OneNote for Genealogy – Digital Notebooks

My favorite piece of software for pictures is Picasa my favorite software for everything is OneNote. OneNote is a program from Microsoft and is included in all the versions of Microsoft Office 2010. It was also in Office Home and Student 2007. It was developed when the first tablet computers came out about eight years ago. I loved it then and it’s much better now.

OneNote provides dynamic, expandable, searchable, shareable, networkable, digital notebooks for PC based computers. These notebooks back themselves up, keep live links, allow pages to contain typing, handwriting, audio, video, drawings, pictures, etc.

I make notebooks for Dad’s side and Mom’s side of the family and then I make sub-sections for each surname. Each individual becomes a page and the pages have no set length so I can add information from any source including: e-mails, websites, scans, web-clips, audio clips, movies, etc.

I also have notebooks for research aids, census blanks, magazine articles, etc. I’ve included pictures of some of my notebooks below on the left. When I open the notebook then I have access to the sections and pages (in blue below right.)  There are videos, blogs and templates online at http://www.onenote.com .

I could go on for pages and pages about this great program but I’ll spare you. Don’t be surprised, though if I throw in some helpful tidbits from time to time.