OneNote or Evernote? by Ella Sun

This week, the SADL workshop focused on tips to help with reading and note-taking and as a Sociology student, I was very interested in the tips given during the session. My blog post will focus on two note-taking applications that were mentioned during the workshop – OneNote and Evernote.

As an avid user of applications to aid my note-taking process, I stumbled upon both OneNote and Evernote last year. Throughout the first year of my degree, I had used OneNote, albeit not very effectively as my notes were still all over the place. Yet, I found that it was very useful in taking notes more so than just using Pages or Word as it was very much like a notebook. However, upon changing laptops, I lost my login details for OneNote and had not been bothered to go through the lengthy process of finding my details. Hence, I attempted to use Evernote for my second year as my flatmate had eagerly recommended it to me. Here’s my basic evaluation of both applications, based solely on using the applications on a Mac:

OneNote
– Colourful display. Able to have each notebook as a different colour, which as a visual learner, I truly appreciate
– The tabs of the different notebooks are on top, while tabs for sub-notebooks are on the side, which I am quite indifferent about
– Am able to create textboxes anywhere on the page
– Able to shrink the window to a small size (about 1/3 of the window display)

EverNote
– Plain grey display
– Very useful to have the shortcuts and recent notes on the sidebar to ensure key notes are always quickly accessible, which OneNote does not have
– Notes can only be written in a linear way and are not able to have textboxes any and everywhere
– You are only able to shrink the window to a certain size (which takes up more than half of the display window), which is not very useful during note-taking when you want the pdf on one side and the window in another

Areas still to be explored:
– Sharing function with other users
– Using the phone-version of each application
– More advanced functions

Overall evaluation:
Having used both applications, the key needs are similar in both applications. However, I prefer OneNote due to its colourful display and how the layout is very similar to Microsoft Word. Additionally, I feel like I have more blank space in OneNote to be able to type down my thoughts (I have now reverted back to OneNote, as the display made a difference).

Yet, applications are different for everyone, so which do you prefer? Please do share your thoughts on the applications if you’ve used both or if you have found an even better app.

Other apps to consider for reading/note-taking:
– ReadCube: A place where you can upload all your PDFs and put them into folders for easy reading and finding. On the app you are able to highlight and annotate, just like Preview or Adobe.