How to use apple pencil in Word? Using ipro

As many have found out ( just discovered this thread) you cannot use the Penci to ANY actual writing or handwriting to text in the Word app.

You CAN ONLY use the draw portion of word to draw or hand write notes, but these notes will NOT be converted to text.

Wish I found this thread much earlier to clarify.

Also, to date, in the MS Office or MS Word descriptions for the iOS/iPadOS versions of these apps, in the iOS App Store, Microsoft does NOT mention ANY type of compatibiity with ANY Pencils.

So, the fact, the Pencil works in the Draw mode/feature maybe just coincidental/accidental added feature.

So, no actual text handwriting with handwriting to text conversion in ANY MS Office apps, currently.

This could be coming to MS Office apps, at some point, but currently, this is NOT the case and NOT possible.

You can write with the Apple Pencil (I have the Apple Pencil 2nd Generation) on your iPad Pro using any of the MS Office 365 apps. This includes Microsoft Word for iPad. Ensure that you have the Word app installed on your iPad Pro. If you have the MS Office 365 subscription active with Microsoft then the Word app will let you edit the documents including with the Apple Pencil.

Open the document in Word on your iPad Pro. Choose the DRAW option from the Menu option at the top. You will then see the different Pencil options to use below it. You can then choose the pencil color and thickness and begin writing on the document.

Axel F.

DGCarothers, I discovered that in one of the Word apps, using the pencil automatically shifts to utilizing the Draw tab in the app, which means your using the pencil only as a stylus.

In the other 2 Word apps , I find that using the pencil for editing locks up the app and I have to restart the app every time I create a comment, and sometimes I have had to restart the app several times just to get a single comment to post.

Another issue I have is that I cannot write on the doc to circle text or make notes in Review mode without them turning to text, so I have to make my notes and then go back to put in my comments. Instead of making the editing process easier, it’s taking me a great deal longer and has added a high level of frustration.

I purchased the iPad Pro and Pencil specifically for editing Word docs in this manner - after discussing with an Apple shopper. I was very specific as to how I wanted to use the pencil with Word and was. told this combo would be great for what I wanted to do. It's not even close. This is the first time I have been disappointed by Apple.

Thank you for your confirmation. I spent all weekend trying different things to make writing with the pencil work to no avail. As an author I was trying to find a different way to write and edit for times where using my laptop wasn't practical, like during travel or meetings, but yeah it was just a headache.

Bottom line is, the pencil does not work in word to write with. You can draw but not do any text conversion with it. And the responsiveness in pages is horrible. It's as bad as voice to text conversion. You spend more time editing what you wrote then writing.

I was wondering about this as well because I just got a pencil specifically for writing but it doesn’t covert to text. I can write on a document but I can’t get it to covert to text like it does on other places. I also can’t find settings for it to enable that. Does it just not work that way?

Same here. I can do that in the Notes app, but not Word or OneNote, which is what I primarily bought it for. This rendered it next to useless.

Hi can someone share if using the Apple Pencil 2 to handwrite/scribble, is there a function to convert the handwriting to text ? This is on iPad Pro Microsoft 365 app. Thank you

I understand that writing in Word for MacOS using sidecar is no possible, is that right?

That is correct. This is because the iPad in SideCar mode is just an extension of your primary/main computer screen. At this point, the iPad behaves like an external screen.

Axel F.