OneNote December update rolls out to Insiders with virtual ruler, search improvements

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
last updated

The latest monthly OneNote update is now rolling out to Insiders in the Fast and Slow rings.

A fresh update is rolling out to OneNote for Windows 10 for Insiders on both the Fast and SLow rings. For December, the update doesn't contain much, but there are a couple of new features to check out.

The biggest addition in this month's update is a virtual ruler tool to help draw straight lines and measure distance. The tool also includes an angle indicator to get angles just right. The team is also continuing to test speedy search in this version, which OneNote Project Manager William Devereux says will be rolled out to all users soon.

Here's a look at the full, official release notes (opens in new tab) for this update:

  • Set things straight: On touch screens, use the virtual ruler on the Draw tab to draw straight lines and measure distance. Rotate to a specific angle with the help of the angle indicator.
  • Speedy search: Search just got faster! Your search results now appear instantaneously, making it easier to get back to your notes.

If you're a Windows Insider, you should be able to grab OneNote version 17.8827.2012 now to check out all of what's new. Expect these updates to roll out more broadly to everyone later in December.

See at Microsoft (opens in new tab)

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

11 Comments
  • Love getting monthly updates. I still haven't weaned myself off the 2016 desktop version of OneNote, but more and more, the app suffices. Adding the ruler was a no-brainer, still, glad it's here.
  • I'm glad they finally managed to add the ruler only one year and four months after the release of the Anniversary Update (I'm only slightly bitter that it took so long and mostly just glad that it finally happened, but still, that was long overdue).
  • I thought the ruler was a system wide tool. LOL.
  • Well, it is, but developers still need to add it to their apps.
  • Not sure how much I will use the ruler, but I can see this being an important feature for those using OneNote for education. I would love to see custom tags integrated or the entire tagging system overhauled.
  • I agree they need to get custom tags in the app. I use them extensively on the desktop app and would be the final straw to make me switch completely to the UWP version
  • I stilll have sync errors when I set a PIN to login.
  • Dan, any news on a fix for the jitter when using a SP2017 and the 2017 Surface Pen. I know it's not completely related, but I'm using OneNote on a daily basis, and while the software is getting better, the hardware is going backwards. Recently had to find my old Surface Pen, since the New Surface Pen is almost impossible to use. Microsoft seems to be aware, but I haven't seen any feedback/plans of any fixes.
  • Hey fddownunder, I'm right with you on this one. The new pen, with tilt detection and parallax correction, was supposed to be a key differentiating feature of the 2017 Surface Pro. Instead it's a mess. I've gone back to using a Surface Pro 4 pen with my 2017 Surface Pro. What I don't understand is why there aren't more stories and disscussions about this issue on Windows-focused websites. The only big one I've found (and it's pretty big, with over 384 replies and 800 users saying they have the same question) is on the Microsoft Communty Forum, titled "Surface Pro - intermittant pen inaccuracy when hand is on screen." 
  • I'm so glad the ruler is added at last. Isn't it high time for an image cropper?
  • Finaly a ruler! :D