Disappearing Ink problem in OneNote 2016 + Surface Pro 3

Anonymous
2015-09-23T06:58:32+00:00

Hi,

I just upgraded to Office 2016 via the Office 365 subscription. Working on a Surface Pro 3 and Windows 10. I am mostly using OneNote 2016 to take handwritten notes using the Surface Pen.

The disappearing ink issue, (that was a problem in the OneNote 2013 edition, until it was fixed), seems to be back: parts of written stuff disappear. I was writing in OneNote 2016, and out of nowhere, parts of what I had written earlier disappeared. Though the issue is not as severe as it was earlier, when the disappearing was very frequent.

This needs to be fixed ASAP, it renders OneNote not very useful for note-taking!

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-11-12T15:53:56+00:00

    Mavis, have you found any solution to the disappearing ink 2016 problem?

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-11-12T14:02:07+00:00

    I have the MSI version. I attempted to install the C2R version but it wouldn't let me. In the past I was able to install C2R OneNote 2013 alongside with Office 2013 Professional Plus. But this no longer works for C2R OneNote 2016 + MSI Office 2016 ProPlus. Have to wait for the MSI update. I just missed some notes this morning (the handwriting recognition is on, I thought I have turned it off).

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-11-12T13:54:34+00:00

    Hi Mavis,

    I thank you so very much for your help in this. After applying the update yesterday, I have re-enabled handwriting recognition in OneNote 2016 on my SP3 running Win 10, and so far so good.

    I have not seen any lost data. There are still moments when the whole page "flashes off" and then restores fully. That never happened with Office 2013 or with the MUI OneNote. In any case, I am optimistic that a real fix has taken place.

    Thanks again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-11-11T19:02:35+00:00

    Hi 

    We've started to rollout the fix for the Office 16 ink disappearing bug. The fix is currently available for the C2R Office versions. I will update this thread once the fix is available for the MSI versions.

    How to identify if you are running C2R or MSI:

    Go to File->Account. If you see a button 'Update Options' located above 'About OneNote', then you are on a C2R version of Office, otherwise you are on an MSI version of Office. If you are on MSI, please apply the temporary work-around to disable handwriting recognition. You can disable it by unchecking the option File->Options->Advanced->Enable automatic handwriting recognition. This will help avoid the ink from disappearing due to the known bug. I will update this thread once the fix is released for MSI.

    For C2R: To get the update (currently it may not update automatically):

    1. Go to File->Account->Update Options->Update Now. Wait for the installation to complete
    2. Confirm you are on version 16.0.6001.1038. The version is listed in File->Account->About OneNote.

    Once you are on version 16.0.6001.1038, you can re-enable handwriting recognition if needed. The recognition will work as usual and you can navigate to the ink pages that were inked during the time the setting was off, to kick off the recognition on those pages.

    Let me know if you have any questions about the installation process or continue to see the ink disappear.

    Thanks working with us to resolve this bug!

    Thanks!

    Mavis

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-11-10T18:27:02+00:00

    I own Surface Book and I've installed Office 2016 fresh. There was no office app installed prior to this. I sync my one note in onedrive. I've noticed the ink started disappearing after few minutes of note taking. (handwriting recognition - ON). After switching the feature OFF, the problem went away. As you mentioned in other posts, I'm waiting for the update as it is important to convert my handwritten notes to text sometimes. 

    Another workaround is to keep the automatic handwriting recognition settings ON and choose drawing mode or text mode inking appropriately.

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