Microsoft OneNote Service Pack 1 Preview

[Tropical Dream]

Microsoft OneNote Service Pack 1 Preview, Released For Beta Testing

Microsoft Tuesday put into beta testing a significant update of its OneNote digital note-taking application that offers new video and Pocket PC support, better integration with Office 2003, realtime collaboration features and APIs to allow extensibility by ISVs and solution providers.

The preview of OneNote Service Pack 1 (SP1) was made available and the final version of the service pack will ship by the end of the summer, shortly after Office 2003 SP1, said Bobby Moore, product manager at Microsoft Office OneNote. He said Office 2003 SP1 is scheduled for release in late June and early July.

OneNote, which first shipped last October as part of the Office 2003 System, now offers a variety of new features that fit into six camps: expanded access to data sources, increased Office 2003 integration, increased sharing, improved organization/usability and extensibility.

The update, for example, now allows for direct Pocket PC-to-OneNote synchronization and new support for video capture that will enable users to visually record a meeting while taking notes. The software currently supports audio recording as well.

The update also offers improved integration with Outlook so that users can, for instance, select a meeting time or to-do item out of Outlook and with one click add it to a OneNote document. In addition, users can now bring in any Office document or object such as a PowerPoint slide deck into OneNote and annotate it directly from within the note-taking application. Previously, users had to cut and paste documents to annotate them within OneNote, Moore said

The update also improves the sharing and collaboration abilities of the application including sharing of OneNote folders, applying password protection to sensitive sections of OneNote documents and realtime collaboration via integration of DirectPlay technology, said Moore.

The latter feature will enable electronic groups to add and view notes in realtime on the same OneNote page in realtime and capture all of the collective data in one document. "So when everyone completes a session, everyone has a copy of the Notes as if they were note writing themselves," Moore said.

Microsoft also added a number of goodies that enhance the usability of the application including the ability to add time stamps to captured notes, new notes flags and the ability to create new stationery and make stationery more discoverable.

That way, for instance, users can more easily access existing stationery templates and attendee information for recurring meetings.

The software also adds new support for gestures, such as scratch marks, and offers enhanced support for the Tablet PC and inking. For example, customers can now erase one letter in a word while such an attempt in the past would result in the whole word being erased, Moore notes.

Microsoft also integrated a set of new APIs that will allow ISVs to integrate their applications directly into OneNote and solution providers to add value. "In version 1.0, we stayed away from extensibility" and focused on making the application's core features rock solid, Moore said.

One Microsoft solution provider experienced with the Tablet PC and OneNote said the enhanced integration with Office 2003 and APIs will make note-taking more useful in corporate environments.

"The service pack should be good. We have a few customers, mostly legal, who have adopted OneNote. It's ideal for meetings as a way to consolidate thoughts," said Ken Winell, president of Econium, Totowa, N,J. "The features added in SP will make it easier to integrate with Office System 2003 and enhance collaboration. Storing OneNote documents in SharePoint Portal Server, for example, will allow notes to be tracked and controlled and shared across an enterprise. The support for video/audio may tie in nicely with Live Meeting."

Source: http://www.crn.com/sections/BreakingNews/d...ArticleID=49521