Handwrite direct into Office apps for iPad, converting your writing into text right away, courtesy of the iOS Scribble feature. What you’ll need, how to setup and the new thing to look for on the Draw tab of the Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps.
Microsoft has integrated the Scribble feature into some Office for iPad apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, so far with OneNote promised soon). That means you’re able to write (with Apple Pencil or similar) direct onto the screen and have it immediately translated into text in a document, sheet, slide or message.
The ‘digital ink’ to text conversion is done by Apple’s technology in iOS, not Microsoft.
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About Scribble on iPad
Scribble is the ‘ink to text’ feature in iOS 14 and 15, appearing in most modern iPads. You’ll also need an Apple Pencil or a compatible third-party ‘pen’. The easy way to know if you have Scribble is going to Settings | Apple Pencil, look for Scribble.
With Scribble you can ‘write’ in the text field of any compatible app. The iPad will convert what you write into text. Try out Scribble in Settings (Apple Pencil | Try Scribble) or use the Apple Notes app.
If Scribble is available, there’ll be an icon or other indication. In Apple Notes, Scribble is activated from an icon at top-right, then the draw toolbar appears at the bottom.
Like many Apple features, that indication is maybe too subtle or missing completely. Office-Watch.com will go into detail about how to find and use Scribble in Office Mobile apps.
Each iPad app has to be made Scribble compatible. Only now is Microsoft doing that for the Office mobile apps for iPad.
In the Office apps, look on the Draw tab. If Scribble is available a digital pen will appear with a letter A on it …
How Scribble works with Word mobile for iPad
In Word for iPad, go to the Draw tab, tap on the text pen (with the letter A) and a Scribble button appears at the bottom of the screen when you start writing on the screen.
Scribble icon appears bottom left, shown here with an enlargement of the icon.
Tap on that icon to see the full Scribble toolbar in Word.
Up close the Scribble toolbar looks like this.
On that toolbar are:
Undo
Redo
Space
On-Screen keyboard – a tiny keyboard that can move around the screen. Tap the button again to make it disappear.
Enter / Return
Auto-minimise … the toolbar will revert to the single icon.
Pencil settings … opens the iPad settings app.
Word Headers/Footers don’t support Scribble.
Discover Scribble
There are special gestures in Scribble to select/delete text. join/split words, insert new text between words.
Settings | Apple Pencil | Scribble | Try Scribble will demonstrate and let you test for yourself.
Excel with Scribble
In the Excel app for iPad, the same Scribble pen appears on the Draw tab. Microsoft is a little cheeky with their intro tooltip, making it look like a Microsoft feature when it’s really Apple’s iOS doing the hard work.
But there’s no icon or toolbar like in Word. Just choose a cell then write on the screen or write on the screen and Excel will choose the cell based on where you’ve written.
Scribble only works entering text into cells, not making or editing formulas.
Outlook message with Scribble
There’s no visible indicator but our public release Outlook mobile app for iPad (v 4.2232.0) supports Scribble for writing messages. Start writing on the message window and Scribble starts working with the same toolbar that’s in the Word app.
PowerPoint with Scribble
Microsoft says Scribble is available in the PowerPoint app but it’s not showing up on our test iPads. Based on their description, there’s a Scribble ‘pen’ on the Draw tab. Writing on a slide creates a new text box with the converted text inside.
There is an “Ink to Text” option in PowerPoint app but it’s not as simple or elegant as Scribble.
OneNote with Scribble
A little surprising that the OneNote app doesn’t have Scribble yet. We’re told OneNote will get Scribble ‘in a few weeks’, so probably sometime in September 2022.
Who gets it?
Scribble is currently in the beta releases of Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iPad. Office Insiders v2.64 build 22080100 or later. It will gradually roll out to public releases.
Get ready now. If you have an Apple Pencil or equivalent, enable Scribble in Settings. Then just wait until the new pen appears on the Draw tab in Word, Excel or PowerPoint apps … the one with the letter A on it, as shown above.
Scribble requirements
Aside from the Office apps, Scribble has its own requirements, in short.
- iOS 14 or later
- A compatible iPad
- Apple Pencil (either version) or one of the few compatible third-party digital pens.
The Apple Pencil is expensive, no question. However, it’s very good and certainly the best digital pen/stylus we’ve ever used. If you’re wary of the cost (understandable) either head to an Apple Store to give it a try before purchase or buy a second-hand model. Used Apple Pencils won’t have the long battery life of a new one, but should work well enough. Note carefully which ‘generation’ of Apple Pencil your iPad supports.
Scribble is available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
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