
Ask HN: Is there a OneNote file parser? Or an equivalent opensource note format? - fluentcar
	How does OneNote file format work? Is there a parser for it? Looking at the wiki page for onenote: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Microsoft_OneNote<p>It says .one is an open format but if so where can I find a parser for it or create a .one file programmatically?<p>Is there an open-office or any such other open source equivalent of note taking software?
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JTxt
Seems like it. Did you try this?:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=onenote+file+parser](https://www.google.com/search?q=onenote+file+parser)
[https://github.com/dropbox/onenote-
parser](https://github.com/dropbox/onenote-parser)

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fredsanford
I haven't been able to get this one to work with any of my onenote files.
FWIW.

I have found no other parser with source.

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fluentcar
While I hadn't tried GP's dropbox/onenote-parser, it's what I had suspected,
considering it looks abandoned with no activity in almost an year.

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mikestew
Maybe I'm pointing out what you've already discovered, but the file format is
documented: [https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dd924743(v=office.1...](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dd924743\(v=office.12\).aspx)

Given that, are you looking for something pre-baked, or is the file format
enough to roll your own?

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fluentcar
I saw that page and wasn't sure if I would be competent enough to roll my own
parser of that format, hence my search for an existing .one parser or some
similar open source format from Openoffice or some other open source note
taking format.

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teddyqwerty
I have alot of knowledge on parsing office file format what are you trying to
do exactly? There is also as pose but that's a paid solution.

~~~
fluentcar
I was trying to implement my own note-taking program. While I understand how a
Word doc is roughly XML formatted like <boldtext>some bold text</boldtext>

What I don't understand is how are multiple layers implemented in OneNote? How
can one add SVG based drawings/annotations on typed text and move those
annotations around. How is this encoded in the format, which seems pretty
complex just thinking about it initially at least. My thinking was that if I
could see a onenote parser, I could play around with a one-note document to
see how it works? If that's not possible, I was wondering if there is any
other open source format in which we annotate typed texts with hand drawing
like in OneNote and how is that handled?

