OneNote for Windows 10

Pros

• Familiar and well-integrated Microsoft Office design
• Most features are available for free
• Innovative note-taking system

Cons

• Sharing options are a little lean
• Unconventional note-taking may not appeal to everyone

OneNote is one of the most flexible desktop-based note taking apps available, and the majority of its most important features are available without having to pay a cent. OneNote is part of Microsoft's larger Office suite, and it integrates well with all of the software included, making it an obvious choice if you already use Office to navigate your personal and work life. It's also supplemented by mobile apps that can provide you with note taking wherever you go.

All of this works because of the cloud-based framework of OneNote. All of your notes are tied to your Microsoft account, and that means that you have access to them on any device that has internet access. Where it differentiates itself from other note-taking apps is how OneNote organizes your messages. It makes use of a hierarchical system that allows you to nest notes inside other notes. Each of these pages can then be formatted to contain any number of different images, text, or files. It's a flexible approach that can handle everything from recipe books to trigonometry notes, and it can be customized to suit any note-taking style.

In fact, there's a lot more here than just the ability to embed images or files. an OCR tool included that can let you adapt PDFs and pictures into raw text. OneNote incorporates tags while making recommendations based off of your past experiences and offers robust search tools. It's a deep feature set complemented by the fact that it uses an interface most users will already be familiar with.

Pros

• Familiar and well-integrated Microsoft Office design
• Most features are available for free
• Innovative note-taking system

Cons

• Sharing options are a little lean
• Unconventional note-taking may not appeal to everyone