OneMore for OneNote Desktop: A Windows Add-in That Fills the Gaps

The gap OneMore fills in OneNote Desktop

OneNote Desktop is a note-taking application with a fixed feature set. OneMore adds commands on top of it rather than replacing it. The README describes the project as "a OneNote add-in with simple and powerful features that make OneNote a better OneNote," and the feature list is concrete: a Command Palette and Quick Palette for reaching 200+ commands without leaving the keyboard, custom text styles and table themes for consistent formatting across notebooks, an auto-generated table of contents for a page, section or notebook, Markdown paste, syntax-highlighted code boxes, favorites, inline hashtags, image adjustment, Mermaid and PlantUML rendering, and reusable snippets.

The audience is narrow and specific: people who already keep notes in OneNote Desktop on Windows and who do the same formatting work repeatedly. If your notes live in another application, or if you use OneNote on the web or on macOS, the add-in does not apply to you. The README does not describe a macOS build, and the platform badge reads "windows | onenote desktop."

How the add-in is put together

The repository is split into components rather than one monolithic binary. The README lists OneMore as the primary add-in source and ribbon UI, OneMoreCalendar as a calendar application for tracking page creation and modification, OneMoreCli as a command-line runner for automating OneMore commands, OneMoreTray as a system tray component, and OneMoreProtocolHandler for URI deep linking. Setup and packaging live in OneMoreSetup, OneMoreSetupActions and OneMoreBundle. Tests live in OneMoreTests, and Plugins, Templates and Themes hold extensibility and content definitions.

According to the README, the add-in is built in C# against the OneNote Object Model and integrates through the OneNote Ribbon UI, with WinForms and WPF components. The README states that the modular layout lets the project keep a stable core add-in while supporting specialized features, provide automation through the CLI without bloating the main add-in, and separate UI from backend and tooling. That separation is the most interesting design decision here: the CLI is a first-class component, not an afterthought, which means automation is available for a subset of commands rather than only through the ribbon. The README says the CLI can automate 40+ commands, which is a fraction of the 200+ commands the palette exposes.

Installing OneMore and running a first command

The README points to the latest release on GitHub and to a separate installation page for step-by-step setup. The repository also contains a register-onemore.reg file and PowerShell scripts such as build.ps1 at the top level, but the README does not document a manual registration procedure, so treat the installation guide as the authoritative path.

Download the release package from the releases page and run the installer. The README states the add-in "installs in under a minute." After installation, OneMore appears as a ribbon tab inside OneNote Desktop.

Open the Command Palette from the ribbon to reach the command list without a mouse. The README describes it as the way to reach "200+ commands and styles without leaving the keyboard."

OneMore ribbon tab > Command Palette

For scripted use, the README documents a command-line interface that automates 40+ commands. The component that runs it is OneMoreCli. The README does not list the exact CLI flags or invocation syntax, so check the CLI page in the user guide before writing a script.

The README does not document the exact argument names, so confirm the real syntax in the guide before relying on a scripted invocation.

What the documentation does not settle

Several practical questions are left open. The README does not document rollback or uninstall steps, does not describe how OneMore behaves when OneNote updates, and does not state a minimum OneNote version. The build requirements section names Visual Studio 2026 Community Edition, .NET Framework 4.8.1 and OneNote Desktop Edition for developers, but that is a source-build requirement, not a runtime guarantee for the installer.

The usage statistics in the README (Apply Style at 23,902 uses per month, Paste Text at 9,055, Insert TOC at 8,543) come from the project's own reporting and are not independently verifiable from the repository. They are useful as a signal of which commands the community leans on, not as a benchmark. The README also states there is no telemetry opt-in required and that the project does not collect personal information, with a link to a separate privacy policy page.

The most significant limitation is platform. OneNote on macOS, the web and mobile clients do not load this add-in. If your team is mixed-platform, the formatting consistency that OneMore provides will not follow your colleagues to a Mac.

OneMore compared with Onetastic

Onetastic is the other well-known OneNote add-in, and people search for the comparison directly. The approaches differ in licensing and distribution. OneMore is released under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, and the README describes it as free, open source, with no subscription and no telemetry opt-in required. Onetastic's own model is not described in the README here, so the honest comparison stops at what OneMore's README claims about itself.

The more useful difference is architectural. OneMore ships a command-line runner (OneMoreCli) alongside the ribbon add-in, and the README says it automates 40+ commands. That opens the door to scheduled or scripted operations on notebooks, which a purely interactive add-in does not offer. If your need is interactive formatting and snippets, either tool addresses it. If your need is running commands from a script, the CLI component is the deciding factor, and you should confirm that the specific command you need is among the 40+ the CLI supports.

Maintenance, licence and upgrade cost

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-23. Recent releases include 7.5.0-beta.3 on 2026-09-19, 7.4.0 on 2026-08-31 and 7.3.0 on 2026-08-01. The project has been built in the open on GitHub since 2018 according to the README.

OneMore is licensed under MPL-2.0. That is a file-level copyleft licence: modifications to MPL-covered files must be made available under the same licence, while larger works that combine MPL files with other code can be distributed under different terms. This is not legal advice; if you plan to redistribute a modified build, read the licence text in the repository and consult someone qualified.

The upgrade path is the release channel. The README links to the latest release and to installation instructions, and the project publishes beta builds such as 7.5.0-beta.3 alongside stable ones. Running a beta means accepting that the feature set can change between builds. The README does not document a rollback procedure, so if you depend on a specific behavior, pin to a stable release rather than a beta.

Editorial conclusion

OneMore is worth adopting if you use OneNote Desktop on Windows and your main friction is repetitive formatting, table of contents maintenance, or pasting code and Markdown. It is the wrong tool if you use OneNote on Mac, the web, or mobile, because the README lists Windows Desktop as the platform and the repository contains no macOS component. Before installing, verify that your OneNote edition is the desktop version, that .NET Framework 4.8.1 is present if you plan to build from source, and read the Privacy Policy page linked from the README if you want to know how the add-in handles data. If you only need a handful of commands, the Command Palette is where to start; the CLI runner in OneMoreCli is the part to check next if you want automation.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. License: MPL-2.0
3. README
4. Releases
5. stevencohn/OneMore on GitHub