Comments on: JPC - Warning for OneNote SP1 Beta Users

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 16:40:25 +0000

Kyle: My understanding is that you can install and uninstall various versions of OneNote without worrying about your data files, much as you could do the same with Word. Good luck!

By: Kyle Pflug

Kyle Pflug — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 08:24:02 +0000

I use and love OneNote, however I’ve had this same problem. The difference being, I use a full and legal purchased copy of OneNote, and installed the SP1 beta for the extra tablet features. A short while ago, I was greeted by the “You can’t do anything!” dialog. I tried installing the full version of SP1 to see if that would get rid of it, but it wouldn’t install. So I’m puzzled–do I need to break out the CDs and reinstall onenote (will my files be okay?), or is there a better way around?

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 11:12:07 +0000

I've got the full-deal OneNote SP1 on my tablet, too, so if you want to borrow my machine to do some importing, feel free.

I've also abandoned OneNote in favour of Agilix GoBinder, for now. As you know, I abandoned OneNote because its print driver doesn't (yet) support importing other documents in a searchable way (a la GoBinder or Windows Journal print drivers).

I'm also not crazy about the ink/text containers. Being a tablet user, the paradigm doesn't quite work -- I want to write directly on the page, wherever I place my pen, without quirks.

OneNote has some really wonderful features (stationary, and time-indexed note taking with the audio/video recording feature!) but I'm waiting for that sweet spot, Version 3.

I know you're not excited about WinFS, but imagine if your notes were stored in a schema that any note-taking Windows application could read from. You could try out applications to your heart's content, and maintain autonomy over your content.

MS isn't all bad -- just making some oversights on the road to greener pastures.

By: Peter Engrav

Peter Engrav — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 07:19:54 +0000

Er, that sounds terribly annoying. Let me get this straight. You haven’t purchased OneNote (and at this point don’t particularly want to) but you at one point installed a beta of SP1 and ended up with some notes therein that you now (with an expired beta) can’t get out? It does seem sort of weird that copy/paste is one of the commands that disables when running in “your beta has expired” mode. I’ll look into whether that was a mistake or whether someone thought it made sense.

I think part of the problem is that we never really thought folk would download the beta of SP1 as a way of trying out OneNote for the first time – that was aimed primarily at existing users. For first time “I wonder if I’d like to try OneNote” customers we have a free 60-day downloadable trial (it’s the full product, no disabled features) that’s been there since we shipped back last August. See http://www.microsoft.com/office/onenote/prodinfo/trial.mspx .

This probably provides the cleanest way out of your predicament -just uninstall the SP1 beta, download and install the trial, copy the stuff you want to keep, and then uninstall the trial.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Peter Engrav (MS, OneNote Dev Manager)