OneNote drawing on the ipad is not aligned on the computer windows

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OneNote drawing on the ipad is not aligned on the computer windows

Pamika Sriratanakamon (Student) 0

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I am experiencing a problem with OneNote where my handwritten notes on my iPad are not aligned correctly when I open the same notebook on my Windows computer.

The notes appear correctly on Windows, but on my iPad the handwriting has shifted and changed position, including notes that I wrote long ago. It seems like the layout has changed on the iPad/iOS

version, while the Windows version has remained in the original position. Because of this, I can no longer write or continue editing my notes properly across both devices. Everything worked perfectly about two months ago. The issue only started recently, around the start of this semester, even though I have not changed how I use OneNote.

I think the problem may be related to the iPad or a recent iOS/OneNote update because even my older handwritten notes have moved on the iPad, but they have not changed on Windows.

I have already tried syncing all of my notebooks, checking the OneNote web version, and updating both the OneNote app and my devices, but none of these steps resolved the issue

Could you please investigate this issue and let me know if there is any way to fix it?

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Answer 1

Hani-Ng 1,130 Independent Advisor

Hi Pamika Sriratanakamon (Student)

From the images, I can see that the handwritten ink annotations are positioned differently between devices. In particular, several handwritten notes and markings appear shifted relative to the underlying image/content on one device, while the layout remains aligned on the other device. Since you mentioned that both recently created and older handwritten notes are affected, this suggests the issue may be related to how the page is being rendered on the iPad rather than a synchronization problem with the notebook data itself.

To better understand you situation, could you please provide the following information:

Which version of OneNote is installed on the iPad? (Open OneNote > Settings > About)
Which version of iPadOS is currently installed?
Does the issue occur in all notebooks or only specific notebooks or on all pages or only pages that contain inserted images/PDF printouts?
If you create a brand-new page and insert an image, then add handwritten ink on both devices, does the new page also become misaligned?

As an initial troubleshooting step, here are some steps you can try on the iPad:

Force close OneNote > Restart the iPad.
Sign out of OneNote and sign back in > Create a backup of any important local content > Delete and reinstall the OneNote app from the App Store.
Open the notebook again and allow a full sync to complete.

Because the notebook displays correctly on Windows while the ink appears shifted on iPad, and because previously created notes have also changed position on iPad, this may be related to a recent rendering or scaling change in the iOS version of OneNote. If multiple users report similar behavior, it could indicate a product issue that requires investigation by the OneNote engineering team.

I hope this information helps and look forward to your response.

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Pamika Sriratanakamon (Student) 0 Reputation points

2026-08-23T08:35:45.35+00:00

Hi,

Thank you for your response. Please see my answers below:

OneNote version on iPad: It should be the latest version, as I deleted and reinstalled the OneNote app.

iPadOS version: iPadOS 26.6.1

Where the issue occurs: The issue occurs across all notebooks and pages, not just pages containing images or PDF printouts. I have noticed that the misalignment is particularly noticeable in areas where I have handwritten notes. If I write directly on or over an image, the misalignment seems to be less, but it can still occur.

Testing on a new page: Yes. I created a new page, inserted an image, and added handwritten ink on both my iPad and computer. The handwriting still becomes misaligned between the two devices.

I also noticed that the text formatting is slightly different between the iPad and Windows versions of OneNote. For example, when I add a bullet point, the text on Windows stays in the same position, but on iPad the text moves slightly inward to make space for the bullet. I think this formatting difference may be one of the reasons why my handwritten notes are becoming misaligned between my iPad and Windows computer.

I have also already tried the troubleshooting steps you suggested but these are not resolved the issue
Hani-Ng 1,130 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-23T11:21:01.34+00:00

Hi Pamika Sriratanakamon (Student)

Thank you for the additional information.

Based on your findings, this does not appear to be a sync issue, as the behavior occurs across all notebooks, can be reproduced on new pages, and persists after reinstalling OneNote.

OneNote handles handwritten ink and other page content as separate objects, so pages containing a mix of ink, images, and text can sometimes render differently across platforms. Since OneNote does not currently provide a way to group ink with page content, positioning differences may occur between Windows and iPad clients.

However, because previously aligned notes have also shifted and the issue affects newly created pages, this may indicate a rendering issue specific to the iPad client.

Could you confirm whether the page layout in OneNote for the web looks the same as it does on Windows or on the iPad? This will help determine whether the notes themselves have changed or if the iPad app is simply displaying them differently.
Pamika Sriratanakamon (Student) 0 Reputation points

2026-08-23T11:59:42.15+00:00
I checked the page layout across the Windows application, OneNote for the web, and the iPad app, and I found two cases:

First case: The Windows application and the iPad app match each other, but the layout on OneNote for the web does not match.

Second case: The iPad app and OneNote for the web both show the writing shifted to a different position, while the Windows application still shows it in the correct/original position. This case is shown in the first picture I attached.
Hani-Ng 1,130 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-24T11:01:36.3033333+00:00
Hi Pamika Sriratanakamon (Student)

Based on your results, this appears less likely to be a synchronization issue because the same page is being displayed differently across the OneNote clients:

In some cases, the Windows app and iPad app match, while OneNote for the web displays the page differently.

In other cases, the iPad app and OneNote for the web match, while the Windows app displays the page differently.

Since there is no single version consistently showing the same layout, the behavior appears to be related to differences in how the various OneNote clients render ink content rather than a problem with notebook syncing.

The screenshots also show that the misalignment mainly affects handwritten ink annotations, which are stored and rendered differently from typed content. Unfortunately, OneNote does not currently provide a way to lock or group ink with surrounding page content, so layout variations can sometimes occur across platforms.

Given that the issue affects existing and newly created pages, and can be reproduced across multiple clients, I recommend submitting feedback directly through Help > Feedback in OneNote and including the screenshots. This will allow the OneNote product team to investigate whether a recent change in ink rendering has contributed to the behavior you're seeing.