A former colleague of mine back in 2005 noticed such behavior and introduced me to OneNote.   I was impressed.  It was time to move away from an outmoded way conducting my business and use technology to my advantage.  For those that do not know what OneNote is, it is an Office product by Microsoft that was introduced to the market in 2003.  It is “… a digital notebook that provides a single place where you can gather all of your notes and information, with the added benefits of powerful search capabilities …”. 

Well after a few weeks of using OneNote, the novelty wore out.  The software application was well designed and intuitive to use.  I just had two major problems.  First, my laptop, which had OneNote installed, was not with me when I needed it.  I did not carry my laptop with me in situations like my pen and paper notepad.    Second, it is hard to break an old habit.

Now fast forward to this year.  My colleague, Mason Prewett, was telling me about the introduction OneNote Mobile app for the iPhone.  This gave me a reason to revisit using OneNote.  Besides my wallet, my iPhone is with me practically at all times.  Add the Windows Live SkyDrive  and I can save my data securely in the cloud, allowing me to have a current state of my content if I use my iPhone or my laptop.  Pretty sweet.  With my iPhone, opportunities to use OneNote become easy.

One example of how I am using OneNote for work is to help simplify an administrative function I do not enjoying doing.  It is submitting my expenses.  Whether I’m am traveling out of town on a project or entertaining clients, the collection of receipts, scanning them and sending them off for reimbursement is a hassle.  Because of this hassle, let’s just say, I’m not as diligent in submitting my expenses in a timely manner.  Now I have no excuse.

Let’s step through how easy capturing receipts for expense reports is.  Here is a view of my SkyDrive access through my web browser.  As you can see, I keep a notebook for my personal stuff and one for my work.   I can access these notebooks via my laptop or iPhone, which syncs to the version in the SkyDrive. 

1 - SkyDrive where I store my OneNote files

This is how my OneNote “Work” notebook looks on my iPhone.  I keep tabs to organize my content.

2 - Tabs in my Work OneNote Notebook

After tapping the “Expense Receipts”, you see I have sub-tabs by each reimbursable event this year.  A multi-day trip to Chicago and entertaining clients.  Say I have a new event; I tap the plus button in the upper left side.

3 - Sub-tabs of receipts from previous trips/events

I now enter a title and take a picture of my receipt.   In this case, it is a receipt for re-fueling a car.  Because I had my phone with me, I could of taken a picture immediately after the receipt prints out from the gas pump.

4 - New Expenses to Capture

Picture captured.  If I wanted to, I could write a caption underneath the photo.  I could also add more receipts on this single tab, such as car rental.

5 - Receipt Captured

When I return back to my office, I can pull up my expense receipts on my laptop.  Here is the client view of OneNote.  Now I can print out the receipt or save a PDF copy to submit with my expense report.

6 - Client version of OneNote. When ready, print out or save as PDF to submit expenses

Now I am not completely giving up my pen and paper at work.  But finding ways to use OneNote effectively is making things easier for me.  The OneNote mobile app is offered for Windows Phone7 and Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad..