Digital Note Taking

I've resisted taking notes on a computer for years. Through college, I stuck to my trusty five subject notebooks, which I would usually fill double sided in each section by the end of a semester. I like the feel of taking notes by hand. It keeps my penmanship up a bit, is an active way of embedding the content being talked about in my mind, and allowed me to stare at a computer a few less hours each day. Oh, and, if I really must admit it, I liked being able to doodle in the margins too.

But, all good things must come to pass. Last fall, I was in a small group at Covenant and learned that Microsoft Word:mac has an exclusive to Mac “notebook” mode which records audio as you type your notes. What is really amazing is that every time you press return to move to the next line, Word denotes the time on the audio recording and keys that line to the audio timeline. After you finish taking notes, you can click on any line in the document, hit play, and hear the audio from that point. This is so incredibly useful that I have become a convert to typing my notes.

I say all this because people are use to me complaining about Microsoft. When the folks in Redmond get something right to the extent that they did this feature, they deserve some major kudos! If you find yourself in a class or meeting that goes well with note taking, and you own a Mac, you really should check this out.