# Anyone using Onenote?



## Elrith (Sep 17, 2008)

I'm not really sure if this is right forum for this...I was looking at Microsoft's Onenote program, and was wondering if anyone is using it to organize their session notes...Any feedback (of the constructive sort), ideas, etc.

--Elrith


----------



## Keefe the Thief (Sep 17, 2008)

I use it all the time, alongside Open Office. OOo is used when i want layouting power. Onenote for Session notes that have to be stored hierarchically, and for hyperlinking between documents. I inserted the scanned high-res maps for the complete Untermountain Dungeon and wrote hyperlinked room numbers over the real numbers, that led you to  a description site with a click. 

One thing where onenote really shines is ripping stuff out of other stuff. Dragon article with interesting monster: a) rip it out with Windowskey+s, insert separate page, write into page name: "Monster Name / Level / Function / XP" Thats it. I do that casually, and i´ve already assembled an awesome amount of stuff. 

Here´s a picture:


----------



## Baumi (Sep 17, 2008)

It's awesome, I use it for RPG Sessions, for Work and for Home. The Search is great (it searches even Pictures), it has Tablet-PC functionality, the automatic Synchronisation is cool (USB-Stick, Network, etc). 

Also I love the feature that it really works like a intelligent notebooks .. so I can write wherever I want and then drag and drop everything around to my liking...


----------



## Masquerade (Sep 18, 2008)

I loved OneNote for DMing back when I used a Windows laptop.  It was great for tracking the development of many plot hooks using separate pages.

Since I switched to a MacBook, I've used Google Docs. Despite its limitations relative to OneNote, I like being able to access my notes from anywhere online.


----------



## defendi (Sep 18, 2008)

It's how I organize everything for the Echoes of Heaven when I'm writing.


----------



## Mercule (Sep 18, 2008)

OneNote is what I use for all my campaign planning -- except mapping.

I'm sure I haven't even scratched the surface of what it can do, but it's still awesome.


----------



## Merkuri (Sep 18, 2008)

I started using OneNote at work becuase the IT department had pre-installed it on my PC and I was curious, but once I started using it I just fell in love.  I actually bought Office 2007 for my home PC, mostly so that I'd have the latest OneNote and would be able to use it for my personal stuff (including D&D).  I usually don't feel so strongly about Microsoft products, but I really feel like they got it right with this one.  My only complaint is that there isn't a scripting engine behind it, so I can't make macros.  (If anybody knows how to do any sort of scripting/macros in OneNote please please please let me know about it.  It would make OneNote 100% better, possibly becoming the awesomest program I've ever used. )

I have a notebook for ideas, so that any time something strikes me I file it away for later.  I have another notebook for the campaign I'm playing in where I keep track of things like how many arrows I shot last session and my current hit points (I play online, so I'm already in front of a computer when I play).  And I really like the ability to move things around whenever I need to.  For example, I started with just one notebook for everything D&D, then I split it up into two, one for my player-related stuff and one for my DM-related stuff.


----------



## FalcWP (Sep 18, 2008)

I love OneNote.  Used it a ton for school, but I've also used it a lot for D&D.  I've found it's great for both plotting out a campaign and working on campaign setting ideas.

At last, I can notebooks full of abandoned ideas... that are digital!  It's a dream come true


----------



## Wonka (Sep 19, 2008)

I had never heard of this program before. Then I found this thread and saw its awesomeness. My mother has a copy of Office 2007 she never used because she got another copy from work, long story short I made her extra copy my own and am FLOORED with how awesome this program is to use. I dont know how I got by without it before! Thanks for the heads up this guys! Now to move my oodles and oodles of notes in various files into ONE easy place to find them.

edit: one quick question, does anyone know of a template or something that I can add to put char sheets for my players into onenote? Would be nice to be able to have that for updating and the like. Just curious


----------



## ronin (Sep 19, 2008)

I have never heard of this program either. Is it in earlier versions of Office as well?


----------



## Merkuri (Sep 19, 2008)

I think there was a version in Office 2003, but it wasn't as well known.


----------



## Baumi (Sep 19, 2008)

I don't have a character sheet template, but I always use one of those fillable PDF's and print it to One-Note (there is a printer installed from One-Note). If I have to enter something in the session (HP's, Notes, etc) then I write it with my tablet pc in a different color so I can easily see what changed until I level up then I update my original file and start anew.


----------



## Wonka (Sep 20, 2008)

Baumi said:


> I don't have a character sheet template, but I always use one of those fillable PDF's and print it to One-Note (there is a printer installed from One-Note). If I have to enter something in the session (HP's, Notes, etc) then I write it with my tablet pc in a different color so I can easily see what changed until I level up then I update my original file and start anew.




Where is this printer option for Onenote? Perhaps I am just not seeing this, and how exactly does it work? I ask because I would love to have a copy of my players char sheets in my notes, that I can update when they level up.


----------



## Baumi (Sep 20, 2008)

Just open your PDF, go to Print and change the Printer to the OneNote-Printer ... That's all!


----------



## Wonka (Sep 20, 2008)

Hmm I found my problem, it seems the Onenote printer driver cannot be installed on a 64-bit windows operating system. Just when MS wins me over for once with an amazing product...  Oh well, sour grapes I suppose!


----------



## Keefe the Thief (Sep 20, 2008)

A good look at my Undermountain Campaign in Onenote:






I´ve always wanted to, well, just note all relevant Information directly on the map. And i did. And for 6 month of my Moonsea campaign, my players failed to trigger the portal to Undermountain. 

Oh, and the picture has been made using Onenote, of course. I have all notebooks on a USB drive, and can access them on any PC which has onenote installed. And it´s secure, because Onenotes always backs up the notebooks to the PCs harddrive.


----------



## Wonka (Sep 20, 2008)

Was there supposed to be another picture in your last post? I dont see one?

Thats a good idea to put the notebooks on a USB drive, although I use a laptop, so I just normally take that with me. I already used my laptop for my DMing needs, now this program will GREATLY simplify my job.

EDIT: I also found a temporary workaround for not having a Onenote printer in vista 64, it requires a 50$ dollar printer driver, but it has a 30 day free trial. Ive used it so far and it works nice. http://blog.nils-kaiser.de/2008/06/20/how-to-get-back-send-to-onenote-on-vista-x64/   There is the link for any 64 bit users of Onenote like myself who want the print to one note option!


----------



## knifie_sp00nie (Sep 20, 2008)

If you use a Mac I recommend MacJournal.


----------



## Keefe the Thief (Sep 23, 2008)

Gah! Beats my why the picture didn´t work the first time. Sorry Wonka - and i read your post and thought "hey, it´s showing up for me. Did he think i added two pictures?" And now i click on the thread again and it´s gone. Strangeness, your name is Picasa.

Anyhow: The picture:


----------



## Scurvy_Platypus (Sep 23, 2008)

I kinda like Key Note for this kind of thing:
Tranglos software: KeyNote

It's free, and it's standalone. It does download as a "setup", but you can just grab the folder you copied it into and put it on a USB key drive and take around with you. No need to run the "setup" file again.


----------



## catsclaw227 (Sep 23, 2008)

I just started using it this week when I saw this thread.  I have had One Note 2007 for a while, but never looked at it.

What the hell have I been missing?!?!?!  

This is an AWESOME note taking and DM tool.


----------



## catsclaw227 (Sep 23, 2008)

Keefe the Thief said:


> Gah! Beats my why the picture didn´t work the first time. Sorry Wonka - and i read your post and thought "hey, it´s showing up for me. Did he think i added two pictures?" And now i click on the thread again and it´s gone. Strangeness, your name is Picasa.
> 
> Anyhow: The picture:




Still not there, maybe png files aren't visible?  But interestingly, when I quote you, I see the IMG tag and the image URL.


----------



## Merkuri (Sep 23, 2008)

catsclaw227 said:


> Still not there, maybe png files aren't visible?  But interestingly, when I quote you, I see the IMG tag and the image URL.




The image hosting site may not be letting external pages view it.  A lot of sites do this to save bandwidth.  I actually put the image URL in my browser and could bring it up fine, then when I went back to this thread I could see it again.  I think it worked that time because my browser had already cached the image.

Try Photobucket for image hosting.  Or just post a link to the image instead of embedding it in the page.


----------



## Keefe the Thief (Sep 23, 2008)

Well, i will be... 
I created a new post, previewed it and clicked on the image two times after posting, even resizing it. And reloading the thread.
And now it´s gone again.
Bye bye Picasa, hello Photobucket:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/wahrwahrwahr/SNUMtr5LtVI/AAAAAAAAAQg/tFfvWmpEbwU/s912/Undermountain 1.png


----------



## Buttercup (Sep 24, 2008)

I just installed OneNote this morning, and I was immediately struck by what a cool campaign management tool it will be.  Nerfherder pointed me to this thread, and I see that I was right.

I've been looking for good campaign management software for about 8 years, and haven't ever found anything I really liked.  All of them were clunky or too structured.  OneNote seems to have the flexibility I want.

Does anyone know if you can embed a playlist into it?  Or even individual tracks?  

I swear, I'd like to take a week off work to spend playing with this program--I'm that excited!


----------



## joethelawyer (Sep 25, 2008)

thanks for this thread. this is one of the coolest programs i have ever seen.  it seems like it was designed for a dm.  and whoulda thunk it---i actually have it installed and never knew it.  hehe.

joe


----------



## Buttercup (Sep 25, 2008)

Scurvy_Platypus said:


> I kinda like Key Note for this kind of thing:
> Tranglos software: KeyNote
> 
> It's free, and it's standalone. It does download as a "setup", but you can just grab the folder you copied it into and put it on a USB key drive and take around with you. No need to run the "setup" file again.



Looks like that Key Note program is abandonware.  That doesn't make it unusable, but I'd prefer a program that is still being improved.

Then too, one of OneNote's great benefits (to me, at least) is the fact that it plays so well with Microsoft Office.  

Honestly, I don't understand why Microsoft isn't making a bigger deal over this program.  It seems like just the ticket for anyone who writes or does research.


----------



## Tenniel (Sep 25, 2008)

I have used Lotus Notes for storing campaign material, but this is a rather large expensive package (though our nice organisation has organised home use liscences for employees). It is also a bit of work to design databases (though there are templates for journals etc). I made forms for races, religions, cultures, rules, player queries and also a character sheet (this was for 2e). I have given p on using Notes, just too cumbersome, so I am intrigued by OneNote.

There are freeware and open source notetaking products:, eg:
BasKet Note Pads
Jarnal
Springnote
Tomboy
WikidPad
Xournal 
(hee hee and Keynote, I now see having got round to saving my post and see the above message... I will check that out, thanks)

Anyone used any of these?


----------



## Hand of Evil (Sep 25, 2008)

Been using it for years...great tool 

see sig for an old thread on different programs to to organize campaigns (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=81852)


----------



## Mercule (Sep 25, 2008)

Tenniel said:


> I have used Lotus Notes for storing campaign material



I used to be a Lotus Notes developer.  What I could see using Notes for in campaign management, I think you could do just as well with OneNote templates.  The exception being if you used views/folders a lot in Notes, rather than documents or if you needed to crunch things, database style.


----------



## bigwillt (Dec 24, 2008)

Hey all, just found this thread a few days ago and started looking around. Found Office 2007 Student edition at Staples for $75 after rebates. Was going to download the trial version and use it a while but was so convinced these posts and a quick look at what it could do I had to beg my wife to allow me to get it this close to Christmas. Just loaded and haven't even started putting info in yet. Wanted to take another look at the examples and thank everyone for their tips.


----------



## Dr. Strangemonkey (Dec 24, 2008)

For those who are using Googledocs, you should also check out google notebook.  

It does not do what onenote does, but it does help to fill the gap between what docs and note.


----------



## w_earle_wheeler (Dec 24, 2008)

I've been using OneNote to organize Warhammer 40k army lists and to transcribe handwritten scanned notes (that are far too messy for OCR). 

It does indeed look like it could be a great DM campaign tool.


----------



## ThirdWizard (Dec 24, 2008)

I use OneNote for my PC character sheet and notes. It's awesome, as many have said here. I use a tiddlywiki for adventure writing and session notes, along with Excel, however. All awesome tools.


----------



## Zustiur (Dec 25, 2008)

I too would like to thank this thread (and the other one on the same topic) for causing me to re-examine OneNote.
I now hold all my DMing data (other than spreadsheets) in OneNote, and am working on moving my characters into it also.
But more importantly from a day to day basis, I have been using OneNote for my work as an impromptu programmer. It's perfect for jotting down ideas while in the middle of other tasks, and the way it organizes everything is just wonderful.

My only regret is that I haven't actually run a game of DnD since I converted. Soooon...


----------



## Sytonis (Dec 25, 2008)

*OneOne Organisation*

Does anyone who is currently using OneNote for campaign notes have any advice on how to set up the tabs, pages and sub-pages? At the moment I am thinking along the lines of:- 

Tabs - Characters, Equipment, Locations, Ideas, Adventures 

Pages - [Character Tab] Character A, Character B etc [Locations Tab] Country A, Country B, Ruin A, Ruin B etc [Adventure Tab] Adventure #1, #2, #3 etc 

Sub Pages - (Character A Page) Level 1, Level 2 etc or Stats, Items, Background (Adventure #1 Page) Session #1, #2, #3 etc 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Sytonis


----------



## Ebonyr (Dec 25, 2008)

I saw a thread in the computer forum on this site a few weeks ago. I got a hold of the program and its great! 5 Stars from me.


----------



## Zustiur (Dec 26, 2008)

Tabs as follows:
Adventures | Sessions | Monsters | Combat | Characters | Rules | Arcs | World/Location

Adventures should be self explanatory, each page is a different one.
Sessions I use to keep track of what I expect to do in the next session, and what happened in previous ones. This is where game notes are kept.
Monsters is entries pulled from SRD and modified to suit my taste
Combat is an experiment - I'm not sure if I'll keep this one. Was going to use it for keeping initiative and HPs etc
Characters is just notes on the player's characters, one page each.
Rules is bits I regularly lookup in the SRD or rule books
Arcs is a description of how the adventures fit together, and what the various plot lines are actually about.
World/Location is any info about the world that doesn't fit into one of the other categories. NPC info would likely go in here.

I keep my calendar in an xls, along with big lists of names and such. That's where I'm currently tracking NPCs and locations.


----------



## w_earle_wheeler (Dec 26, 2008)

Yeah, I'm not sure if there's a good way to track initiative, as I don't think there is any kind of auto-sorting option for tables in OneNote.


----------



## Merkuri (Dec 26, 2008)

w_earle_wheeler said:


> Yeah, I'm not sure if there's a good way to track initiative, as I don't think there is any kind of auto-sorting option for tables in OneNote.




There isn't an auto-sort option, but you can easily drag rows up or down in the list manually.  A little crossed-arrows icon will appear next to the row, and you just drag it up or down.  It's the simplest re-order of any table that I've seen in an Office program, even counting Excel.


----------



## JohnnFour (Dec 27, 2008)

Just tried OneNote for the first time this month and agree it's great. Gonna switch to it for next session's game management.

A cool feature is Tags. I tag sentences or blocks as To Do through my notes, and then I can look at all my To Dos at one time (Show All Tagged Notes). This means I don't have to duplicate items in a to do list somewhere, and every to do item can stay in context.

I have just started tagging items as Definitions to create a dynamic glossary. And, copying links to specific paragraphs and tables is making my notes easier to cross-reference.

Hope to see more tips as folks try this software out!


----------



## Sytonis (Dec 27, 2008)

JohnnFour said:


> I have just started tagging items as Definitions to create a dynamic glossary. And, copying links to specific paragraphs and tables is making my notes easier to cross-reference.




Can you explain this in layman's terms?


Sytonis


----------



## Psion (Dec 27, 2008)

Dr. Strangemonkey said:


> For those who are using Googledocs, you should also check out google notebook.
> 
> It does not do what onenote does, but it does help to fill the gap between what docs and note.




I've been using google notebook for some time. It has the advantage of being pretty much system independent, and lets me share my notebooks.

For example, here's my little GM techniques notebook:
GMing Techniques


----------



## Sytonis (Dec 31, 2008)

Sytonis said:


> Can you explain this in layman's terms?
> 
> 
> Sytonis





Shameless bump, as I think this could be really useful to my game.


----------



## Merkuri (Dec 31, 2008)

Sytonis said:


> Can you explain this in layman's terms?




To tag things, put your cursor on the paragraph you want to tag, then go to Inset -> Tags, and pick the tag you want.  Then later you can go to Insert -> Tags -> Show All Tagged Notes to see the items you tagged.  That's the basics of tags.

To create a hyperlink to a specific paragraph, right-click on that paragraph and select Copy Hyperlink to this Paragraph.  Then go somewhere else, highlight some text, right-click and select Hyperlink, then hit Ctrl-V to paste in the hyperlink text.  Click OK, then if you click on that text it'll bring you to the original paragraph.


----------



## armorclass10 (Jan 1, 2009)

Between the 4th ED simplicity and OneNote, DMing games is a breeze and we have more time to game. This is an awesome product for almost anyone not just gamers.


----------



## Sytonis (Jan 2, 2009)

Thanks Merkuri, that's very helpful. I think I will start tag important items from now on. I may even split adventures up into subpages and have 1 page with hyperlink to save scrolling which will save time in actual game play.

So far I have just been using the search function and while that is very helpful, I've found especially in session logs that I have to try various spellings to find all the entries. "Where did character X first appear?" etc.

More things to mull over.


Sytonis


----------



## Blizzardb (Jan 2, 2009)

I'd like to thank the people in this thread for introducing me to OneNote. I had it installed, as part of the Office, but I had no idea it is such a great DM tool.

If anyone hasn't tried it yet, I strongly recommend it!


----------



## Merkuri (Jan 2, 2009)

Sytonis said:


> I may even split adventures up into subpages and have 1 page with hyperlink to save scrolling which will save time in actual game play.




Note that you can use hyperlinks on the same page, as well.  They don't have to go to different pages.

So at the top of your page you can have a table of contents and fill it with links to further down the page.  And maybe if you have a list of rooms in your adventure where you'd normally say, "this door opens to room A4, and this door opens to room A17," you can actually hyperlink to the paragraphs that describe those rooms.


----------



## KB9JMQ (Jan 3, 2009)

After reading this thread a couple of days ago I downloaded the trial version.
Wow it is great. I will be purchasing this for sure.


----------



## Oompa (Feb 26, 2009)

Anyone have a good template to use for character Sheets?


----------



## Ogrork the Mighty (Mar 1, 2009)

I have recently installed OneNote and I was playing around with it and find it to be quite promising.

I noticed that it auto-saves and you don't actually have to manually save like you do with other Office documents.

If I want to use OneNote on multiple computers (that have OneNote installed), how do I go about transferring the data? I won't always have internet access so I need a way to transfer the data by USB key. Is this possible?


----------



## calimedic911 (Mar 1, 2009)

Ogrork the Mighty said:


> I have recently installed OneNote and I was playing around with it and find it to be quite promising.
> 
> I noticed that it auto-saves and you don't actually have to manually save like you do with other Office documents.
> 
> If I want to use OneNote on multiple computers (that have OneNote installed), how do I go about transferring the data? I won't always have internet access so I need a way to transfer the data by USB key. Is this possible?



in your "my documents" folder there is a folder called my onenote journals.  copy that to a thumb drive and then copy it to your new computer and you will have the folder on each computer... to update your old computer just do the same from the new computer to the old.... (sorry if that is a little confusing)

Sean


----------



## Zustiur (Mar 2, 2009)

Alternatively, if you have a home network you could set it up like I have - 
I have one main PC, and a laptop, both of which connect to the same network while I'm at home.
If you're creating a new notebook, there's an option for shared notebooks.
If you already have a notebook, you need to make it's location shared - either share the notebook itself (within your my documents usually), or share a folder above that (such as My Documents itself).
On your laptop (or other machine) do File - Open, and browse to the network location of your shared notebook.
From that point on, you never need to worry about copying data back and forth, and you can edit both at the same time. The changes will then merge neatly when both machines are on the same network (and onenote is open on the laptop).


----------



## Ogrork the Mighty (Mar 3, 2009)

calimedic911 said:


> in your "my documents" folder there is a folder called my onenote journals.  copy that to a thumb drive and then copy it to your new computer and you will have the folder on each computer... to update your old computer just do the same from the new computer to the old.... (sorry if that is a little confusing)
> 
> Sean




Thanks!


----------



## Wraith101 (Mar 3, 2009)

This wont apply to many people here but Microsoft is currently offering Australian Uni students Office 2007 for AUD $75!

go to itsnotcheating.com.au

I use One Note for all my information storage needs!


----------



## Bodhiwolff (Mar 4, 2009)

If anybody has any templates, example notebooks, or basically any other cool OneNote resources, I would be extremely interested in seeing them.

I only just discovered OneNote, and I have a feeling that I'll be re-inventing the wheel if I spent days and days trying to set up a campaign notebook, encounter template, and so forth.

So if anybody would care to share their work, I'd dearly love to see it.


----------



## calimedic911 (Mar 4, 2009)

Bodhiwolff said:


> If anybody has any templates, example notebooks, or basically any other cool OneNote resources, I would be extremely interested in seeing them.
> 
> I only just discovered OneNote, and I have a feeling that I'll be re-inventing the wheel if I spent days and days trying to set up a campaign notebook, encounter template, and so forth.
> 
> So if anybody would care to share their work, I'd dearly love to see it.



personally what I have done is taken the one note power toys application and installed that.. one of the options in there allows you to print to one note and take that printout and drop it to the background... then you can write on top of that... I happen to have a tablet so I can do handwriting and I have printed the campaign planner into one note and use that as the background....

Sean B


----------



## Merkuri (Mar 5, 2009)

calimedic911 said:


> personally what I have done is taken the one note power toys application and installed that




Ooh, do you have a link to this?  I love OneNote, but am sorely disappointed that they didn't add VBA support like they have in just about every other Office application, so anything that would let me get closer to hacking OneNote, like "power toys" is something I'm interested in.


----------



## Oompa (Mar 5, 2009)

I have each sheet in a different section and than different pages per section.

Lets take my picture examples:

Sample 1 is the main sheet, with all the character info.
Sample 2 is the sheet with all class and racial powers noted down
Sample 3 is the sheet with all the powers and features

And i can link between pages and points, and those links still exist in the pdf..

Best thing, if i save the section as a PDF, it crops it automatically to fit the page, so i get a 3 paged pdf with everything i need..


----------



## Keefe the Thief (Mar 5, 2009)

To expand how hyperlinking is super-useful:
a) Download the big empty Untermountain map from Wizards. Change the size until you are happy with it at 100 % zoom. Look if text you insert has the right size compared to the rooms.
b) Right-click and use "set as background". Voila: Map you can write and paint on. 
c) Search for a room you want to describe. Write a number in - lets say 27 (for room 27).
d) highlight the 27 and choose "create hyperlink to this paragraph."
e) Open new Tab, call it "room 27". Insert your hyperlink. Describe the room, insert monsters and treasure from the compendium. 

Now, if you click on your hyperlink, it immediately takes you to room 27. Clever, uh?


----------



## calimedic911 (Mar 5, 2009)

OneNote PowerToys » Print Driver

it is a little tricky to use but once you get the hang of it.. plus it gives some much needed functionality...

Sean


----------



## beldar1215 (Feb 5, 2010)

Chatty DM mentioned OneNote in one of his posts and mentioned his template. Here is the link if anyone is still interested. I just found out about the program from his post and can't wait to try it out.

Gearing up: The Setting, Pre-Prep and the Adventure Plan : Critical Hits

Beldar


----------



## beldar1215 (Feb 5, 2010)

Chatty DM mentioned OneNote in one of his posts and mentioned his template. Here is the link if anyone is still interested. I just found out about the program from his post and can't wait to try it out.

Gearing up: The Setting, Pre-Prep and the Adventure Plan : Critical Hits

Beldar

Stupid double post


----------



## Nifelhein (Feb 7, 2010)

I was using One Note lately, but since I am GMing 4th edition Masterplan has found a soft spot for me, it unites Onenote usability and 4th edition crunch in one place.


----------



## Keefe the Thief (Feb 7, 2010)

Also, remember that you can download the Office 2010 beta for free and use it until october. You won´t be able to look at your notes afterwards, of course, but it´s a cool way of trying Onenote without paying. And i like some of the improvements, enough that i have converted all my notebooks.


----------



## Wolf1066 (May 12, 2010)

We use OneNote at work to manage our documentation and it's a brilliant tool.  I thought of using it to keep track of game notes and (for my fictional writing) story notes but I didn't want to shell out for it.  

Having found my way to this thread from a thread on how GMs keep track of game notes and reading what others have done, I'm now revising my rather "stingy" decision and am going to get a copy.  It's way too useful - especially to keep track of the copious quantities of information I have (especially since a lot of my notes have stuff copy-pasted from other notes just to get the same information into two different files - I'd save a lot of disc space just linking all the occurrences to a single page in OneNote.)


----------



## Wolf1066 (May 13, 2010)

A quick question for those who have created things in OneNote - and sorry if it sounds like a silly question, but (as you may have gathered from above) I've never created a OneNote file, I've only ever used it to navigate through documentation set up by others.

Can you create linked data?

E.g. have the same information displayed on different pages that is derived from information stored elsewhere (either in the same document or stored externally) so that when you change the "master" file/page, all references to that information also change?

Specific example:
You have a group of character sheets with the characters' stats on them, elsewhere you have a side-by-side comparison table that has the attributes for all your characters displayed in columns (because you like being able to see at a glance who is the strongest in the group). 

Can you set it up so that the data in the table is pulled automatically from the relevant fields in the character sheets (analogous to having a spreadsheet that pulls data from other sheets in the workbook for display in a different format) so that when you alter the character's stats in their sheet, it alters the data in the table?

Better yet, can you have the master data stored somewhere and change that master data by altering one of the references to it?  Change the data throughout whether you tweak values in the comparison table or alter it on the individual character sheet?


----------



## Hand of Evil (May 13, 2010)

Wolf1066 said:


> A quick question for those who have created things in OneNote - and sorry if it sounds like a silly question, but (as you may have gathered from above) I've never created a OneNote file, I've only ever used it to navigate through documentation set up by others.
> 
> Can you create linked data?
> 
> ...




Linking Data -- yes you can, by using "Tags" you are able to build a index page that can hyperlink back to the document.  

Does not allow you to have master data, you will have to change all locations.  I have heard that this may be offered in the new version as it is an on-line tool.


----------



## Wolf1066 (May 13, 2010)

Thanks for that, HoE.  Was hoping I could avoid having to change duplicate data manually.

At least it should be good for sorting out my game rules - which are a mess of Word files containing my house rules and amendments to the core rules used in conjuntion with the manuals.

I could scan the relevant pages out of the manuals and combine them with my house rules in a cohesive, searchable, rulebook.  (Will certainly beat hastily thumbing through the books to find the sections I want)

And should also help keep my campaign notes in order and facilitate the transition from session as "planned" to Session Journal.


----------



## Hand of Evil (May 13, 2010)

Wolf1066 said:


> Thanks for that, HoE.  Was hoping I could avoid having to change duplicate data manually.
> 
> At least it should be good for sorting out my game rules - which are a mess of Word files containing my house rules and amendments to the core rules used in conjuntion with the manuals.
> 
> ...




there are some other programs, see link in my sig


----------



## Wolf1066 (May 13, 2010)

Cheers, HoE, had already found that thread - most useful.

Well, I spent part of today at work playing around in OneNote and this afternoon I installed OneNote on my home computer.  Now the fun of organising my rules and campaign notes will begin.


----------



## Haltherrion (May 13, 2010)

Elrith said:


> I'm not really sure if this is right forum for this...I was looking at Microsoft's Onenote program, and was wondering if anyone is using it to organize their session notes...Any feedback (of the constructive sort), ideas, etc.
> 
> --Elrith




Yes, I love it. Very nicely done. Light weight so it is fast. Easy to gather material of different formats from multiple places. Easy to organize material.

I still do my session notes in a .doc file  but I store odds and ends in OneNote.

I use it much as I used to use paper notebooks. Except now I can't lose the book, the cat can't spill water on it and get it all crinkly etc.

Also use it for work, writing, home notes. It's super handy.


----------

