Microsoft OneNote's new AI feature is here to save my studying from horrible handwriting

What you need to know

• Microsoft is testing a new feature in OneNote that uses AI to analyze your hand-written notes.
• OneNote Copilot can already analyze typed notes, but it will soon be able to do the same for written notes.
• The new feature is currently in testing among Insiders running the latest version of OneNote.

Microsoft is eager to use the power of AI to enhance all of its apps and services. OneNote is the latest to get the AI treatment, as the app will soon support analyzing handwriting with Copilot. Insiders can now test the new feature, which can generate summaries, create to-do lists, rewrite your notes, and help you in other ways.

OneNote Copilot can already analyze notes that are typed, but that functionality will soon extend to inked notes. Microsoft announced the rollout of ink support for OneNote Copilot and shared some examples of how to utilize the tool, such as asking Copilot to summarize notes or create to-do lists.

Copilot in OneNote first shipped in November 2023. It uses tech that utilizes large language models to look through your notes. Microsoft lists what you can do with Copilot in OneNote in its support document for the tool:

• Understand your notes by:
  • Generating summaries.
  • Creating to-do lists.
  • Analyzing your ideas.
  • Rewriting your notes for clarity.
• Create new content like event plans and presentation ideas.
• Openly chat with Copilot to receive responses to your prompts.

You can access OneNote Copilot through the app's ribbon or within OneNote's canvas.

Early reviews of the feature appear positive. A comment by user "RicardoWilkins" on Microsoft's Tech Community post states:

"I've used this feature, and it was mind-blowing to see OneNote Copilot answer my question based on a page that had a combination of my handwritten [sloppy, slightly-diagonal] notes, an image of a text document [that OneNote was able to read], and typed notes!"

Saving my studies

I’m grateful for my job being computer-based for many reasons. One of those reasons is that I can read typed text much easier than written text. I struggle to read content written by anyone, even when a person has what’s generally considered to be good handwriting. I also have horrible handwriting myself (the sample at the top of this article is written by our Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino). To make my handwriting completely legible, I have to slow down so much that it’s not functional.

With all those factors in play, handwritten notes aren’t a big part of my study habits. I’ve used OneNote and other Microsoft products to convert handwriting to text before, and the tools do a good job of recognizing what I’ve written. But Microsoft’s new AI feature in OneNote will allow the app to analyze written (and typed) text to provide insights. That means I should be able to write things freely as I think of them but then have OneNote summarize the key points of my notes.

Reviewing notes is an important part of absorbing information. I confess that there have been times when I’ve written notes and then not been able to read them later. In other cases, it took more time and effort than I’d like to decipher my writing. Amazingly, Microsoft’s handwriting conversion tools are able to figure out my chicken scratch.

At the moment, OneNote’s new AI analysis feature is limited to Insiders running OneNote version 2404 (Build 17628.20006) or later. I may have to enroll in the Insider program just to test the feature. If not, I’ll eagerly try it once it ships to everyone.

Copilot Pro | $20 at Microsoft Store

Copilot Pro has better performance and priority access during peak times when compared to its free counterpart. It also gets you more image creator boosts to generate images with the power of AI. Copilot Pro also enables AI features in Microsoft's Office apps.