Keeping your digital world organized can be an overwhelming and time consuming task- between pictures, emails, web pages and files it seems to be an endless chore. And if keeping the information organized is not difficult enough trying to find the information that has been “organized” can be even more difficult – we have all been there – trying to find that elusive file you know you stored in a certain directory of your favorite recipe for martinis.

Microsoft has a product called OneNote that allows you to wrangle in your digital chaos into organized submission. It allows you to collect on your notes, thoughts and digital content into an easy to use and structured format.

OneNote is made up of notebooks that contain pages that are used to store and organize your information. Information can be scanned notes, web pages, photos, emails or files. Pretty much any type of digital information can be captured, organized and stored in OneNote. For example, a notebook could be created to collect recipes that can be stored on individual pages within the notebook.

There are several methods for adding information into a notebook or a page. From within OneNote information such as links, files, tables and pictures can be inserted into an open page. There are also drawing tools that allow you to annotate or draw within any of your pages. Other content that can be inserted includes videos or recordings along with equations and symbols – can pretty much capture any type of information.

In addition to being able to add information from within OneNote there are several methods for adding information to a notebook from outside of OneNote. These methods allow you to easily add information from a web page, email message, screen shot or file. By being able to quickly add information it makes easier to keep organized - this works great for collecting information from web pages.

Ways to use OneNote:

• Track and organize recipes
• Store receipts - better and greener than printing!
• Scan and store household documents such as insurance documents
• Keep track of user names and account numbers

Now that you know what OneNote can do to help you stay tuned to learn the details on how to use OneNote in the next article