Apple is still shy about a possible iPad Pro release date, but Microsoft is getting its apps ready when the company’s productivity-focused tablet arrives. This week, Microsoft announced new partnerships and a software update that will make the OneNote note-taking app perfect for anyone to use on iPad Pro launch day.
Microsoft announced upgrades to OneNote yesterday ahead of the iPad Pro launch. Office Blog. OneNote is Microsoft’s multiplatform note-taking tool. Many use this to get quick ideas out of their heads and put them somewhere in sync across devices. College students and professionals have been known to use this tool to create fully digital, searchable notebooks for their classes and events.
Microsoft says this latest update to OneNote for iPad is packed with new Apple Pencil support. This is the pen Apple plans to sell to iPad Pro users who want to draw or take notes. “Easily draw, outline, write and take notes as you please.”
Apple has yet to release the Apple Pencil, but iPad users have had stylus accessories available to them for years. The most popular of these stylus add-ons belonged to a company called FiftyThree. Microsoft says this latest OneNote update for iPad adds support for FiftyThree’s Pen accessory. OneNote now also expands integration with FiftyThree’s Paper app for iPad, allowing users to post what they’ve already written.
When the iPad Pro release date arrives, users will have a new feature OneNote users have been requesting for months: shape support. “Once enabled, draw shapes with your pen and watch the shapes automatically transform into better-looking versions of themselves.” With this feature, iPad Pro users will not succumb to their own poor drawing techniques while taking notes.
Over the past two years, Microsoft has been very aggressive in delivering a best-in-class experience to owners of Apple devices. The iPad, for example, received touch-friendly versions of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word before Microsoft’s own Windows ecosystem. OneNote in particular has always supported both Android and iOS. iOS and Android users are so well supported that a minority of Windows users worry that the company is focusing too much on the needs of other platforms.
Microsoft cannot be accused of forgetting users of its hardware and services with OneNote. Convert to Shape support is also coming to OneNote Mobile in November for Microsoft’s own Windows 10 operating system. Additionally, Microsoft is gearing up for the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book to launch on October 26.
It looks like Surface Pen support is already available for those who have purchased the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. Both devices come with a pen that allows users to take notes manually. Many use the stylus to navigate the entire operating system. The Surface Pen that comes with these new devices has high pressure sensitivity and a rubber eraser cover that makes users feel like they are really erasing things from a notebook paper with the number 2 pen. It also has removable tips that allow owners to switch to different sized strokes whenever they need to.
This week’s post Office Blog indicates that all these features will be supported on release day. It is worth noting that the new Surface Pen can also be used on Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and Surface 3.
Apple only said the iPad Pro release date will happen this November. It hasn’t started taking pre-orders for the tablet itself or any of its accessories, like the Apple Pencil.
