Office Insiders on Windows can try new handwriting tools in Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote

A woman inking with a stylus on a Windows device

Microsoft is rolling out a new preview update for Office Insiders using the latest Windows 11 updates. Word, OneNote, and PowerPoint receive a new ink-to-text pen tool, allowing you to convert handwritten text on the go and edit text using various gestures.

The new ink-to-text tool is essentially an analog of Apple's Scribble feature that lets you input handwritten text into any text box. Windows 11 received this capability in one of the recent feature updates, and now Office apps support it as well.

The new ink-to-text tool in Office apps

Besides inputting text, you can use several new gestures to edit your notes. You can select, replace, and delete text, add new lines, split and join words, and create bulleted or numbered lists. If you frequently use your Surface Pen or another stylus, the new gestures will make working with documents, notebooks, and presentations significantly easier.

The new ink-to-text tool in Office apps

The new tool in Office apps is available to all Microsoft 365 Insiders running Windows 11 version 23H2 on devices with digital pen or stylus support. Note that you cannot use the ink-to-text pen with other input types. In addition, since the tool is in public preview, users should be aware of the following limitations:

The Ink to Text Pen tool is not available on the Draw tab if your input language is not supported.

In PowerPoint, the Ink to Text Pen tool will always insert text into the active shape or text box. 

In PowerPoint, the Ink to Text Pen tool will sometimes not auto format bulleted or numbered lines. 

In Word, the Ink to Text Pen tool is not available in the side-to-side page view.

In addition, only US English is supported, but you can get extra languages by downloading KB5031455.

The announcement blog post also contains several tips and tricks to help you get started with ink-to-text conversion:

When inserting text:

As you continue writing, note that your handwritten content is converted to text as long as you don’t pause too long between words.

Your handwriting is generally converted after each word is complete.

When editing text:

After writing and inserting new text, pause before attempting to use an editing gesture.

To insert a New line, ensure the gesture starts close enough to the end of the text and the return line extends far enough under the text.

You can use the New line gesture at the end of text in a bulleted or numbered list to automatically continue the list.

Split and Join gestures work best when you avoid starting too far above the line of text or continue too far below the line of text.

In addition to drawing the Join gesture from the bottom to the top, you can also join two words using the same vertical top-down gesture as you use to split. 