Microsoft introduces enhanced Pen & Ink experience in Quick Notes in OneNote on Windows

Microsoft has announced an enhanced Pen & Ink experience in Quick Notes in OneNote on Windows, allowing users to start jotting down notes quickly. However, this will require users to have a Surface Pen and Windows 11 2022 update (a.k.a Windows 11 22H2). If you have a Surface Pen and are running the latest Windows 11 version, you can now start creating Quick Note by clicking the back of your pen.

If you do not have a Surface Pen with a Shortcut button, you can also start taking notes quickly by using the year-old methods: pressing the Windows key + Alt + N or clicking the OneNote icon on the system tray will launch Quick Note in your Windows device. In addition to these, Surface Pen users are now getting a new way to launch it on their Surface PCs.

The Quick Note also has a pen toolbar, which is not limited to Surface Pen users only. It is also available for mouse and touch users. The pen toolbar gives you access to different ink tools, including Select, Eraser, and Pens, to help you edit the contents of your Quick Note. You can display or hide the toolbar by clicking the pen icon in Quick Note.

While using the Pen in Select mode, you might also encounter some issues, one of which is stated as follows:

While using the pen in Select mode, the cursor may switch back to the Pen tool if you try to tap on ink.

However, it is worth pointing out that this functionality is not available in OneNote app for Windows 10. The new pen toolbar is not available for everyone running the latest version of Windows, either. According to the official Microsoft Office Insider blog post, the pen toolbar is available to Beta Channel users running Version 2211 (Build 15729.20002) or later.

Do you use OneNote on Windows to start taking notes? Let us know in the comments.