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Microsoft OneNote is a versatile note-taking and whiteboard app that works seamlessly across multiple platforms, including Windows, Android, macOS, iPadOS, and iOS. This cross-platform functionality is rare among note-taking apps, making OneNote a convenient choice for users who switch between devices. The app is free until you exceed the 5 GB of OneDrive storage provided with your Microsoft account. After that, you’ll need to pay for additional OneDrive storage since it’s essential for syncing your notes across devices. This review focuses on the iPad version of OneNote.
The user interface of Microsoft OneNote has seen significant improvements since our last full review a few years ago. We appreciate the modern, minimalist design. The left sidebar, which houses your notebooks, is a great feature for quickly switching between notebooks, sections, and pages. You can easily bring it up when needed and hide it to maximize your workspace.
Creating a new notebook in OneNote is straightforward, though it could be simpler. You can name your notebook and choose a color for its icon. While there’s a decent variety of colors, you’ll likely find yourself sticking to just one. The app also indicates where your notebook is stored based on your Microsoft account, though this information feels somewhat unnecessary since you can’t interact with it or change it.
Compared to other note-taking apps, OneNote takes a bit longer to create new notebooks. Once created, your notebook automatically includes a new section and page, both of which you can rename. However, you can only change the section’s color. OneNote supports both handwriting and text-based note-taking, and on the iPad, the Apple Pencil makes handwriting particularly appealing, so let’s dive into that aspect first.
By default, OneNote uses a plain page template, but you can switch to ruled or grid lines, each with three line-spacing options. You can also choose from 16 different page colors, which are light and well-suited for backgrounds.
OneNote’s infinite canvas has become increasingly popular, with other note-taking apps adopting this feature. The canvas expands downward and sideways to the right as you continue writing, making OneNote ideal for brainstorming and mind mapping. However, if you occasionally need fixed page sizes, you might find OneNote lacking in that area.
Unfortunately, OneNote doesn’t support custom page templates, which is a drawback if you prefer using digital notebooks with specific layouts. The app also doesn’t offer a variety of pen types—only a ballpoint pen, which isn’t the most appealing option. Microsoft has introduced a dynamic pen setting, but it doesn’t significantly enhance the pen tool. The pen thickness options range from very thin to quite thick, with six fixed sizes. While the first four sizes are suitable for handwriting, a broader range would be beneficial. The pen tool also offers basic and glittery colors, but custom colors are difficult to use effectively.
On the positive side, the handwriting experience in OneNote is generally good, so taking notes shouldn’t be a problem. The highlighter tool works well, sitting behind your ink so it doesn’t dim your notes when layered. It doesn’t register overlaps of the same color, which adds a nice touch to the highlighting experience. However, using a straight highlighter requires you to repeatedly select the shapes tool, which can be tedious.
The favorites toolbar in OneNote can hold up to 14 pens and highlighters, which should be sufficient for most users. Adjusting a tool once it’s been added is easy, though the toolbar lacks the mobility seen in other apps’ favorites toolbars.
The eraser tool in OneNote offers both stroke and pixel erasing options. While the pixel eraser has improved, it’s still not as smooth as we’d like. Additionally, you can’t selectively erase the highlighter, which is disappointing for a 2024 app. The eraser doesn’t have size options, but you likely won’t miss them.
OneNote doesn’t have a dedicated zoom tool, but you can zoom directly on your pages. The zoom range is somewhat limited, from 25% to 200%, but it’s better than nothing. The app also displays the zoom percentage on the screen and offers preset zoom levels for 100% and page-width, which are easily accessible.
OneNote’s infinite canvas and ability to add various items make it an excellent whiteboard app. However, the text tool, once a standout feature, has fallen behind as other apps have caught up. Text boxes in OneNote are invisible, making it easy to add text anywhere on your notes, but the app still doesn’t support rotating text boxes, which limits their functionality. While there are plenty of fonts to choose from, the app still doesn’t support custom fonts in 2024.
OneNote’s features for creating lists and tags are also somewhat outdated compared to newer apps like Apple Notes and Noteful. While tags can still be useful for organizing notes, they lack the interactivity and cataloging capabilities that have become standard in other apps.
Sticky notes in OneNote are a handy feature, especially if you’re managing multiple tasks. They can be created from your notes and are available in seven colors, supporting basic formatting. Sticky notes are a great way to jot down quick ideas without rewriting them into your notes.
The shapes tool in OneNote is one of the weaker aspects of the app. While it allows you to draw preset shapes or freehand shapes that transform automatically, the selection of shapes is limited. Once drawn, shapes can only be resized, stretched, or shrunk—you can’t adjust their individual elements or change their fill color. The tool also lacks support for irregular shapes, and rotation is restricted to fixed angles.
Tables are a welcome feature in OneNote, though they’re quite basic. Adding rows and columns to the default 2×2 table can be cumbersome. While tables support text input and basic formatting, they lack the flexibility and customization options found in other apps.
Adding images to your notes is straightforward, but the app’s handling of images is clunky. You can only crop images when adding them, and there’s no option to crop them afterward. The lack of flexibility in image editing makes the process frustrating, especially when trying to arrange images within your notes.
The Office Lens technology in OneNote enhances photos taken with your camera, making them look like scanned documents. However, rotation is still limited to 90-degree increments, and once an image is locked as a background, it can’t be unlocked without undoing the change.
OneNote’s audio recording feature is outdated and lacks integration with note-taking. You can’t take notes while recording, and the app doesn’t offer transcription. In today’s digital landscape, where apps offer multiple ways to interact with recordings, this limitation is disappointing.
You can attach files up to 100 MB in OneNote, with support for previewing and annotating PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and more. However, the annotations aren’t saved, which undermines the usefulness of this feature. The app also supports inserting web links, but you can’t link to specific pages within the same notebook.
OneNote’s lasso tool, while functional, is not as smooth as it should be. Moving items on the page feels clunky, and the tool lacks the ability to selectively pick up individual items like handwriting or images. This limitation is frustrating, especially since selective lasso tools are now standard in many other apps.
OneNote’s infinite canvas allows you to create space between existing notes by adding space downward, but adding space horizontally is more challenging. This feature is rare in note-taking apps, so it’s a nice addition, even if it’s not perfect.
One major drawback is that OneNote still doesn’t support multiple instances in 2024. This limits multitasking within the app, forcing you to rely on split viewing with other apps. The app now supports Scribble and has a true dark mode, with colors automatically switching between light and dark modes. Widgets for recent notes and quick note creation are also available, adding some convenience.
OneNote allows you to search through your handwriting, but it doesn’t support handwriting-to-text conversion. The app’s OCR capabilities are limited, as it can’t search through text and handwriting in photos.
The immersive reader in OneNote is now limited to text, which is disappointing since it used to support handwriting conversion. However, it can still read text from PDFs, and the AI reader has improved, sounding more natural than before. The immersive reader also offers useful features for language learning, such as syllable breakdowns, parts of speech highlighting, and translation into several languages.
OneNote’s accessibility features are commendable, with the app checking your notes for errors and providing tips to make them more accessible.
Unfortunately, OneNote doesn’t open PDFs larger than 100 MB, and it doesn’t support PDF reading as a separate document or notebook. The app’s setup works well for small PDFs, but navigating larger documents is cumbersome without hyperlinks or bookmarks.
Exporting notes from an infinite canvas in OneNote is a tedious process, as you can only export one page at a time. The app doesn’t support exporting sections or entire notebooks, which makes collaboration difficult. However, you can share notebooks via email or a link, with options to control editing permissions.
OneNote offers three main levels of organization: notebooks, sections, and pages, with the option to add subpages. While you can move sections between notebooks and lock them with a password, there’s no way to recover a forgotten password, so choose carefully.
Despite these drawbacks, OneNote’s cross-platform syncing and infinite canvas make it a strong contender for digital note-taking. However, our experience with the app in 2024 has been marred by bugs, and it seems Microsoft has neglected the iPad version. Keep in mind that the app is only free until you exceed the 5 GB of OneDrive storage included with your Microsoft account.
