In November 2023, Microsoft released its latest online collaboration platform, Microsoft Loop. This co-creation app shares lots of the same features as the old Microsoft OneNote and has led people to wonder whether it will result in its final decline. So, is this the case?

In this article, we will discuss the benefits and negatives of Microsoft Loop vs OneNote, but why should you trust me? Before we dive into this comparison, let me introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Edwards and I’m the founder of Integral IT, a company helping businesses all over the UK work with Microsoft 365.

Now, without further ado, let’s compare Microsoft Loop with OneNote. If you are more of a visual learner, you can check out my YouTube video on the topic right here!

Microsoft OneNote vs Microsoft Loop: a comparison

Let’s start by saying that Microsoft OneNote is old. Really old! Launched in 2003, this platform has been around for over 20 years. Microsoft Loop on the other hand was launched on the 15th of November 2023 and is one of the latest apps by Microsoft. But does this mean it’s better?

Does Microsoft Loop offer all the services included in OneNote?

While Microsoft OneNote was launched as a note-taking application, Loop is being advertised as an online collaboration app, allowing teams to work together. So, does Loop offer all the services included in OneNote? Yes!

If you’re a regular user of OneNote then you’re surely familiar with its ‘notebooks’. These are files that you can consider as physical notebooks and that can be divided into pages, which can then be broken down into sections.

While Microsoft Loop doesn’t have ‘notebooks’, it features ‘workspaces’ which work very much in the same way. Workspaces can be divided into subpages where you can easily type all your notes.
Both platforms also allow you to add headings and subheadings to make your notes clearer, embed videos for extra information, and include to-do lists. So, does Microsoft Loop offer any extra features?

Does Microsoft Loop Offer extra features?

Again the answer is yes. In particular, this platform has two main benefits compared to the old OneNote: connectivity and synchronisation.

Connectivity

Microsoft Loop features so-called ‘components’. These are sort of portable building blocks you can share with members of your team, allowing you to work together on the same project at the same time. But let’s see an example to understand this better.

Let’s say you’re on Microsoft Outlook and want to send an email to one of your colleagues. Now you can also add a ‘Loop component’ to it. This can be anything, from a task to a Q&A paragraph, or an entire page. Let’s say you decide to send a task and call it ‘Ideas for Business Meeting’. Now, when you go back to your Microsoft Loop workspace, you will find that ‘Ideas for Business Meeting’ task, in your Loop Component page. Now you and your colleague can both work on the same task at the same time and see each other’s changes live.

Synchronisation

Another great plus of Microsoft Loop is that it’s fully integrated with other Microsoft platforms, including Microsoft Outlook, Teams, ToDo, and Planner. This means that all your information will be synchronised among different applications. To say it in simple terms, you can make changes on one particular task or meeting on one Microsoft application and see those changes in all your other platforms.

So, shall you just stop using Microsoft OneNote and move to Loop? It depends.

Shall you use Microsoft OneNote or Microsoft Loop?

This largely depends on what you need to do. If you want a digital note-taking application just for your own use, I would stick to Microsoft OneNote. However, if you’re working with a team and looking for a platform to collaborate in real-time across multiple Microsoft 365 applications, Microsoft Loop is your best option.