Unveiling the Ultimate Note-Taking Champion: Microsoft OneNote vs. Craft

If you use digital note-taking for work or school, finding the right tool to organise your thoughts and maximise your productivity is like finding a lost jewellery box. With the advent of tools to capture, organise and even model thoughts in innovative ways, many of them free, choosing the right one can be challenging. In this comparison between Microsoft OneNote and Craft, I will highlight their main strengths and weaknesses and what makes them unique. Let’s get started.

Cross-Platform Compatibility: A Non-Negotiable Feature

This is now indispensable. The digital age requires the freedom to see your notes wherever you are, giving your thoughts a chance of survival. Fortunately, OneNote and Craft offer a comprehensive experience, across Windows, Mac, iOS, and even Vision Pro. But Microsoft OneNote has the edge, because of the usefulness of its Android app and web clipper.

Design and Usability: First Impressions Matter

The Interface That Speaks to You

While Microsoft OneNote is clean and functional with a classic grid, tilted text, and little else to distract you from the content, Craft is modern, block-based (think Notion), with more options to customise — including the slash command — and a greater visual appeal. The design sensibilities of Craft might win more hearts, but hardened traditionalists and practical pragmatists will likely prefer the simplicity and familiarity of Microsoft’s baseline user experience.

Mastering Organization: Keeping Your Thoughts in Line

The second is a good reminder of what that sort of properly organised digital space would look like. Microsoft OneNote has the hierarchical parts, with notebooks for collections of things, sections for more focused categories, and pages for specific tasks. Craft has a similar idea with spaces. Neither has the bonus of tagging, but Microsoft lays in another layer of organisation by being able to protect sections with a password (an option Craft sadly lacks).

Innovation in Templates: The Path to Quick Start

Craft has a clear advantage over Microsoft OneNote when it comes to the number and modernity of templates available (Craft has a breathtakingly large number of attractive templates available for users to get started with) – while OneNote does have some available templates, it could really use a bit of an overhaul in terms of updating the library and making it more up to date with what is available in Craft.

Feature-Rich Experiences: Beyond Basic Note-Taking

Microsoft 365: Integration, Integration, Integration

One clear advantage of OneNote is its integration with the Microsoft 365 suite (formerly called Microsoft Office). This means it works particularly well with other Microsoft products such as Outlook, To-Do and OneDrive, with all notes, calendar items, task notes, etc flowing seamlessly between them. It is a powerful productivity suite for those already in the Microsoft world.

Crafting With Features: Not Just Another Note-Taking App

Craft certainly isn’t lagging in terms of bringing something new to the table: each of those modules has its own separate and infinitely reconfigurable task list, plus reminders, a calendar, and a digital whiteboard for shared tasks. You might still need a dedicated task manager, a project tracker, or even Evernote alongside Craft, but in terms of pure reach, Craft is now about as close as you can get while still offering an iPad-native experience of software that attempts to encompass pretty much every aspect of the productive person’s life.

AI Integration and Pricing: The Tech-Forward Approach

They both use AI to help with note-taking and document management While Craft has a free version and Microsoft OneNote is free as long as you are subscribed to Microsoft 365, the premium version is £2.99/month and is much more friendly to the eye. Craft is a valuable alternative for those who prefer to pay for an independent tool and don’t use Android.

The Verdict: Choosing Your Digital Notebook

The benefit of note-taking apps from apps such as Microsoft OneNote and Craft, when compared to the one-trick-pony of paper, are that they are more often well-designed with an intuitive user interface and have extra features, especially the larger apps. For example, Microsoft OneNote, a veteran app, already has an integrated suite, is more dependable and has widespread use with Android users, but is less modern in its user interface (UI), when compared with the newer Craft app. Craft, a newer app, has a much more modern UI, more features, more extensive template library, and larger app, but of course lacks availability for Android users.

Discover More About MICROSOFT

Microsoft, the world’s dominant tech company, has evolved and changed throughout its history, always keeping pace with users’ evolving needs worldwide. Throughout the years, Microsoft has built an empire based on innovation and service, becoming one of the ever-present forces driving digital transformation today. Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 suite, and many more productivity tools such as OneNote have become part of our daily life. With Microsoft’s integrated services, you can work in the office, at home or anywhere almost interruption-free and on any device.