Should you replace OneNote with Microsoft Loop?

Microsoft Loop and OneNote are both strong tools for organising your work and collaborating, with different strengths. Which one suits whom and when is a move worth it?

Microsoft OneNote

• Notes and organisation: OneNote is excellent for notes in a fixed structure with notebooks, sections and pages.
• Integration: The tool is well integrated into Microsoft 365 and takes content from Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Variety: It supports handwritten notes, drawings and audio recordings.
• The right app: On Windows, OneNote is the desktop app that Microsoft continues to support. OneNote for Windows 10 reached end of support on 14 October 2025 and has been read-only since (Microsoft Support). If you still have notebooks there, move them.

Microsoft Loop

• Co-creation and collaboration: Loop is built for teamwork and lets several people edit content at the same time.
• Live components: according to Microsoft Learn, Loop components run in the Loop app, in Teams, in Outlook, in OneNote, in Whiteboard and in the Office apps for iOS and Android. Wherever you look, you see the current state.
• Workspaces: supports workspaces, templates and content types such as tables and checklists. Since February 2026, according to Microsoft Support, anyone with access to the Loop app and storage in OneDrive or SharePoint can create their own workspaces. Copilot in Loop requires a Copilot licence.

Why switch to Microsoft Loop?

1. Real-time collaboration: several people work on the same content at the same time.
2. Synced content: a component stays up to date everywhere, whether you edit it in a chat, an email or a note.
3. Adaptable: workspaces and pages are easy to adapt to what the team needs.
4. Built into Microsoft 365: content moves between Teams, Outlook and OneNote without copying.

Five examples of Loop in other Microsoft 365 apps

1. Agendas in Teams meetings: meeting notes are Loop components that everyone invited can edit.
2. Tasks with Planner: the task list in Loop is connected to Planner. Assigned tasks appear in Planner under «Assigned to me». The former Planner component in Loop was retired from January 2026 (Microsoft message MC1193421).
3. Emails in Outlook and chats in Teams: Loop components can be embedded in emails and chats.
4. Storage in OneDrive: components from Teams and Outlook are .loop files in the creator’s OneDrive, with version history. If you move such a file to a SharePoint site, the component no longer loads in chats and emails.
5. Microsoft Whiteboard: Loop components can also be added to whiteboards, for brainstorming and creative collaboration.

When OneNote, when Loop?

My rule of thumb from practice: OneNote for what you record. Loop for what you develop together.

• Stay with OneNote for personal notebooks, handwriting with a pen, drawings and audio recordings.
• Use Loop for agendas, task lists and drafts that several people work on at once and that should stay current in chats and emails.
• Combine both: you can insert a Loop component into a OneNote page. Your notebook stays the archive and the component stays alive.

If you want to analyse notes and files with AI, the article on Copilot Notebooks shows a third option.

Conclusion

Loop does not replace OneNote, it adds to it where you work on content together. Take the next agenda or task list that currently bounces back and forth by email. Create it as a Loop component. Give it a go now.