What's new in OneNote for EDU - Back to School 2025

It’s back-to-school time, and OneNote EDU is rolling out fresh updates to make life easier for educators and students alike! In this article, we’ll cover the latest OneNote features and updates for education, including:

• Built-in Class Notebook toolbar in OneNote on Windows and for Mac (no more need to download the add-in!) – How to enable it and why it’s great
• New Microsoft 365 LTI 1.3 integration – Streamlined LMS access to Class Notebook, Assignments, Reflect, and more
• Broader OneNote updates – Merge table cells (finally!) and a new option to “paste text only”
• Education Insiders Program (EIP) – How to join and help shape the future of Class Notebook

Let’s dive in and get you ready for an amazing school year with OneNote!

1. Enable the Class Notebook Toolbar natively in OneNote on Windows and for Mac

Class Notebook features are now built directly into OneNote on desktop – no separate add-in required! This means if you’re using OneNote on Windows or for Mac, you already have the Class Notebook tools; you just might need to turn them on. Enabling the native toolbar gives you all the goodies (page distribution, review student work, etc.) right on the ribbon while ensuring you always have the latest updates and better performance than the old add-in.

Why this matters: A built-in toolbar means one less installation to worry about and more reliable updates. Schools no longer need to deploy the legacy add-in for Class Notebook on each device. It’s simpler for IT and ensures every teacher has the Class Notebook tools by default.

How to enable the Class Notebook toolbar:

• In OneNote for Windows (Microsoft 365), click File > Options > General.
• Under Class Notebook, check the box for “Enable Class Notebook” and select OK.
• The Class Notebook tab will appear on your OneNote ribbon, loaded with all the Class Notebook features you know and love.

(Tip: If you previously installed the add-in, you might see two Class Notebook tabs. You can remove the old add-in to avoid confusion.)

For more details, check out the Enable the Class Notebook Toolbar in OneNote Desktop  support article.

2. New Microsoft 365 LTI 1.3 Integration for LMS

The new Microsoft 365 LTI app brings OneNote Class Notebook along with other Microsoft 365 Education experiences like Microsoft Assignments, OneDrive/Microsoft 365 files, Teams for collaboration, Teams Meetings and more to your learning management system (LMS). It is compatible with any LTI 1.3 Advantage Platform, and setup instructions can be found here: https://aka.ms/LMSAdminDocs.

Key benefits of the new M365 LTI integration:

• All-in-one access: Once your LMS admin installs the Microsoft 365 LTI, educators and students get one-click access to OneNote Class Notebook, assignments, OneDrive, Teams meetings, Reflect check-ins and more – right from your LMS course. No more juggling separate LTI apps for each tool.
• Automatic roster sync: Class Notebook now supports auto-rostering with LTI 1.3. When you create a Class Notebook through the LMS, all learners and educators in that course are automatically added to the notebook as students and teachers/co-teachers respectively (and will be added automatically if they join later). This beloved feature, previously in older LTI integration, is back – saving you setup time.
• Assignments and grades in your LMS: Using the new LTI, you can create Microsoft Assignments (with Learning Accelerator tools like Reading Progress, etc.) directly in your LMS. Students submit without leaving the LMS, and grades sync back to the LMS gradebook. It brings the power of Teams Assignments into the LMS environment, no Teams class needed.
• Streamlined and up-to-date: The Microsoft 365 LTI replaces several legacy LTI tools (like the old “Teams Classes LTI” and separate OneNote LTI 1.1 app). This reduces confusion and upkeep.

Getting started with the new LTI is simple for IT admins, with full documentation here. If you’re an educator, check with your IT about enabling the Microsoft 365 LTI for your courses.

3. Broader OneNote updates: merge table cells and paste text only

The OneNote team has been hard at work on core improvements that benefit both educators and students. Here are two notable updates rolling out:

• Merge table cells in OneNote on Windows and for Mac: You asked, and it’s finally here – the ability to merge cells in a table. This means you can take any adjacent cells (horizontal or vertical) in a OneNote table and combine them into one cell (just like in Word or Excel).
  

   

• Paste text only in OneNote on Windows, for Mac, and for the web: Ever copy-paste some text into OneNote only to have it bring in crazy fonts or colors from a website or another document? We hear you – and now in OneNote you can use the familiar shortcut Ctrl + Shift + V (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + V (Mac) to paste plain text, stripping out all the source formatting. The pasted content will match your current notebook’s font style. This also works via the right-click menu: choose Paste > Keep Text Only. 
  
  It’s a small quality-of-life change that can save a ton of cleanup time, especially when gathering materials from various sources into your lesson plans or content library. Read more about this here: Paste text only in OneNote on Windows, for Mac, and for the web

All these updates are either available now or rolling out to OneNote users:

• Merge table cells is currently in preview for Office Insiders (as of late July 2025) and will reach all OneNote desktop clients in the coming updates.
• Paste Text Only is rolling out to OneNote for the web users and OneNote users running the most recent versions on Windows and on Mac. Features are released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly, so don’t worry if you can’t see it quite yet.

4. Join the Education Insiders Program (EIP)

Lastly, a call to action for passionate educators: if you love getting early access to new features or want to provide direct feedback to the OneNote and Class Notebook team, consider joining the Education Insiders Program (EIP). This is a free community for K-12 and higher-ed tech leaders, teachers, and IT administrators who use Microsoft tools.

As an Education Insider, you can:

• Preview and influence new features: Get invites to try out early builds or pilot programs (with your school’s Office 365 tenant) and share feedback before features launch worldwide. For example, insiders often get to test things like the latest Class Notebook updates and provide input.
• Participate in the Class Notebook insiders channel: There’s a dedicated Class Notebook discussion space where you can discuss ideas, ask questions, and interact with Microsoft product managers and other educators. It’s a direct line to share what you’d love to see in OneNote.

Sound interesting? Sign up for EIP via this form. Once accepted, you’ll be plugged into the insider community, including the Class Notebook channel where you can weigh in on the future of OneNote.

(By joining EIP, you’ll help shape products like OneNote – many of the features in this blog (such as merged table cells and the new LTI integration) were influenced by feedback from educators. We’d love to have your voice in the mix!)

We hope these updates get you excited for back to school with OneNote. Whether you’re empowering students with more organized Class Notebooks, integrating OneNote more seamlessly into your LMS, or just enjoying a smoother note-taking experience, there’s a lot to look forward to this year.

Try out these new features in your classroom workflow, and let us know what you think. You can drop your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation in the Education Insiders community. Here’s to a successful and innovative school year ahead with OneNote! 💜

Which new OneNote EDU feature are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments, and have a fantastic start to the school year!