OneNote for Windows 10 is being discontinued

Microsoft is discontinuing yet another of its apps. This time OneNote for Windows 10 is getting the axe.

According to a Microsoft Message Center post (via Neowin), the app will each end of support on October 14, 2025, after which it will no longer receive any bug fixes, security patches, or feature updates. That happens to be the same date when Windows 10 will reach its end of life support as well. That’s not a coincidence, so it may not sound surprising at first. You see, despite its name, OneNote for Windows 10, also works on Windows 11.

Clearly, there are some other reasons why Microsoft wants to shutter the app. The Redmond company is advising users of the OneNote for Windows 10 app to switch to its other note-taking app, OneNote for Windows, which is a part of Microsoft 365.

Microsoft says the older app does not support Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) sensitivity labeling that is used to secure sensitive data, and that the labeled content will be unavailable on OneNote for Windows 10. This may sound odd, but Microsoft says that users on the older version will experience slower sync performance from June 2025, and that this could affect multi-device access and real-time collaboration. It really does sound like the company will deliberately downgrade the experience of the app. Is that even legal?

One more thing that Microsoft highlighted is the fact that that OneNote for Windows has a lot more features, including AI-powered features like Copilot to enhance productivity. Now it makes sense, this could be a just another way to get more users over to Copilot.

OneNote for Windows 10 will display ads asking to switch to the newer app

And it gets worse, the document also reveals that OneNote users will see an in-app banner asking them to switch to OneNote on Windows from July 2025. Of course, it wants to show more ads, that’s what we need.

This is not the first time either, Microsoft already promotes the newer app, take a look at this gigantic banner that asks me to switch to the newer app. There is also a permanent button on the app’s header that serves as a reminder to migrate to the newest version.

Users who plan to move to the new app should take a backup of their data before removing the OneNote for Windows 10 app. You can then use the backup to import the contents of your notes to the new app. Follow Microsoft’s help article for more details about the process.

Alternatively, you could just uninstall the OneNote for Windows app, and access the web version of the note-taking service via your browser.

On the other hand, for users who wish to migrate away, you may want to consider switching to something like Obsidian, Joplin, Standard Notes, NotesNook, etc. All of these are free, open source apps which work offline, and offer an optional sign-up that gives you extra features including cross-platform sync, but there are some limitations that are behind a paywall.