Capture and save PDFs with Office Lens while offline and without having to log in.

Office Lens is a powerful scanner on your Android device. The app was designed for easy scanning of documents, images and whiteboards. For the latter Office Lens will remove the glare and other imperfections to make it readable. No matter what you’ve scanned, you can use Office Lens built-in tools to, say, convert a document to PDF. Same can be done with an image and with the integration of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote, Office Lens will smoothly convert to these file format as well and save them to OneDrive or your local device. In order to take advantage of all these features, a Microsoft Account is needed. But not always.

Today’s update introduces the ability to save PDF files when your device is offline without having to log in. A feature that is handy when on the go and there’s no internet access. Microsoft says that this update will let you “quickly save PDF captures to your device without having to log in and without a watermark.”

Office Lens new offline feature makes the app even more useful and powerful. So make sure you check it out in Google Play Store for free.

OneNote for Android now supports password to sections, fingerprint unlocking. Read this how-to.

Today Microsoft has updated OneNote for Android to support password-protected sections with the goal to secure your notes, sensitive or not, “from prying eyes”. Securing notes is a feature that is already available in the Windows version of the app and it’s great to see Microsoft porting it to Android as part of its mobile strategy. Let’s see how to use the new feature on Android after installing the update.

After starting OneNote on your device, open a Notebook that has the sections you want to lock with a password. Tap and hold on one of your section and tap “Protect Section” in the menu to bring up the screen below where you’ll type your password twice and tap OK. After entering your password, OneNote will take you back to the Sections screen where you’ll see an unlock padlock next to your section name. Yes, OneNote does not lock the section right away. You’ll have to close and re-open the app for the password to come into effect. But wait, there’s more.

The update also includes support for fingerprints on devices with fingerprint scanners built-in. This feature does not appear right away. You must first setup a password as explained above and the next time you unlock a section, OneNote will have a toggle to enable “Unlock with fingerprint next time” you access your section. Users will still be given the option to unlock their sections with a password.

OneNote does not let you have more than one section unlocked. It will automatically lock a section after you navigate away to open another section. Which makes sense from a security perspective. However, I don’t get it why Microsoft added a “Lock All” feature in the context menu of a section. Tap and hold on an unlocked section and you will see “Lock All” there. Again, not sure why it’s there, but I may be missing a point.

This context menu also lets you change or remove the password. The former requires you enter the old password before entering your new one. To remove a password, type your password and you’re done. Note, you can do all this only after unlocking a section. These options won’t appear if you tap and hold on a locked section, obviously.

One very important detail: At the bottom of the unlock screen - see screenshot above -, there’s this very important note that says: “Important: If you lose or forget the password. OneNote can’t recover your data.” There does not seem to be a limit on the number of logon attempts. During my test, I typed a wrong password 10 times without any consequences. So, if you forget or lose your password, your notes will remain, you just won’t be able to access them anymore. Unless you remember your password. You’ve been warned.

The ability to lock sections in OneNote is a nice update for users who are security-minded. Check it out in Google Play Store.

Microsoft updates OneNote on Android with Web Clipper and simplified navigational controls.

OneNote is my go-to app for note-taking on my devices. Thanks to cloud sync, my notes are available to me no matter which device I use and that and the fact that the app is free and full-featured, does not need any second thoughts.  Besides note-taking, I use OneNote mainly for recording my family health records, which proves handy when visiting our doctor. But Microsoft wants OneNote to be more than just a note-taking app. Today’s update is just another proof of that.

Microsoft updated the app today “to simplify navigation controls and enhance usability for users who use assistive technology.” I cannot comment more on this as I’ve not downloaded and installed the update as I’m writing this. But there’s more.

The web version of OneNote lets users save an entire website with OneNote Web Clipper. Microsoft is bringing this feature to Android for users to easily save websites on their Android devices just like on the desktop.

Android users can get the update free in Google Play Store. 

OneNote for Android now lets users open, insert and edit links in their notes.

Popular note-taking app OneNote from Microsoft got a small but useful update today. The app will now let users open links in their notes and also insert and edit these links, making it easier to work with them. This update also has the usual bug fixes and performance improvements.

Not much in terms of new features, but an update that Microsoft says will "take your productivity up a notch." Update OneNote in Google Play Store.

Microsoft adds Undo and Redo to OneNote for Android.

Microsoft has updated OneNote for Android with some new features that will make your note-taking habits a lot easier. The most noteworthy addition is the ability to Undo and Redo things in OneNote and, as Microsoft puts it, "rewrite history". Additionally, this update lets users rename sections, re-enables support for auto-correct on the Google keyboard and the usual bug fixes and performance improvements.

Grab OneNote for Android for free in Google Play Store.

Evernote for Android updated with note statistics and camera auto-focus improvements.

I have been slowly gravitating away from Evernote and that move started before they implemented their new terms of service that only allows for the app to run on two devices and you have to go premium to enjoy Evernote across all your devices. I believe this move won't help Evernote gain more adoption when users can and have been migrating to Google Keep for its simplicity or Microsoft OneNote for its robustness. I use the latter on all my devices and have been happy ever since. With that said, let's see what Evernote has for its users in its new update.

Evernote was updated two days ago and it took its time to show on my Samsung. It's finally here with a new feature that gives users count statistics on their notes for words, character, line and paragraph. This is the only new feature.

The team also made some improvements to the camera auto-focus and squashed some bugs. 

Download Evernote for Android in Google Play Store.

Microsoft OneNote for Android gets new notebar and core code base change for faster features addition.

With 50 millions download on Android alone, you will agree that Microsoft OneNote is a success. Today Microsoft published an update for the popular note taking app. For me, this is a great update. Finally Microsoft managed to fix an issue I was having with OneNote ever since I installed the first preview of Android N. The app was cashing shortly after I entered my Microsoft account. It took them three updates to get there, but I'm gad to get OneNote working again on my Nexus 6 and make peace with Android N. 

The update itself adds some new features to OneNote with a change to the code base that will allow Microsoft to add new features "at a faster rate". The second noteworthy addition is this bar at the bottom of the screen which offers a new way to takes notes.

Here's what's new in this update for OneNote for Android:

We have changed the core code base of OneNote for Android which gives us the ability to add features at a faster rate. We have also added the following features:

1. Adding notebar: a new way to create notes

2. Ability to create or delete sections while in offline mode

3. Sync improvements

4. Bug fixes and performance improvements

Download Microsoft OneNote in Google Play Store for free.