We’ve been critical of Microsoft’s lack of updates for a while now. The company seemed to leave us in the lurch with OneNote, offering no new features. Sure, note-taking was still great, but something was missing. Recently, we got the ability to straighten our text, and now there are even more new features.
Microsoft continues to innovate with its productivity apps, and OneNote is no exception. Microsoft 365 Insiders can now try out a new Copilot feature in OneNote for Windows, which many users have eagerly awaited.
Analyzing OneNote handwritten notes with Copilot
In a post on the Microsoft 365 Insider site, the company announced that the Copilot AI assistant can now analyze handwritten notes in OneNote. Previously, Copilot could only scan and analyze typed text, but now it can also handle handwritten notes, which will be very useful.
There are two ways to launch Copilot, one of which is to analyze handwritten text. The first method is to click the Copilot icon in the ribbon of the OneNote app. This opens the Copilot panel on the side, where you can type a message asking it to scan your notes.
The other method is selecting handwritten notes using your finger, mouse, or pen/stylus. Then, click or tap the Copilot icon. This will bring up a menu with several options for those notes, such as summarizing, rewriting, or creating a to-do list from them.
Microsoft 365 Insiders can try this new feature by downloading and using OneNote on Windows Version 2404 (Build 17628.20006) or later. There’s no word yet on when it will be available to all OneNote users, but it’s exciting to see this new feature rolling out. However, Copilot still won’t be able to decipher doctors’ handwriting!
Other New Features in OneNote
Over the past few weeks, Microsoft 365 Insiders have been able to test several new OneNote features. These include adding Loop components to the app and a new interactive inking tutorial. Insiders can also try out the new Eyedropper color tool in OneNote, which supports creating custom pens based on any image, shape, or inked notes.
