Microsoft is really going all out with new software recently. On Monday, Microsoft introduced a new version of its cross-platform note-taking app, OneNote, for Mac. The basic version of OneNote is free now, too, but some features will cost you a bit. Now that OneNote is available for Mac, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Windows, Microsoft hopes it will become a true Evernote competitor.
OneNote has been on the note-taking app scene for almost a decade, but it's really only been popular with a few people here and there. Over the years, Microsoft has added new versions of the app for the most popular operating systems, so as to extend the reach of its note app. The company recently decided to add many new functions and cool tools to make OneNote more competitive in the Evernote-dominated note app world.
OneNote has always allowed users to type or hand write notes, add pictures, tables and formatting, but now it has a lot more features. OneNote users will now be able to save web pages as notes using the OneNote Clipper function in their web browsers. Microsoft also added a personalized OneNote email address, so that users can send images, web pages and things to take note of to the app itself. Both of these tools were already available in Evernote, so it's nothing earth shattering, but it's still an important step forward for Microsoft.
Microsoft also added cloud functionality to OneNote through OneDrive. Luckily, OneDrive offers 7 GB of free cloud storage to users, so OneNote users will be able to save a lot of notes to their OneDrive accounts before running out of free space. Meanwhile, users of Evernote's free app can only upload 60 MB of data each month. Evernote's premium users pay $45 each year, so that they can upload 1 GB per month. This is one of the few advantages OneNote currently has over Evernote.
Microsoft also offers OneNote users integration with Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel and other Office applications, if they subscribe to Office 365 Home Premium. Those users will get 20 GB of cloud storage for free, too. It's all part of Microsoft's efforts to encourage people to think of Microsoft as a self-sufficient ecosystem. Microsoft hopes that one day you'll create your documents in Office, write your notes to OneNote, put everything in OneDrive cloud storage and so on.
David Rasmussen, the group program manager of OneNote, expressed his desire to make OneNote more accessible.
"We want to actually remove all barriers for people to adopt this," Rasmussen said.
OneNote stands a good chance of doing well with note-taking enthusiasts, but only if it adds more unique features and gives new users incentives to choose OneNote over Evernote. Right now, OneNote is a nice, open version of Evernote, but it needs to be more.
