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Canvas For OneNote

The Canvas for OneNote concept test has been completed!

Thank you to everyone who tried out Canvas for OneNote and gave us feedback! We very much enjoyed your feedback, as well as reading blog posts and hearing about the great uses of Canvas for OneNote. In the past 20 months pptPlex was downloaded over 30,000 times.

Even though we’ve officially ended this concept test, you can still download and use Canvas for OneNote. Read on to learn more about the project.

Project description:

Canvas for OneNote allows you to navigate and edit notebooks in a new way by providing a high-level canvas-view of all your content. The prototype lets you zoom and pan around; view and organize content in new ways; add new pages right where you want them; and even locate pages in a timeline view.

Discover the many ways that Canvas for OneNote can help you identify and find the content, pages, and sections you’re looking for.

Discover the many ways that Canvas for OneNote can help you identify and find the content, pages, and sections you're looking for.

See how adding, moving, and editing notebook pages and sections from a canvas view can help you get all your content right where you want it.

See how adding, moving, and editing notebook pages and sections from a canvas view can help you get all your content right where you want it.

Watch how easy it can be to browse your notebook, organize content to fit the way you work, and find what you’re looking for using the Activity View and various visual cues.

Watch how easy it can be to browse your notebook, organize content to fit the way you work, and find what you're looking for using the Activity View and various visual cues.

For a similar canvas-like experience in PowerPoint, check out pptPlex.

LATEST BLOGS | RECENT DISCUSSIONS | FAQ

1. What is Canvas for OneNote?
2. How is it used?
3. What types of notebooks are supported?
4. How does it work with Microsoft Office OneNote 2007?
5. What is Office Labs hoping to achieve by releasing this prototype to customers?
6. How can users provide feedback on this application?
7. How does this relate to the ideas seen in the envisioning video?
8. Will the Canvas for OneNote functionality be included in the next version of Office?
9. When will a supported version of Canvas for OneNote be available?
10. Why is Microsoft making this public if it is not supported for general deployment?
11. What languages are available? When will other languages be available?
12. How can I reset the layout of the canvas?
13. I’ve uninstalled Canvas for OneNote, how do I make sure it cleared off everything?
14. How can I clear my image cache?
15. What known issues are there?

1. What is Canvas for OneNote?
Canvas for OneNote is a prototype that enables users to display and work with notebook content on a zoomable canvas interface. This allows users to:

- Browse by clicking, zooming, and panning;

- Organize by dragging, resizing, creating new groups, and arranging spatially;

- Find pages by visual cues and filter out content using a timeline in the Activity View which shows pages based on modified date; and

- Easily edit and add pages.

2. How is it used?
After downloading and installing the prototype, users are prompted to choose one of their single-user notebooks or create a blank notebook. The Canvas will then import a copy of that notebook.

3. What types of notebooks are supported?
Canvas for OneNote is optimized for single-user notebooks (not shared by multiple people or used on multiple computers) up to around 100 pages running Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. While larger notebooks will work, there may be performance issues. Canvas for OneNote should not be run on a shared notebook.

4. How does it work with Microsoft Office OneNote 2007?
Canvas for OneNote is designed to look at a user’s given notebook and display the contents on the canvas. When the user edits or adds a page, we also use OneNote to make those changes. However, organization of the content between OneNote and the Canvas is not maintained after the initial setup (your pages will remain where they were in your OneNote notebook. New pages will appear in a ‘Pages created on the Canvas’ section). This is because Canvas for OneNote allows users to structure content in ways that don’t map directly back to OneNote’s structure.

5. What is Office Labs hoping to achieve by releasing this prototype to customers?
Office Labs is releasing Canvas for OneNote to get feedback. Office Labs is specifically looking to determine if it’s useful and easier to find pages, organize content, and browse notebook content with Canvas for OneNote.

6. How can users provide feedback on this application?
Please post your comments in the discussions

7. How does this relate to the ideas seen in the envisioning video?
We were very inspired from the envisioning videos where you will see many canvas-based experiences of users working with zoomable and pan-able surfaces. Canvas for OneNote takes a step in this direction by looking at how people can actively browse, organize, edit, and createtheir notebook content on a canvas.

8. Will the Canvas for OneNote functionality be included in the next version of Office?
The prototypes featured on officelabs.com are purely test concepts with no commitment for inclusion in any products and are not supported.

9. When will a supported version of Canvas for OneNote be available?
We don’t plan to release a supported version of Canvas for OneNote. Office Labs works with product teams to rapidly prototype technology and as such, we do not conduct the same level of compatibility, regression, and other types of testing associated with shipped products.

10. Why is Microsoft making this public if it is not supported for general deployment?
Microsoft is always exploring new technology and we want to gather feedback on which ideas are valuable, how people use them, and generally what users think. Findings from this concept test will be provided to the Microsoft OneNote team, which may be helpful with planning future versions.

11. What languages are available? When will other languages be available?
English is currently the only supported language. There are no plans to add support for any other languages.

12. How can I reset the layout of the canvas?
To reset your layout:

- Close Canvas for OneNote

- Go to %userprofile%\appdata\local\microsoft\office labs\Canvas For OneNote

- Delete the Canvas.xml file

- Restart Canvas For OneNote

- Pages you’ve added in the Canvas will show up in the “Pages created on canvas” section, just move them to where they need to go

- You will lose any groups you created in the Canvas

13. I’ve uninstalled Canvas for OneNote, how do I make sure it cleared off everything?
After uninstall, the ‘Canvas Notebook’ will still exist, as well as the image cache used to populate the canvas. New or modified pages will exist in the ‘Canvas Notebook’ and you will need to manually migrate that content back to your original notebook. Alternatively you could keep using the ‘Canvas Notebook’ instead of the original.

14. How can I clear my image cache?

- Close Canvas for OneNote

- Go to %userprofile%\appdata\local\microsoft\office labs\Canvas For OneNote

- Delete the Images and Cache folder, and Canvas.XML (if any/all exist)

15. What known issues are there?

- New groups cannot be resized until something is placed within them

- Edit In Place: "Return to Canvas" button only appears in top left of primary monitor. If you run the Canvas in non-full screen mode, or on a secondary monitor, the Return to Canvas button will not appear correctly.

- Canvas syncs with OneNote only when started. If you make changes directly in OneNote while the Canvas is running, these changes won't be picked up till you restart the Canvas.

- Resize grippers appear over everything

   - Activity View:

   - If you edit a page while Activity View is on, the page changes are not reflected until you exit Activity View

   - You cannot move pages or groups while in Activity View

Unable to launch onenote canvas - error (5 replies)

Getting this error:
We are sorry this application must shut down....SystemTypeInitializationException: The type initializer for Microsoft.Internal.Canvas.Model.OneNote.OneNoteAppDataProvider' threw an exception. --> ...

Posted by: mrx9 Last updated: 6/8/2010 6:05 AM

OneNote opens more than one time (0 replies)

There is a bug that occurs occasionally when I double click on Canvas and it opens another OneNote application.

Posted by: DangerKitty Last updated: 5/29/2010 12:44 PM

View other workbooks (0 replies)

I am guessing this one has been requested, but here it goes anyway: Allow other workbooks to be viewed. Possibly an icon at the bottom with the listing of workbooks that can be clicked on.

Posted by: DangerKitty Last updated: 5/29/2010 12:43 PM

Canvas Organization (0 replies)

Option on organizing within each canvas. ex: On Windows desktop there are several options how icons can be organized. ie: Name, Size, Type, Modified.

Posted by: DangerKitty Last updated: 5/29/2010 12:42 PM

Go to the discussion forum...

TRY IT

Downloaded: 36,860 times

Shared: 187 times

This experiment has been completed. Due to the positive responses this prototype will remain available for download and for you to share. However, we will no longer be responding to feedback. Visit the project blog for a summary of what we learned.

Requirements: Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP and OneNote 2010 or OneNote 2007

Limitations: English only

Last updated: 05/26/2010

IN THE NEWS

Microsoft gives OneNote a bird's-eye view
news.cnet.com

Zooming Around with Canvas for OneNote 2007
www.networkworld.com

Canvas for OneNote 2007 Arrives
arstechnica.com

Remember these are prototypes, and we want to hear what you think through our Blog and Discussions!

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