Microsoft Garage app Journal just received a big update to improve notetaking

Journal is an ink-centric notetaking application, and it just received a long list of features and improvements.

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What you need to know

Journal, a Microsoft Garage project, received an update with several new features this week. The update improves the instant lasso feature and ink-to-text recognition. It also adds support for importing password-protected PDFs and writing in different languages. Journal now has a music staff page style as well. The team behind the Journal app shows off the app’s new features in ablog post.

Here’s everything that’s new for Journal:

The lasso tool has been improved to identify the difference between circling an item to draw something and circling an item to select it. For example, if you’re writing a bulleted list and circle each number, the app shouldn’t select them. If you slow down your stroke, the app will realize that you’re trying to select an item.

You can also multi-select content within the Journal app following its recent update. If you hold CTRL and tap an item, you can select multiple pieces from your notes.

The Journal team highlights that the app now uses Microsoft’s latest ink-to-text technology. This should improve the accuracy of converting written notes into text.

In addition to its new features, the app includes some bug fixes:

You can grab the latest update for Journal through the Microsoft Store.

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Journal is an ink-first app built for taking notes. Its latest update improves ink-to-text conversion and adds several new features.

Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He’s covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean’s journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.