Chosing a Program for NoteTaking
Hello everyone!
Today’s video will guide you through the basics of the most popular note taking programs
and word processors.
The goal is to know what’s the best program for you if you have chosen to go digital this
year.
For my favorite apps, programs and browser extensions check out Part 1 of this video
which is already up on my channel.
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back to school videos coming up this summer.
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year fully prepared.
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specific topic.
First of all, let’s talk about Microsoft Word.
This is the typical program students use for typing their notes in class.
It still is one of my favorite programs for note taking, since I have been acquainted
with it since I was really young and I know my way around all the features really well.
I also love the fact that Microsoft Word includes great comment and sharing options, as well
as a nice review layout to change incorrect words and expressions, look up the thesaurus
for synonyms, etc.
It also never fails me while printing, something that other programs like OneNote, could improve
on.
For a lot of people, the problem with Microsoft Word is its price.
Nowadays many colleges and schools partnered with Microsoft and provide Office 365 for
free, which is something awesome if you need to save money on a good word processor.
Word’s latest version has a clean sharp look which looks great, although I find it
more difficult to use on smaller screens, like in iPads and other Android tablets and
the Surface Pro.
But is Word for you?
If you want to print out all of your notes in batches or print it on the go, I think
it’s a great option, since it still features great design and layout options to customize
text, titles and sub titles in one go, while creating an automatic table of contents.
On the other hand, it also enables you to insert and print comments alongside the referred
paragraphs while you review the document, a really useful option.
However, I think Word is still a poor choice if your notes also involve more visual content
like graphics, equations and charts.
Although there are ways to create that within software, nothing beats the flexibility of
drawing and writing those yourself, and a program like OneNote has a better support
for that kind of notetaking.
Having said that, if you are taking theoretical subjects that rely heavily on structured text,
Word is still a classic word processor that will do a brilliant job.
Pages is very similar to Word but much less powerful.
The pros are a less cluttered workspace to work on, compatibility with Word files and
the fact that it comes free with all Apple devices.
Pages also synchs with your iCloud account, saving the document as you type, making it
almost impossible to lose any progress.
But the simple layout also means less features and options – things like editing headers
and footers, automatic tables of content, powerful table and chart tools and review
options are very limited or non existent, so Pages is good for the minimal user but
not for a more complex type of document creator.
I still think OneNote is one of the most underrated note taking programs out there.
Everyone knows what it is but no one uses it.
The great thing about OneNote is that it lets you create notebooks that you can label by
subject or course.
Inside these notebooks you can create sections, and within these sections you can create pages.
That means that you have great flexibility in your workspace, being able to switch between
pages, subjects and sections in the same program, without loading files.
On the organization point of view, that is probably the perfect scenario for a student.
You can create a page per class or topic, indexing them easily on the respective column,
changing back and forth if you need to do so while in class or reviewing.
On the other hand, it’s a really flexible software.
You can use it like you would use Microsoft Word, just typing as you normally would.
However, the design doesn’t look as neat or clean looking, since the page doesn’t
have specified margins.
You can pick anywhere on the page to start writing and that means you are not limited
to page breaks, lines and so on.
Formatting issues lose their importance while you are rushing to type in class, since OneNote
has a default textbox mode when you start writing.
If you don’t like something in the place it currently is, just click and drag it in
place.
The other thing I love about OneNote is how you can incorporate files directly into your
pages.
If you have a page dedicated to a certain topic, you can type your class notes in the
main area but if you have a few documents or PDF’s that are relevant to the topic
you can create an icon attachment, place it in the document and just double click it to
open it whenever you need to.
Drawing is also made much easier.
You can use an entire page to draw with a pen if you are working with an iPad or Surface
pro, which is great for maths and physics students.
Drawing equations, charts and graphs and incorporating them with typed notes is much easier.
You can even create a page per math problem to easily go through everything while you
are studying.
Printing all of this out, however, is still not the best.
Most people have formatting issues when oneNote adapts everything you’ve inserted into printing
format.
Also, the tabs, sections and notebooks organization can’t be transported into real life so that
means that in printing format you will have to find a way to organize all of that in a
file or binder, since you lose the structured format that other word processors like Word
and Pages enable you to use.
What about Evernote?
Evernote and other programs like Google Docs are in fact word processors but they are made
for collaborations, the type of document that is accessed by tons of people.
Although you can, of course, use this program on your own, its valuable features barely
scratch the surface if you are not taking advantage of its sharing and collaborative
potential.
I would highly recommend either one of the two, though, if you are working in a group
project and various members of the group need to edit a common document.
On the other hand, maybe a classic word processor or OneNote don’t suit your needs because
your classes highly rely on PDF or ebook studying.
This is typical in literature classes, where most of the courses rely on analysing books.
If that is your case, then I highly recommend a program called MarginNote.
Although it’s not free, you can buy the cheaper version for 10 bucks.
MarginNote simply imports a PDF file and creates a workspace for you to work on.
You can create comments in class while reading your file and they will be integrated in your
studyspace alongside the paragraphs you are annotating.
MarginNote also creates an automatic outline with everything you have highlighted within
the program to make a summary of the document for you, so you can just skim through the
most important paragraphs in one run without having to read the document again.
It also has Mindmapping and flashcard tools so you can work on your document or ebook
in different ways.
You can then export all of your outlines and comments alongside the original document to
various formats, enabling you to print your final analysis of the ebook you are studying
with no problems at all.
I hope you have enjoyed this video!
If you want to know more about my favorite programs, apps and browser extensions, just
check out the video I’ve also uploaded today.
Don’t forget to click the subscribe and bell button to get notified for all future
back to school videos and I will see you next week.
Bye!