Windows 10 OneNote app sucks.

There's no way to capture just how much you made my day with this bit: "Here is the MS propaganda about this "improvement."

I'm still howling over that! You might be interested in checking this out -- it's a video by some guy who seems to have an angle in peddling this half-****ed knockoff: https://youtu.be/S5hLShifujw

But he's got some connection with the development team on this thing -- so I'm crushing his commentary by sharing my own and that of others from these sites. I have submitted my feedback through official channels as well (including the link you shared below -- as well as the official feedback channel through Windows itself -- directly through the OneNote channel).

It doesn't look like it's getting anywhere, but we gotta try.

Strangely, I didn't think to use to word "propaganda" in my arguments -- but that's exactly what it is. Every counter I make is based in sound reasoning -- and everything they say is a talking point. But that guy in the video is not nearly as bad as the Microsoft program manager who wrote this egregiously off-base article -- which has no bearing on reality: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Office-365-Blog/The-best-version-of-OneNote-on-Windows/ba-p/183974

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and info!

Yes you can install the OneNote 2016 application, a "real" application, not "new & improved" <sarcasm> windoze 10 <cr>applet.

The problem is that MS is no longer developing the OneNote 2016 application. They will not add any more features to it. In a few years it will fall off the map and we will only be stuck with the UWP version.

Here is the MS propaganda about this "improvement"

OneNote 2016 is missing after installing Office 2019 or Office 365 – link to manual install

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/onenote-2016-is-missing-after-installing-office-2019-or-office-365-1844ba87-7248-4bd8-a735-66a52f98e6e5

What’s the difference between OneNote for Windows 10 and OneNote 2016?

Here is the first paragraph from the above link:

<snip>

OneNote for Windows 10 (simply labeled “OneNote”) is the best and most up-to-date version of OneNote on Windows. It was designed to feel natural with any input method — from mouse and keyboard to pen and touch — and it contains numerous improvements for better performance, battery life, and reliability.

</snip>

Once you pick yourself up from the floor, ROFLMAO, read on ...

The very bottom of the page has a link to the OneNote uservoice feedback page

!!!USE IT TO SUMBIT FEEDBACK!!!

The comments made here are not being seen by MS management.  Submit your complaints directly to MS using feedback, or vote for existing feedbacks, and add your comments to existing feedbacks.

UserVoice: Include OneNote for Desktop in Office 2019

https://onenote.uservoice.com/forums/327186-onenote-for-windows/suggestions/32737648-include-onenote-for-desktop-in-office-2019

Learn more about the future of OneNote.

You might be interested in checking this out -- it's a video by some guy who seems to have an angle in peddling this half-****ed knockoff:

https://youtu.be/S5hLShifujw

Yes, that youtube is interesting take on the Windows 10 UWP <cr>applet. His point about adding 100 new features in 2018 is amazing. That is an incredible pace of development. Frankly it is almost unbelievable. As a former developer it would be a massive PITA just to keep up with other changes being rolled out. BUT, maybe MS should have waited another year to add another hundred missing features before they made UWP mandatory.

The point about UWP being the same across all OS's is nice, but it does not make up for missing features.  Having one program to focus development on will make life easier for the MS programmers. BUT, it means that new features will ALWAYS be limited by the lowest common denominator OS. So it will always be dumbed down due to the limits of the cheapest device supported.

Yep -- that's the same article I included in my previous reply (but thank you for sending it -- just in case I had missed it).

Yeah, I was FURIOUS when I read that -- not only because of what they were doing (which I knew was coming), but also the sickening way in which they act like they're doing us a favor. As I told William Devereux (the program manager who wrote that piece): Don't pi#$ down my back and tell me it's raining. 

Another thing that infuriates me is this idea of how they keep adding on features to pacify people -- as if that's all there is to it. The essence of the REAL OneNote is its "3 dimensional" architecture. I have mountains of material across 34 notebooks (not including the ones I don't have open on my desktop right now). It would be a nightmare trying to work with all that in the Windows 10 app (which is entirely engineered with mobile in mind). So they strip all that way in the app to open it up for space -- but I don't need all that freakin' space on my desktop, and I want to see my entire universe of operation in front of me (that's one of the things that made OneNote so phenomenal).

Now it's a glorified version of Word.

And speaking of features -- the search functionality in the app is a joke. And try pasting in a screenshot -- and maybe in an hour or so the OCR will finally pick up the text. Do the same thing in the REAL OneNote -- and it's immediate. When I brought up OCR to the guy in the video -- I didn't think it worked at all (since I had tested it before -- and seen a Microsoft agent tell someone that wasn't available yet). But in truth -- it is, sorta! So the video guy proudly peddled his propaganda about how it's there -- but not quite as good because it's on the server or whatever.

GIVE ME A BREAK! It's amateur hour every step of the way with this toy ("toddler-level" -- to borrow from another outraged customer).

Here's an excerpt of some of my debate with him:

*****************************

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/17283"Better export options would bring it closer to 100%" -- You tacked on one too many zeros.

"single consistent platform across OneNote. If you pick up an iOS or an Android device or a Mac or a PC or even use OneNote on the web you'll now be able to have a consistent experience across all of those platforms" . . .

GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD -- along with The OneNote boss: I don't care about it being "consistent," I care about what works for me (the brilliance that you are butchering). STOP looking at everything through the prism of mobile and this "one size fits all" madness. That's the same kind of thinking that eliminated the Start button -- and we all know how that worked out. But by virtue of not having near the outrage of that debacle -- Microsoft will see it as "all is well," without an atom of regard for those who heavily rely on the REAL OneNote.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_onenote-mso_win10-mso_365hp/i-hate-windows-10-onenote/6f0d508d-7ff0-43e4-b1ed-f730fa78f41d?messageId=0d9ecd59-9f10-4376-afc0-1f71bde69525

*****************************

If you want a laugh, take a look at this initial propaganda of OneNote UWP

Here is the real title of the article

The best version of OneNote on Windowshttps://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Office-365-Blog/The-best-version-of-OneNote-on-Windows/ba-p/183974

And don't forget to read the 12 pages! (and counting) of comments. They basically say the same thing you've been saying, but starting a year ago ...  There is some really biting sniping.

One interesting comment points to this page if you want to make addins for OneNote UWP to replace lost functionality:

@ Integrate with OneNote- MS link page to instructions for building Addonshttps://developer.microsoft.com/en-US/onenote****Create empowering experiences across multiple platforms that reach millions of users worldwide.

The page above consists of links to the following 2 pages:

Extend OneNote with Office Add-ins:GET STARTED

In this article, you'll walk through the process of building a OneNote task pane add-in.

Integrate apps with OneNote using the Microsoft Graph REST API:EXPLORE

Microsoft Graph lets your app get authorized access to a user's OneNote notebooks, sections, and pages in a personal or organization account. With the appropriate delegated or application permissions, your app can access the OneNote data of the signed-in user or any user in a tenant.

Did you watch the next youtube he did:

OneNote Page setup - Do these 3 things! (2019 top guide) 7min58https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er1YVpzr7F8

It is an interesting demonstration of pen input. Sooper kool. Now all I need to do is spend a couple of grand on a Surface ...

First off, your argument is quite sound and I appreciate the way you think.

I have a different take on the "100 new features" though. That they could do "all that" and be so wildly off the mark is not something I would celebrate. I don't see it as impressive at all (not as a customer, anyway). As a developer myself (SQL Server, BI, .Net stuff), I can appreciate it to a degree in that context.

But lemme put it this way. 15 years ago, I had a team leader who had 10 years of Lotus Notes database development experience. We just had a merger and he came from the other bank. He was a great team leader -- but when I submitted a pilot for an application that could really help in merging our data, he was blinded by his background. He loved the idea -- but he wanted to implement it in Lotus Notes (since we wouldn't have to install anything that way).

My point of view: What difference does that make if it doesn't work?

But therein lies the rub -- how do you define "work"? I conceived of this whole thing -- from the full-text indexing process I built, to the pilot for the manual-matching of outliers, to the VB.Net application for a more feature-rich version of the pilot.

Why does that matter? Because I was coming at it from the perspective of a user (someone who developed an automated process that still had an unavoidable component of manual intervention.

I knew enough about Lotus Notes to know that it would not deliver what I had in mind, so I built that .Net version on my own time in one week (so I could counter his version with something demonstrably provable). I'm not trying to claim some super coding skills or anything of the kind (I was just learning VB.Net at the time). I'm simply saying that my mindset was rooted in how the user would interact with the application -- not slapping something together that we "didn't have to install."

It was not even in question once I presented my version -- it blew his Lotus Notes version out of the water. I would add that the primary user of the program absolutely loved it. That team leader had my pilot on a silver platter (and he fully approved of it) -- and yet he was still way off the mark.

Now why do you think that is? It wasn't just the platform at issue, it was the attitude in his approach. Had he worked with the data like I did, perhaps he would have seen things differently.

The point is -- Microsoft's "one size fits all mentality" is exactly line with that team leader's thinking. And I'm not telling you anything you don't know -- you said it yourself below: "Having one program to focus development on will make life easier for the MS programmers."

EXACTLY! It has absolutely nothing to do with what's in the best interests of the customer.

Microsoft is not even remotely concerned with how I use OneNote -- and it shows!

You might be interested in checking this out -- it's a video by some guy who seems to have an angle in peddling this half-****ed knockoff:

https://youtu.be/S5hLShifujw

Yes, that youtube is interesting take on the Windows 10 UWP <cr>applet. His point about adding 100 new features in 2018 is amazing. That is an incredible pace of development. Frankly it is almost unbelievable. As a former developer it would be a massive PITA just to keep up with other changes being rolled out. BUT, maybe MS should have waited another year to add another hundred missing features before they made UWP mandatory.

The point about UWP being the same across all OS's is nice, but it does not make up for missing features.  Having one program to focus development on will make life easier for the MS programmers. BUT, it means that new features will ALWAYS be limited by the lowest common denominator OS. So it will always be dumbed down due to the limits of the cheapest device supported.

dd