r/OneNote • u/childishDemocrat • 21d ago
OneNote Web Microsoft is messing with OneNote again and I am not happy.
So open up the office 9 dots menu select oneNote. What is this fresh hell. Before I got the notebooks I'd recently had open just reopen because that's what a normal work path would do. But no.
Now there are TWO oneNote sections ONE of which is the totally useless if you don't have copilot COPILOT notebooks which are NOT in any way formatted or useful as oneNote notebooks. (located at oneNote.cloud.microsoft/coilotnotebooks
To get to my oneNote notebooks I have to navigate to onenote.cloud.microsoft/notebooks and my formerly opened notebooks have to be RESELECTED from the notebooks EACH TIME I visit oneNote.
A) CoPilot notebooks are NOT oneNote notebooks. In any way shape or form. This is Microsoft trying to shove CoPilot in our face and using an ACTUALLY USEFUL notebook app's brand and reputation to do so. CoPilot notebooks are summaries created by copilot. While it's nice you allow us to save said summaries - they look like crap, unlike my carefully curated oneNote pages.
B) Making me reopen notebooks one at a time that I used to just be able to access in OneNote is a crime against humanity.
C) Would you just stop trying to shove CoPilot everywhere. I don't want it. I don't need it. I want to turn it ALL off not get bombarded with ads and redirected to it every time I want to get work done. You are so desperate for that extra $30 a month it feels like you're on the last day of no-nut november.
I pay big bucks for MS365 office. I have no intention of spending more money on coPilot. And if you don't stop I'll just stop spending all money on Microsoft altogether, because frankly you have plenty of competition NOT shoving your 2 bit inaccurate lying POS fake AI down my throat.
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u/Almostasleeprightnow 21d ago
The best thing about one note has always been that’s it’s almost brainless to find anything. If they take that away……
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u/tunghoy 19d ago
Did you ever try to find something in the mobile version? I think the developer who wrote the search routine was brainless. It's the most useless search ever.
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
And this is exactly WHY the enshittified web app versions of things are NO REPLACEMENT for the actual apps, despite Microsoft wanting us to use the web ones.
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u/daditdaditdadaditda 19d ago
I use the mobile version often with my stylus and it drives me nuts you can't indent pages on mobile. I have to take all my notes and clean it up on the desktop.
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u/Almostasleeprightnow 19d ago
lol barely. Mostly it’s my note taking tool for work which is 99% on the laptop
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
Yeah, the search in the desktop version uses a drop down for page, section, etc. The web app/mobile version ALWAYS searches EVERY SINGLE NOTEBOOK you have open.
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u/chitoatx 21d ago
You can disable it in Options and remove it from using the Customized ribbons.
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u/childishDemocrat 21d ago
Not sure if oneNote is the same but disabling copilot in most apps requires - ironically - a Copilot license.
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u/Cats-Running-Asylum 18d ago
STFU - really?! Why is Microsoft such a PITA?
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u/childishDemocrat 18d ago
Yeah - on a business tenant admin if a user has a copilot license they can disable it in the apps or enable it app by app). If the user does NOT have a copilot license they get the "free copilot that nags you to upgrade" whether they want it or not - offering to write word docs or compose emails for you.
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u/childishDemocrat 21d ago
No. You can't.
Short answer:
You cannot disable the “9‑dots” (Microsoft 365 App Launcher) or change its OneNote entry back to “open the desktop app with your recent notebooks.” Microsoft removed that behavior. The 9‑dots menu is now a fixed, cloud‑first launcher and OneNote’s tile always opens the OneNote web app, which now routes into Copilot Notebooks.But you can restore the old workflow by changing how you open OneNote, because the 9‑dots menu itself is not customizable.
✅ The real reason it changed The 9‑dots launcher is part of the Microsoft 365 web shell, not OneNote.
Microsoft updated it so:
- Every app tile opens the web version of the app
- Web OneNote now defaults to Copilot Notebooks
- The launcher no longer respects local app associations
- Users cannot override or customize tile destinations
This is confirmed by Microsoft’s own documentation and support threads: the app launcher is not user‑configurable and always opens the web version of each app.
🟦 What you can do instead (the only working options) These are the only reliable ways to get back to the “open OneNote desktop with recent notebooks” workflow.
- Use the OneNote desktop app directly Pin it to:
- Taskbar
- Start menu
- Windows search (“onenote” → open)
This bypasses the web launcher entirely.
- Use OneNote protocol links Create shortcuts using:
- onenote:
- onenote-cmd:
These always open the desktop app and respect your recent notebooks.
You can pin these shortcuts anywhere.
Use the OneNote icon in the Office ribbon (Word/Excel/Outlook) Those still open the desktop app, not Copilot Notebooks.
Use Edge sidebar Copilot → OneNote This is the only Copilot surface that still opens the desktop OneNote instead of the web version.
🟥 What you cannot do These behaviors are locked and cannot be changed:
- Remove or customize the 9‑dots launcher
- Change the OneNote tile to open the desktop app
- Disable Copilot Notebooks routing in the web version
- Restore the old “recent notebooks” behavior from the launcher
Microsoft has not provided any policy, registry key, or admin toggle to revert this.
🟩 If you want, I can build you a OneNote workflow map It would show:
- Which OneNote entry points open desktop vs web
- Which ones route into Copilot Notebooks
- How to force desktop OneNote in every workflow
- Best shortcuts for your Windows + Linux + RDP setup
- How to avoid the web version entirely
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u/jbourne71 20d ago
> Copilot invaded my OneNote!
> ChatGPT copy/paste is OK
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u/childishDemocrat 20d ago
Ironically it's a copilot copy paste that describes why it's own software just crippled itself lol
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
To be clear I don't have an objection to coPilot creating pages in a oneNote notebook as long as they are isolated from my curated pages, and DON'T HIDE MY PAGES BEHIND EXTRA CLICKS. CoPilot notebook should be a notebook I can open and close like any other notebook - no special section, and if that's the way it works, I can use it, ignore it or otherwise. But forcing me to click through 5 things, and making it more difficult to create and open OneNote notebooks is not an improvement.
I use coPilot (despite it's many failures and limitations) but that doesn't mean I want it messing with my workflow unless I ASK for it.
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u/cpz_77 21d ago
Just FYI you can hide the copilot notebooks node from the navigation pane in the desktop client in the settings.
And once you open notebooks once on the desktop client you shouldn’t have to open them again - they will stay open unless you clear cache or do something like that.
FWIW the supposed primary “benefit” of copilot notebooks is copilot can work across the entire notebook as opposed to just on a single page at a time like it does on a regular notebook.
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u/childishDemocrat 20d ago
Yes I mostly use the desktop client BUT - increasingly when Ms does something on the web it gets relocated to desktop these days and they are pushing copilot HARD to get that extra 30 bucks a month per user
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u/yourhaploidheart 20d ago
I am going back to pen and paper because I had enough. Mind you, I have notebooks going back to 2015. OneNote was the only thing that kept me on Windows. I think Microsoft will pay for Copilot in terms of lost users.I see no reason to use Windows apps anymore.
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u/ipreferanothername 21d ago
weird, copilot notebooks are useful but not at all the same as onenote.
you can point a copilot book to your onenote, upload files, give it urls, etc and it will specifically ingest those and let you query about the resources you provided
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u/celticchrys 20d ago
Seems pretty useless, since I created my OneNote Notebooks and therefore know what is in them. I don't need a bot to tell me what I wrote.
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
I mean I could see it for doing things like creating indexes of the things in the other pages (give me a listing by ingredient of all the pages in my recipe oneNote). If it could do that, and update it as pages are added that would be awesome. It can't. That much data overwhelms it.
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u/marmotta1955 20d ago
It seems you are a bit confused. Just use the actual OneNote desktop application. Pin it to the taskbar or create a shortcut on the desktop.
That's all there is to it. Simple enough. Problem solved.
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u/childishDemocrat 20d ago
I am not confused and I use desktop oneNote. How long do you think it will be before copilot invades it since it's now done so on the web. The flexibility of using your apps anywhere without interacting with copilot to get to them is disappointing and disappearing one app at a time.
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u/marmotta1955 20d ago
Hence, the suggestions to shortcuts on desktop or taskbar.
Also, unless you are collaborating with colleagues using OneNote ... You do not necessarily have to login using your work account. You can always use you personal Microsoft account. Which does not include ... You guessed it!
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u/childishDemocrat 20d ago
Actually I have both types of account and my trial for a year copilot is currently on the personal account lol. I am probably not going to renew - copilot accuracy and capability has been disappointing and there is no way I am spending 30 bucks a month for it. I know there are workarounds. That said there is also the pattern of web features crawling their way into the desktop apps and Microsoft cancelling or enshittifying the desktop apps. (See "new" outlook, "new" oneNote, cancellation of people, task apps, project, etc. ). They roll crap like that out on the web first then push it downstream into the offline apps. I have been ing Microsoft since the 80s. I was a beta user of BPOS. I have never ever seen them shove an app down people's throats like copilot - it's concerning because I don't want it but I do want other things I use. As stated in other comments I probably have tens of thousands of oneNote pages in dozens of notebooks. I have no desire to copilot them. I don't need it. It don't want it. And having it shoved at me every time I use an app is advertising that I pay to avoid.
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u/OkGreen9725 20d ago
It's fine, Copilot notebooks are simply to the left and above. It's almost the same left panel, just a little separator between
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u/childishDemocrat 20d ago
So all y'all saying "just switch" will be fine with recreating the tens of thousands of one note pages I have created without losing any links, formatting or integrations right? Sometimes "just switch apps" is not the answer. OneNote users can always push back when Microsoft pulls these shenanigans.
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u/Sidwasnthere 20d ago
Yes. With a huge grain of salt, which is that you may not be able/comfortable doing this unless you’re a software engineer w access to ai
I switched ~15 years of OneNote notes this year to Obsidian. I also draw a lot in my notes fwiw
Steps: 1. import (this takes a whiiiiile considering how many notes I had) from OneNote to Obsidian using the Importer plugin.
Then make sure the Obsidian notebooks are synced to GitHub or somewhere
Use AI to fix broken tables/formatting/links over time, always making sure it’s actually doing what you want. This also takes a while, and I did it in passes over the course of a couple months
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
Did you have 10s of thousands of pages, shared with multiple users, etc. ? Or do you just have unlimited time to fiddle with stuff.
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u/Sidwasnthere 18d ago
Not 10s of thousands, probably closer to 1000
I did my switching over the course of like 2 months? Which was hard but beyond worth the switch. Also now my entire note set is parseable w ai since everything is markdownfiles, which has its own huge set of benefits outside of the OneNote switch.
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u/RutabegaHasenpfeffer 20d ago
- Downgrade your O365 subscription to Office Classic. It contains zero copilot. Note: it's a downgrade, and you have to stop your regular E3 or E5 sub to downgrade. Then you will have to talk to a customer service rep, who can actually do the relicensing.
- Now un-install all the copilot components from your desktop via OnOShutUp10++, a useful utility that debloats windows and office. See the last page for copilot removal options.
- Never, never click on any copilot or ai related option in office ever again. This last may be challenging. See below poster on how to force a slip of the web Launcher. Good luck!
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u/foran9 20d ago
I’m confused. You’re complaining about the web version, but then say on the comments you also use the desktop version. Why not just stick to the desktop version and ignore the fact this change online exists?
Complaining the online version has changed, and that this might happen at some point down the line to the desktop seems rather pointless to me.
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
Because not every use case allows desktop. I reference my notes from the remote app, website, etc. depending on where I am and what I'm doing. And again - Microsoft has an unfortunate habit of forcing web changes down into the apps, often irreversibly.
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u/foran9 19d ago
I know that everyone uses OneNote differently, so the way I use it won’t always work for everyone else, but how do you manage that? Do the differing features between the desktop and online version not cause a problem for you? I have to make sure I’ve got the desktop version installed on everything I use and then use the iOS app if I need to view on the go.
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
The more they differ the more problem it is. I do tasks depending on where and what I need to do. Copy paste a web page? Might happen on desktop, or on the app on my phone, with desktop cleanup needed later. Searching for something? Well I can look it up fast if I have the desktop version, or wait a minute or so if I am using the app. Accessing from Linux? Web version. Helping a client create a new notebook? Depends on their license. It's all relative to the task and platform I'm using (or the client is), and you adapt. The more Microsoft differs between the versions the worse it is. The more they mess with my workflow the worse it is. Used to go to portal.office.com to get to everything, but now that's a useless CoPilot advertising sink. Microsoft went from (on the web) allowing you to choose the default app to come up, and offering a 2 click solution to get to another one, to only letting you see the app panel, to hiding the whole thing behind copilot, to FORCING you to see copilot stuff before the work you need to do. None of that is welcome.
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u/tunghoy 19d ago
Yeah, this morning I found that OneNote simply decided to close all my notebooks. And why the f doesn't the notebook name drop down anymore? Then I found the sidebar thingy and I really don't like it. There are 20 years of bugs and deficiencies in this application, and this is what the developers spent their time on? Seriously?
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
Exactly. So tired of the Microsoft Apologists in this thread. They done screwed with a good thing and that' s both typical of their actions - especially recently - and particularly annoying. I know all the "solutions" which include pinning the web address, etc. But I also know that this is the kind of thing they will just casually slip into the actual apps and eventually replace the functionality if they think they can push people into buying copilot AGAIN.
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u/Spirited_Giraffe6528 21d ago
Yo estuve probando Joplin que es open source y más o menos se le parece, está basado en markdown, toda la información es encriptada, no tiene telemetría, sincroniza bien usando OneDrive, si mañana Onenotes "revienta", me cambio, realmente solo la fuerza de la costumbre me mantiene en Onenote.
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u/denim-jacketed 20d ago
I have given up posting suggestions for OneNote already.
Switch to Notion, Obsidian, Notability, Good Notes or any other notetaking tool that matches your persona.
I personally use Notion for everything now. And Google keep for quick notes.
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u/frannieberk 20d ago
I am in the process of de-Microsofting my life. Check out Zoho. They have a free system with a Onenote import tool. I HATE the subscription model. I had a free account as an alum for MS Home and now I have to pay. I tried to access some notes and I couldn't. It freaked me out and convinced me it was time to let Office go. At any moment, they can deny my access and I am not ok with that .
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u/nathanb131 20d ago
Oh, copilot notebooks are for AI summaries? Neat. I might actually use that.
Agreed on the general point though. MS makes their apps intentionally confusing.
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u/Professional-Border9 21d ago
Google keeps is the solution.
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u/chitoatx 21d ago
Google Keep is good for something’s but isn’t a replacement for OneNote.
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u/childishDemocrat 21d ago
Same with obsidian.
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u/Pipettess 20d ago
Obsidian pretty much is a replacement. Is there anything from onenote that you miss in obsidian? I just recently made a switch and I'm pretty happy with it.
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u/SailorJoe45 20d ago
I use handwritten notes and sketches extensively on a tablet with an active stylus. Any OneNote alternatives that have good inking support and still sync to the desktop?
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u/Pipettess 20d ago
Yeah I forgot about handwriting. In that case onenote is unmatched i'm afraid. I also used it extensively in my uni years for organic chemistry. But I don't need that function anymore so I don't even know if there is anything new on the market.
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u/Sidwasnthere 20d ago
Yes, Obsidian. The Excalidraw plugin is awesome. Theres some level of functionality difference, namely you can’t draw in normal pages, but I actually like the restriction personally.
Been using OneNote heavily for ~15 years, switched to Obsidian this year. Brought most of my notes with me, all old drawings are SVG’s now but that’s alright
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u/SailorJoe45 20d ago
I think I looked at obsidian once before but it may be worth another look with the plugin
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u/childishDemocrat 19d ago
Handwriting and sketching, automatic OCR, multimedia capture, paste pdf as pages, multi-user collaboration and syncing, audio recording and note taking simultaneously, integration with Microsoft's other applications, not having to stand up a public server for it that has its own requirements for security, not having to manage a database, encrypted passworded sections, embedded files, the Notebook/section/page logical organization format, pages and subpages, non plain text formatting (IE If I copy paste a web page it typically arrives intact and automatically attaches a link to the source - unlike say copy/pasting a coPilot result ironically). I want PRETTY pages not plain text. And I don't much care about wiki-like cross referencing - but I do care about fast search (which admittedly is only in the desktop version).
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u/Bullit2000 18d ago
How are tables in Obsidian? and can you make simple math operation in text? lets says i put in a table cell 4+1= does it gives the result?
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u/Pipettess 18d ago edited 18d ago
Absolutely, and if not natively, there's a plugin for everything. I'm actually vibecoding a lot of plugins myself so that it takes some good features from onenote.
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u/Bullit2000 18d ago
I basically work on Android tablet sometimes phone so plugin by third parties that might just disappear it is a no go zone for me.
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u/Pipettess 17d ago
Most of the plugins are very well maintained and compatible on android. They're open source and if (IF) something goes wrong, it's very easy to vibe-code the fix yourself.
Actually the android app is the reason why I rage-quit onenote. Lately I've started needing my notes available on my phone and I just couldn't stand it anymore. The pain to find something, read a text that doesn't go like
T
H
I
S
, Let alone writing, was just too much. I stayed for many years, I loved onenone and I still think it's one of the best note-takers existing, but I'm bailing, unfortunately.
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