Pen input to OneNote lags; nothing appears until after the pen is lifted.

Question

This seems to be a common problem with OneNote. I have searched and tried all of the options that have been suggested in other locked threads on this topic. I am running Surface Pro 7 with Win 10 and a Surface Pen. I have performed the following to troubleshoot, but to no avail:

1. Pen battery is good at 89%
2. Pen works fine in Whiteboard and other drawing programs
3. The Intel Iris driver is the latest.
4. Uninstalled OneNote and downloaded latest and reinstalled
5. Windows is up to date.
6. Started OneNote in safe mode (ctrl + OneNote) and no difference
7. I made a new empty notebook and problem persists - some posts indicated that when the notebook gets too big it is problematic
8. Turned off hand writing recognition
9. Turned off file saving to cloud, etc.

System: MS Windows 10 version 10.0.19045 Build 19045, Surface Pro 7, Intel i7-1065G7, 16 Gb RAM, 237 GB HD

This pen issue makes my surface nearly useless as I use it for note-taking and drawing, so any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi SpDC-100,

Sorry we didn't get back to you in time. In mid-February, the community notification function was abnormal, which prevented us from receiving your response in time.

You may misunderstand the corresponding model information, Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 7 are not the same model of equipment.

It's true that the Surface Laptop 7 doesn't support a stylus, as the screen doesn't have a sensor to recognize the stylus. And the Surface Pro 7 clearly supports it.

But in your description, I noticed that you found the same problem when writing with your fingers, right? This led me to think that the issue might be related to the Surface Pro 7's screen, rather than the pen or OneNote. Have you tested switching the input method to handwriting? Because it's a native feature of Windows. I know you tested Whiteboard, but make sure you switch the input method to handwriting and test with your fingers.

If you can notice that the same issue is also occurring, then it's clear that the problem is not from OneNote, but probably the Surface Pro 7.

Download and install the driver and firmware package for Surface Pro 7:

Download Surface Pro 7 Drivers and Firmware from Official Microsoft Download Center ****

After the installation is complete, restart your Surface Pro 7 to see if this issue can be improved.

But if everything works in the input method's handwriting mode and the problem is only in OneNote, then there is no doubt that the problem is only related to OneNote.

We are community support and are not part of Microsoft, so in fact if this issue originated from OneNote, we would probably only advise you to report it to Microsoft:

Send feedback to Microsoft with the Feedback Hub app - Microsoft Support ****

But if eventually you notice an issue related to the Surface Pro 7, don't hesitate to take your Surface Pro 7 to the Surface Support team for inspection and testing. I can direct you to connect with them through the Surface App:

 Open the Surface App (usually built into your Surface device, or you can download it from the Microsoft Store if you don't have one) and follow the procedure below:

1. Click "Help and Support" and then click "Get Help".
2. Briefly describe your problem in the text box, such as "Pen input to OneNote lags; nothing appears until after the pen is lifted", and then press Enter.
3. Click "Contact Support" at the bottom.
4. Select "Technical Support" and click "Confirm".
5. You will see "Chat support" or "phone support" options, please contact them during working hours, you will get one-to-one support services.

I wish you all the best.

Best Regards,

Mitchell | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Thanks for your initial input. I have tried to ink by finger in the existing notebook and I get the same lagging response as with the surface pen. I opened a new empty notebook and it lags on both the pen and finger.

The link you provided says that the surface pen doesn't work with surface 7. That is a totally untrue statement - they were sold together as a kit and were working fine until last week!

This is obviously a OneNote problem. OneNote has worked fine for years on this Surface Pro and others before it. It is the most important app on my computer. What can you do to fix this behavior?

The feedback option does not appear under file--Account in OneNote. Please pass this issue up the food chain at MicroSoft.

Best Regards

Answer 3

Hello SpDC-100,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I have completely read everything you have posted here.

If you have tested your Surface Pen in other apps and noticed that it works fine, I think your Surface Pen should be fine.

To confirm if the problem is directly related to OneNote, I recommend you try to see if you can use your finger to leave ink marks in OneNote. When you open OneNote, click Draw on the menu bar, then click “Draw with Touch”, then use your finger to write in OneNote, and check to see if the typing lag also occurs.

If you notice that the same problem still occurs, create a new empty notebook as you have tried before. Next, test it still using your finger. If the problem does not occur in a blank notebook, then this confirms that there is indeed a delay in inking when the notebook is too large, and I'm afraid that the Office development team still needs to optimize OneNote more, and we recommend that you provide feedback through the Feedback feature in OneNote.

Click File--Account, then click the feedback option in the top right corner.

However, if this problem occurs on any laptop, I recommend that you first refer to the information in the following support link to try to fix this exception from a Surface perspective:

What to try if your Surface Pen doesn't ink - Microsoft Support****

While this link mentions the inability to write with the Surface Pen, the solution is universal though.

Best Regards,

Mitchell | Microsoft Community Support Specialist