OneNote can recognize and copy text from photos of printed or handwritten notes, making it easier to search and reuse your content.

OneNote supports Optical Character Recognition (OCR), a tool that reads and extracts text from images. This works with both printed and handwritten notes. Take a photo of your notes and insert it in OneNote — later, you can search OneNote and find that image based on its text.

OneNote can also copy the text from an image directly to your clipboard.

NOTE: OCR is only available in the OneNote desktop app for Windows and Mac. It is not supported in OneNote for the web or mobile apps.

Copy text from an image

1. Select Insert > Pictures to add your image to OneNote.
2. Right-click the image.
3. Select Copy Text from Picture.

NOTE: The Copy Text from Picture option may not appear immediately after inserting an image. If you don’t see it, wait a few minutes and try again — OneNote processes text recognition in the background.

4. Press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac) to paste the copied text.