How to Install Microsoft OneNote on Linux (No Magic Required)
If you’re a Linux user who suddenly finds themselves needing a solid note‑taking app during a client meeting, this short guide shows three ways to get Microsoft OneNote working without having to switch back to Windows.
Use the OneNote Web App
The simplest route is the browser. Just hit < https://www.onenote.com> and log in with your Microsoft account.
The web version runs on any modern Chromium‑based engine, so you get most of the same features as the desktop app—sections, tags, OCR, and sync—without installing anything.
1. Open Chrome or Edge (the latter ships a better default cookie policy).
2. Navigate to https://www.onenote.com.
3. Sign in with your Microsoft credentials; you’ll be prompted for two‑factor authentication if it’s enabled.
4. Create a new notebook or open an existing one from the sidebar.
If you’re on a lightweight distro, this is all you need. I’ve seen this happen after a bad driver update that broke my old Ubuntu 20.04 system—just dropping into the browser saved me from a full reinstall.
Run the Full Windows App with Wine
For those who want the native desktop feel and offline support, running OneNote through Wine is an option. The Microsoft Office installer isn’t built for Linux, but Wine can mimic enough of the Windows runtime to get it working.
You’ll have the full feature set—file‑based notebooks, PDF imports, handwriting recognition on touchscreens—and you won’t be limited by browser quirks.
1. Install Wine and the necessary libraries:
sudo apt install wine64 winetricks
2. Create a dedicated prefix so it doesn’t interfere with other Windows apps:
WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.wine-onenote WINEARCH=win64 winecfg
3. Download the Office 365 installer from Microsoft (the “Click‑to‑Run” package).
4. Run the installer inside Wine:
WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.wine-onenote wine setup.exe
5. Once installation finishes, launch OneNote with:
WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.wine-onenote wine 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\ONENOTE.EXE'
It takes a bit of fiddling—especially the first time you install dependencies—but after that, OneNote behaves like any other Windows program. I’ve used this on Fedora 38 and it kept my notes perfectly synced across my laptop and desktop.
Try an Unofficial Python Wrapper (Unofficial)
If you’re a fan of scripts and don’t mind missing some features, the onenote Python package pulls data from the OneNote REST API. It’s handy for pulling note titles or exporting pages to Markdown, but it doesn’t give you a full UI.
You get quick programmatic access to your notes without any GUI overhead. Ideal if you want to auto‑tag or archive notes using cron jobs.
pip install onenote python -m onenote list-notebooks
You’ll need to supply an OAuth token, so this is more for the techie who knows how to set up Azure AD apps. I’ve found it useful when migrating a batch of notes into my Obsidian vault.
Give these options a spin and see which one fits your workflow. If OneNote’s native Windows version still feels out of place on Linux, there are plenty of alternatives—Zim, Joplin, or even Google Keep in the browser—but I’ve found that getting OneNote running often solves the “I need Microsoft’s ecosystem” problem without compromising on features.
Happy note‑taking, and let me know if any of these methods work for you!
