Today’s work environment demands optimal interaction and working together both of which are crucial for the execution of organizational goals. Microsoft Teams Wiki and OneNote are potential tools in the Microsoft environment to help take notes and share information. Serving the same general purpose, they differ in their parameters and opportunities suitable for different organizations. They are Microsoft Teams Wiki and OneNote: this article is aimed at highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each tool to decide which of them might be helpful for your team.
Microsoft Teams Wiki is an element inside of Microsoft Teams aimed at team members for collaborative note-taking. Users can post and update ‘wiki’ style notes directly within a Teams channel this can prove useful in taking meeting notes or recording other important information. Simply organized, users can create Wiki pages and sections convenient for further compartmentalization.
Microsoft OneNote is a better note-taking application and comes under the Microsoft Office 365 product line. It provides a multiple-organized notes system that can be arranged in a tree structure where a user has notebooks, sections, and pages. OneNote allows for many content types including text, images, audio, drawings, etc. The notes created in OneNote are detailed and creativity is further enhanced by the note-taking tools.
Teams Wiki: In essence, Teams Wiki is primarily designed to serve the specific goal of making it easy and simple for all the users of MS Teams to take quick notes in a setting that is also collaborative. It is also used for quick access and whenever one wants to jot down points made in a meeting, or an outline for a project.
OneNote: They include One Note which is useful for note-taking and organization and can be applied by individual students or in a group. Compared to standard notes, it offers additional options for formatting, which makes it possible to create more complicated notes, and, thus, it is more appropriate for documentation, research, and project management.
Teams Wiki: The conceptual layout of the Wiki is quite minimalistic; it is divided into only two major sections. The two major objects that users can organize and work with are the pages and the sections of the certain page. Despite such a clear organization, such a structure still does not have the depth of subordination that is in OneNote, which, for example, can be a drawback when working on large projects or creating very comprehensive documentation.
OneNote: OneNote emulates a physical notebook and has the concept of a notebook, sections, and pages; one can create multiple notebooks. This way of organization is beneficial in classification and searching for information, particularly in the case of using it for multiple projects or the content is diverse.
Teams Wiki: Communication and sharing of information in Teams Wiki is very easy and notes created can be edited or commented immediately by the other team members. This way, the users can mention someone in the comment, which helps to address the person directly and provide feedback within the notes’ context. This is so helpful, especially in meetings where an instant contribution is required.
OneNote: Like OneNote, it also facilitates collaboration in real time but contains other options, for example, version history that lets track changes and go back in case something has been changed inappropriately. This capability is most useful for teams that are continually making changes to documents as a record of these changes is essential for the project.
Teams Wiki: The Wiki is connected to Teams and can be viewed and accessed during the moment of discussion, or a meeting. Nevertheless, it works only within Teams, which may not allow the tool to be used for other documentation aims.
OneNote: OneNote is available in Teams integrations and it is also possible to open it as a separate application. Such flexibility means also OneNote can also be used independently from Teams for one’s note-taking or in other collaboration scenarios. Also, OneNote is closely linked to other Microsoft 365 services, making the application versatile in various contexts.
Teams Wiki: Another disadvantage of Teams Wiki is the lack of search capabilities. Using the Wiki to access particular notes, is almost difficult as the Wiki does not incorporate advanced search functions. However, the wiki pages can be searched through SharePoint as the Wiki data is stored here only.
OneNote: As for search capabilities, there is nothing easier than to launch a search in OneNote where users can type in keywords and get back their results on all the connected content in notebooks, sections, and pages. This capability is most useful to users who have several notes to sort and prefer a fast and easy way to find something.
Teams Wiki: In contrast to OneNote, which supports no text formatting besides the possibility to use bullet points, Teams Wiki supports simple formatting and integrating of links but cannot directly work with multimedia objects. People can paste images and include tables, although the options are not as numerous as in OneNote.
OneNote: It will be clear that in multimedia support, OneNote stands out as users are allowed to attach images, and record sound, videos, and even drawings. This aspect makes it suitable for users who would wish to employ the note-taking tool to make colorful and lucid notes that may consist of a variety of media formats.
The future Hold’em for Teams Wiki; Microsoft announces retiring the Teams Wiki feature and intends to shift to OneNote as the main note-taking tool in Teams. Such a shift occurs due to the awareness of OneNote as a more suitable application in this case. Starting from July 2023, the creation of new wikis has been disabled, and all the users are welcome to transfer all the pertinent content to OneNote which may become a more suitable toolset for collaboration and record-keeping in the future.
There is normally little dissatisfaction with OneNote compared to Teams Wiki among the users. Some of them include the list of features offered by OneNote including its organizational features and support for multimedia in note-taking. OneNote is favorable for teams responsible for large and intricate projects because, aside from the efficiency of keeping all the documents organized, it also allows for teamwork
When determining whether Microsoft Teams Wiki or OneNote is the best tool for your organization, consider the following:
For Quick, Collaborative Notes: That means if your team mostly needs a simple note-taking app and a place to take notes in Microsoft Teams, the Wiki will be enough. However, that is strictly true in terms of functionality and is currently undergoing a phase-out.
For Comprehensive Note-Taking: However, if your organization is highly concerned with detailed documentation with great structure and advanced collaboration features then OneNote is the winner. Being compatible with different kinds of content, keeping the version history, and intersecting with other Microsoft 365 apps makes it rather suitable for personal and team usage.
While migrating to the Teams Wiki is no longer Microsoft’s focus, integrating OneNote into your documentation strategies will not only prepare for future changes but also increase your organization’s collaboration and efficiency. Through the utilization of OneNote functionalities, the way teams work with the information can be made more effective in a modern workplace. In conclusion, although both tools are valuable to organizations and their employees, OneNote offers a more extensive array of features and enhanced flexibility, which will be beneficial for increasing businesses’ note-taking and collaborative work.