Microsoft launches new OneNote feature to help you take notes without distractions

Last week, Microsoft launched an important feature for OneNote users on Windows, improving its accessibility. And after its successful launch, the software giant has started offering another noteworthy functionality, but this time, it has more to do with distraction-free note-taking.

The new functionality recently launched for OneNote on Windows is Pen Focused View. As explained by Microsoft, it enables you to create with your pen without any distractions. What does that mean? Well, it is just a full-page view of OneNote, where you will only see tools you need to take notes and sketch out your ideas, including customized pen options. You can display or hide the Pen toolbar in Pen Focused View from the top right corner.

This distraction-free note-taking capability in OneNote will not be limited to Surface PCs. It will also work on other Windows PCs with or without touch support. However, things are better if you have a Surface pen. OneNote will automatically switch to Pen Focused View when your Surface pen is undocked. You can disable it by navigating to File > Options > Advanced and clearing the Switch to focused inking when pen is undocked check box.

However, Pen Focused View may not work as you would like when you are using your Surface pen in Select mode. This is because it has the following known issue:

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

In its Office Insider blog post, Microsoft said it would roll out this feature to Insiders running Version 2210 (Build 15724.10000) or later.

Microsoft launches new OneNote feature to help you take notes without distractions