OneNote vs Confluence
Last Updated:Our analysts compared OneNote vs Confluence based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Collaboration Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.
Product Basics
Microsoft OneNote is a versatile software designed for comprehensive note-taking and task management. It allows users to create, organize, and share notes across various devices seamlessly. The platform is particularly well-suited for students, educators, and professionals in industries such as education, business, and research, where detailed note-taking and collaboration are essential. OneNote's unique benefits include its ability to integrate with other Microsoft Office applications, support for multimedia content, and robust organizational tools like notebooks, sections, and pages.
Popular features include handwriting recognition, audio recording, and real-time collaboration, making it a powerful tool for capturing and sharing information. Users often appreciate its intuitive interface and the flexibility it offers in structuring notes. Compared to similar products, OneNote stands out for its deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem and its extensive feature set. Pricing details can vary, so it's advisable to contact SelectHub for a tailored quote based on specific needs.
Product Assistance
Product Insights
- Seamless Organization: OneNote allows users to create notebooks, sections, and pages, making it easy to categorize and locate notes efficiently.
- Real-Time Collaboration: Multiple users can edit the same notebook simultaneously, facilitating teamwork and reducing the need for back-and-forth emails.
- Cross-Platform Accessibility: OneNote is available on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and the web, ensuring your notes are accessible from any device.
- Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem: OneNote integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft Office applications like Outlook and Teams, streamlining workflow and enhancing productivity.
- Rich Media Support: Users can embed images, audio recordings, videos, and even handwritten notes, making it a versatile tool for capturing diverse types of information.
- Advanced Search Functionality: OneNote's powerful search feature allows users to find text within images, handwritten notes, and audio recordings, saving time and effort.
- Tagging and To-Do Lists: Users can tag notes with custom labels and create to-do lists, helping to prioritize tasks and manage projects effectively.
- Offline Access: Notes can be accessed and edited offline, ensuring productivity even without an internet connection.
- Security and Privacy: OneNote offers password protection for individual sections, ensuring sensitive information remains secure.
- Freeform Canvas: The flexible page layout allows users to place text, images, and other elements anywhere on the page, fostering creativity and personalized note-taking.
- Handwriting Recognition: OneNote can convert handwritten notes into typed text, making it easier to digitize and organize handwritten information.
- Version History: Users can view and restore previous versions of their notes, providing a safety net against accidental deletions or changes.
- Customizable Templates: OneNote offers a variety of templates for different types of notes, such as meeting minutes or project plans, helping users get started quickly.
- Audio and Video Recording: Users can record meetings or lectures directly within OneNote, capturing important details that might be missed in written notes.
- Ink-to-Text Conversion: The software can convert digital ink into text, making it easier to edit and format handwritten notes.
- Intuitive Structure: Organize everything in pages and spaces. Edit, create and discuss work in pages. Store team, individual employee and project pages in different spaces.
- Knowledge Base: Find and organize pages according to labels, advanced search and intuitive page hierarchy. Choose from over 75 customizable templates for different teams, including strategy, reports and planning. Integrate with Jira for development work or plans to update project roadmaps dynamically.
- Edit and Review Documents: Edit documents with the team in real time while publishing updates that highlight modifications. Add likes, comments and visual elements like GIFs, emojis and images. Take control of work progress by alerting team members when they are tagged or assigned tasks.
- Information Sharing: Provide staff open access to information while protecting sensitive content with permission restrictions. Stay updated with work in progress, recently accessed spaces and popular feeds and activity on personal homepages. Include everyone by sharing the latest news and announcements to ensure transparency.
- Integrations: Seamlessly integrate across the Atlassian suite to complete workflows and work from anywhere. Deliver projects faster by connecting project documentation with Jira. Use the Jira service desk to provide smart recommendations and resources. Organize and segment project tasks and subtasks by integrating with Trello.
- Quicker Work Completion: Prepare file lists, meeting notes, product requirements, project requirements and more faster with a rich content editor. Co-edit documents, research reports and other content with a track changes option for reviews.
- Notebook Organization: OneNote allows users to create multiple notebooks, each containing sections and pages, making it easy to organize notes by topic or project.
- Handwriting Recognition: The software can convert handwritten notes into typed text, which is particularly useful for users who prefer writing by hand.
- Multimedia Integration: Users can embed images, audio recordings, and videos directly into their notes, enhancing the richness of the content.
- Tagging System: OneNote offers a variety of tags such as "To-Do," "Important," and "Question," which help in categorizing and prioritizing information.
- Collaboration Tools: Multiple users can edit the same notebook simultaneously, making it ideal for team projects and collaborative work.
- Cross-Platform Availability: OneNote is available on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and through a web browser, ensuring accessibility from virtually any device.
- Search Functionality: The robust search feature allows users to quickly find specific text, tags, or even words within images and handwritten notes.
- Integration with Microsoft Office: OneNote seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, and Outlook, facilitating a cohesive workflow.
- Templates: The software provides a variety of templates for different types of notes, such as meeting minutes, project plans, and to-do lists, to streamline note-taking.
- Ink-to-Text Conversion: Users can draw or write with a stylus, and OneNote will convert these ink strokes into digital text or shapes.
- Audio and Video Recording: OneNote allows users to record audio and video directly within a note, which is useful for capturing lectures or meetings.
- Page Versions: The software keeps a history of page versions, allowing users to revert to previous versions if needed.
- Customizable Tags: In addition to built-in tags, users can create custom tags to suit their specific needs.
- Offline Access: Notes can be accessed and edited offline, with changes syncing automatically once an internet connection is re-established.
- Math Equation Support: OneNote can solve math equations and even graph them, making it a valuable tool for students and professionals in technical fields.
- Task Integration: Users can create tasks in OneNote that sync with Microsoft Outlook, ensuring that important to-dos are not overlooked.
- PDF Annotation: OneNote allows users to import PDFs and annotate them directly within the application.
- Clipper Tool: The OneNote Web Clipper extension enables users to save web pages, articles, and images directly to their notebooks.
- Sticky Notes Integration: OneNote integrates with Sticky Notes, allowing users to jot down quick notes that sync across devices.
- Mobile Apps: Stay connected with teams and get updates on ongoing projects on-the-go using native mobile apps. Use any internet-connected device to keep in touch with important updates and work progress.
- Collaboration: Manage information access using permission settings at a granular level and let staff contribute to the knowledge base. Use version tracking to track individual contributions and get notified when updates are made. Keep an accurate and comprehensive knowledge base by maintaining an efficient feedback loop for collaborators. Use employee feedback, threads and comments into collective knowledge for better decision-making.
- Project Management: Store all tasks in a centralized space that is accessible to everyone. Organize all information scattered across emails, messages and apps in one single place that provides crucial project information like meeting notes, files, policies, people and more. Users can discuss, create and organize tasks with coworkers and teammates. Create product requirements and knowledge base and let every team member contribute through feedback or inline comments.
- Business Analytics: Track the most liked, viewed or accessed online pages via plugins or APIs to understand how an organization consumes knowledge. Get analytics-driven insights for smart decision making and transform business practices.
- Scalability: Access enterprise-grade solutions to scale across the entire organization and grow with business needs. Get enhanced security and administration with automated user provisioning and two-step verification enforced by SAML SSO. Protect data using Privacy Shield and GDPR compliant encryption in transit. Get unlimited storage, advanced admin controls, premium support and 99% uptime.
- Customizations: Use hundreds of applications in the Atlassian Marketplace to customize as per organization’s requirements. Access apps to personalize themes, diagrams, organization charts and workflows.
Product Ranking
#35
among all
Collaboration Software
#37
among all
Collaboration Software
User Sentiment Summary
2709 reviews
4871 reviews
OneNote has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 91% when considering 2709 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.
Confluence has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 4871 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.
Awards
OneNote stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.
Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews
Is Microsoft OneNote really worth taking note of, or is it just another note-taking app lost in the shuffle? User reviews from the past year reveal a mixed bag, but one thing is clear: OneNote's generous free plan and robust features make it a strong contender in the note-taking arena. Users consistently praise its versatility in handling various media types, like seamlessly integrating graphs, pictures, and even audio recordings into notes. This flexibility sets it apart from more restrictive competitors like Evernote, which often lock such features behind paywalls. However, OneNote's interface is a common point of contention. Some users find it less intuitive than rivals like Evernote, particularly when navigating through extensive notes. This clunkiness can be a hurdle for those seeking a streamlined, minimalist experience. Another drawback is the limited local storage option available only on Windows, a potential dealbreaker for users prioritizing offline access on other operating systems. Despite these drawbacks, OneNote shines with its comprehensive organizational tools. Users appreciate the ability to structure notes into a hierarchy of pages, sections, and subsections, making it a breeze to manage even the most unwieldy amounts of information. This granular control, coupled with seamless cross-device syncing and tight integration with the Microsoft ecosystem, makes OneNote a compelling choice for students, professionals, and anyone seeking a powerful, free-to-use note-taking solution.
Confluence, a collaboration and knowledge base software by Atlassian, has garnered a mixed bag of user reviews over the past year. While many appreciate its user-friendly interface and robust features for document creation, version control, and task management, others point out its limitations. Some users find the pricing structure to be a bit steep, especially for smaller teams or organizations. Additionally, while Confluence integrates well with other Atlassian products like Jira, it may lack seamless integration with certain third-party systems, which can be a dealbreaker for some. Performance issues, particularly with larger instances or complex workflows, have also been reported. Despite these drawbacks, Confluence shines in its ability to centralize information and foster collaboration. Its wiki-style platform allows teams to easily create, share, and organize documents, meeting notes, and project plans, making it a valuable tool for knowledge management and project transparency. The ability to track changes, comment on pages, and mention teammates ensures everyone stays on the same page, literally and figuratively. Confluence is best suited for teams and organizations that prioritize collaboration and knowledge sharing. Its flexibility and scalability make it a good fit for a wide range of industries and team sizes, from software development to marketing to HR. However, teams with tight budgets or those heavily reliant on integrations with non-Atlassian tools may want to explore alternative solutions. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not Confluence is the right fit depends on the specific needs and priorities of each team.
Screenshots
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