On Device Intelligence

On-device intelligence

Use AI that runs on your PC—no account, no cloud, no cost. Beta 4 has the infrastructure, model downloads with consent, and smart features ready. Everything except start-up is untested by hand, so check the test checklist before you rely on a feature.

On-device intelligence means features that read your images, handwriting, and speech, and that run on your own PC. Nothing leaves the device. The features are free, private, and work offline. They also stay off until you turn them on.

First-run choice

First-time setup has a step for these features, instead of leaving everything off. It offers three choices.

Choice	What it does
Recommended	Turns on text in pictures (OCR), handwriting recognition, and other features running on this device
Custom	Lets you pick each feature
Not now	Keeps everything off. You can turn it on later in Settings.

The step shows the download size of each model and says that nothing leaves the device. Models download only after you agree.

What you can do

Feature	Status
Text in pictures (OCR)	Built. Makes text in images and PDFs searchable, and lets you select text inside an image or scan.
Handwriting recognition	Built. Makes handwriting searchable and turns it into typed text. The "Writing pen" does this as you write.
Read aloud	Built. Reads a page or selection with Windows voices, highlighting each word. No model download.
Summaries	Built. A one-paragraph summary for each recording and page.
Custom vocabulary	Built. Improve recognition for names and terms specific to your notes.
Background work panel	Built. Monitor model downloads and background processing.
Transcription	Not yet. Turns recordings into text. The infrastructure is built but the speech engine is not.
Dictation	Not yet. A Dictate button types spoken words at the cursor.
Live captions	Not yet. Shows speech as text while a recording runs.
Chapters	Not yet. Splits a recording into titled topics with jump points.
Find by meaning	Not yet. Matches pages about the same idea even when the words differ.
Ask your notes	Built. Find information in your notes by asking a question.
Writing tools	Built. Grammar and style suggestions.
Handwriting extras	Built. Improve handwriting recognition accuracy.
Background OCR	Built. Scan images in the background for text.
Related pages	Built. Find pages similar to the current one.
Ask your notes	Answers a question from your own pages and links the pages it used, so you can check
Writing tools	Proofread, Rewrite, Shorten, Make a list, or Tidy structure, shown as a suggestion you accept or reject
Translate	Translates a selection, a page, or a transcript and puts it beside the original
Reflow and tidy handwriting	Rewraps, straightens, and evens out handwriting

Answers can be wrong, so "Ask your notes" shows the links it used. Suggestions never replace text until you accept them.

Controls

An activity panel lists queued work in plain words, such as reading text in images or transcribing. You can pause it, run it only when the PC is idle or plugged in, or cap how much of the processor it uses. Each feature can also run only on request.

Heavy work runs in the background and never blocks drawing or typing. The tests include one that proves no data is sent over the network.

Models and downloads

Speech and handwriting models are optional downloads, stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenNote\models\. The app shows each size first. Language packs for translation download only when you choose them. Other platforms will use their own engines behind the same interface.

Related pages

• Audio recording
• Privacy and your data
• Ink and drawing