OneNote for Windows 8.1 Gets Password Protection Support – But Still Half-Baked

The OneNote for Windows 8.1 has been updated and it finally brings support for accessing password protected sections in your OneNote notebooks.  But it still isn’t complete support which means you still need the desktop version of the app.  Why Microsoft?  Why?

Okay, so here is the deal.  In OneNote for Windows 8.1 (the modern app) you can now access password protected sections of your OneNote notebooks.  When you attempt to open a protected section you are prompted to enter the password for it so you can begin editing.  Once you have done that you can edit as you normally would any OneNote section.  When you are done you can go to the menu and re-lock that section before closing down the app.

All good so far.

The problem is you cannot create a password protected section of a OneNote notebook.  To do that you have to revert back to the Windows desktop version of OneNote (the version that comes with Office and Office 365).  In my opinion this is a clear oversight and is another example of how many of the modern/metro apps just don’t have the same features as their desktop counterparts (Don’t get me started on Windows Phone versus Windows Phone for Desktop).

I like Windows 8.1, I really do.  Equally I really like the modern Start screen and modern apps.  I appreciate I may be one of three people on the planet in this view but I hold to it nevertheless.  But it are these little missteps that create part of the problem for Microsoft and Windows 8.1.  Too many times you have to go to the desktop to do what should be a basic function that the modern app can’t do or doesn’t so poorly you get frustrated with it and end up back at the desktop.

I’m hoping as the next version of Office and Windows 10 start rolling out this year that some of these feature challenges will disappear.  Until then, the dual persona of Modern and Desktop remains in your Windows 8.1 world.