What synced notes look like

Outcome: You will know exactly what to expect in OneNote for each kind of reMarkable content, before you sync it.

Each comparison below shows the same page twice: the source in the reMarkable desktop app on the left, and the result in OneNote on the right. It is the same left-to-right look used in the product demos. Click any image to enlarge it and inspect the strokes at full resolution.

Handwriting and ink colors

During ordinary sync, supported handwriting arrives as real OneNote ink. Each supported pen color maps to its OneNote ink color, so you can keep editing, erasing, and selecting strokes in OneNote. The PDF recovery-copy option described below is an exception.

A reMarkable page with handwriting in eight ink colors shown in the reMarkable desktop app — Handwriting in eight ink colors syncs stroke by stroke, color for color.

The same handwriting in OneNote with each ink color preserved — Handwriting in eight ink colors syncs stroke by stroke, color for color.

Mixed pages: handwriting, typed text, and images

Pages that combine handwriting, typed text, lists, checkboxes, and embedded images keep each part in its native form: ink stays ink, text stays text, and images stay images.

A reMarkable page mixing handwritten headings, typed lists, checkboxes, and an embedded image — Mixed pages arrive with handwriting as ink, lists as editable text, and images intact.

The same mixed page in OneNote with handwriting, editable lists, and the image preserved — Mixed pages arrive with handwriting as ink, lists as editable text, and images intact.

Typed text and structure

Typed notebooks keep their structure: headings, nested bullet lists, ordered lists, and to-do checkboxes become real, editable OneNote text that is ready to search and rework.

A typed reMarkable notebook with headings, nested bullets, ordered lists, and to-do items — Nested bullets, ordered lists, and to-do checkboxes survive as editable OneNote structure.

The same typed structure in OneNote as fully editable text with working checkboxes — Nested bullets, ordered lists, and to-do checkboxes survive as editable OneNote structure.

Annotated PDFs and highlights

In ordinary sync, PDF pages keep your marks layered over the document: circles, margin notes, underlines and marker highlights stay aligned. From v0.6.1 this works on every page size; earlier versions aligned best on A4. See PDF page compatibility.

A PDF page in the reMarkable desktop app with hand-drawn circles, notes, and a yellow highlight — Ordinary sync of an A4 PDF preserves the annotations and highlights over the document.

The same PDF page in OneNote with annotations and the highlight in place — Ordinary sync of an A4 PDF preserves the annotations and highlights over the document.

Expected result

PDF recovery copies

If an eligible page needs Create recovery copy, the confirmation explains a different rendering path for PDFs. That copy is flattened for readability: handwriting and annotations remain visible, but are not editable OneNote ink. Future updates use the verified recovery copy. See Recover and retry a sync before choosing this action.

Both legacy v5 and current v6 reMarkable page formats are supported. Format detection is automatic, but the kinds of content stored in each format differ. See Feature support and compatibility.

If your result looks different

Very heavy pages can take an extra sync cycle to complete. Check the Activity tab for progress.
For details about sync direction, PDF formats, and OneNote organization, see Feature support and compatibility.

Next stepComplete your first syncWatch these results appear in your own OneNote notebook.

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