im betting if your an office 365 user, you will be upgraded to what ever new version comes out. just like they are doing with windows 10. forced updates.
 
now.. are you using a separate version of office 2016.. or is it through office365 that you are currently using office 2016. Cause im betting if your an office 365 user, you will be upgraded to what ever new version comes out. just like they are doing with windows 10. forced updates.

I can use either under our software agreement, and we are using 2016.
 
LOL at how when forced to choose, Microsoft chose to keep the UWP app over the one that people wanted.
 
Back
Top