At long last, more features are in the Quick Note box in OneNote for Windows. New toolbars make text formatting, ink and screen clipping directly available.
Once you bring up a Quick Note you’ll notice a toolbar at the top:
It doesn’t look like much, in my view this toolbar is too short and hides what’s now possible in Quick Notes:
- Text Format toolbar, including bullets, numbering and checkboxes.
- Drawing toolbar
- Screen Clipping
- Overflow – just links to Feedback and opening full OneNote.
The two toolbars have a circled x ⓧ at right to return to the main Quick Notes toolbar.
Text Format Tools
Rich text editing is now available. You can easily bold, italic, highlight or underline text – allowing you to emphasize important information and improve visuals.
Bulleted and Numbered Lists
You can now create lists within Quick Notes, making it easier to list information on the fly.
Checkbox Integration
Now users are allowed to create checkboxes where you can easily click on the box to mark as complete/incomplete.
Drawing Tools
The older Quick Notes has an ink toolbar available, that’s now been integrated into the expanded toolbar.
If you prefer using a stylus or touch screen, Quick Notes now offers improved ink support where you can write or draw directly on your Quick Note making it easier to jot down handwritten notes or sketches.
Choose between the Pen or Highlighter and use the eraser to remove mistakes.
You’ll also have the option to adjust the thickness and colors.
Screen Clipping
The screen clipping button captures screenshots or snippets of content from your screen and save them directly as Quick Notes.
After capturing it, OneNote will insert the image into your Quick Note, for you to then add any annotations, additional text or further formatting. OneNote will automatically add in a time stamp that you can delete if you wish.
Press Escape to leave screen clipping mode and return to the Quick Note without an image.
Overflow Menu
This allows you to access the option to open OneNote, provide feedback or use the ‘Always on Top’ feature which will always have your Quick Note at the top of the page.
Who gets it?
Available for Microsoft 365 Insiders with OneNote for Windows v2302 build 16118.20002 and later. It’ll eventually appear for Preview and regular Microsoft 365 users.
It does NOT apply to OneNote for Windows 10, which is being phased out, see Confused About Your OneNote App? Discover the Quick and Easy Tricks to Identifying which one you have
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