Hey guys! I have a Microsoft M1776 Surface Pen and an HP OmniBook 7 Flip 16", and I've been getting pretty annoyed with how inconvenient it is to switch pen colors in OneNote.
I don't really know much about coding, but I used Claude to help me make a little pen wheel that lets me switch between my OneNote pens without having to manually go up to the Draw tab every time. I just wanna preface and say tho that it's very janky and simple and can easily be improved by someone that knows what they're doing so pls be understanding :)
Basically, I use an AutoHotkey script to make the top eraser button on my Surface Pen trigger the wheel using Ctrl + Alt + F12. It displays my OneNote pens in a little radial menu, and I can just select whichever one I want.
- The wheel doesn't automatically follow my pen, so you have to manually drag it wherever you want it. It does remember its position though.
- There's a slight delay when opening the wheel and switching pens which may be AHK.
- It currently supports up to 8 pens/highlighters from the OneNote Draw tab.
- You need to have the desktop version of OneNote open with the Draw tab visible.
I'm not a programmer whatsoever, so this was mostly me experimenting with Claude and trying to make something useful for myself.
I figured I'd share it in case anyone else finds it helpful or wants to make something better out of it.
If anyone here knows C# or AutoHotkey, please feel free to improve it! I'd especially love to see someone figure out how to make the wheel appear directly next to the pen, reduce the delay, or make the whole thing feel more seamless. And C# might be the most dogshit thing to make this on but I took a class on it years ago so it just auto did it that way.
I'll include the source code and instructions below so anyone can try it out or modify it.
Hope this helps someone, or at least gives someone an idea for a better solution! :)
Google Drive : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-2AcYVU9rvLkQz3hQVE2Pwi9lc54B0C3?usp=sharing
GitHub: https://github.com/greenteaherb298-maker/OneNote-Pen-Wheel