Post-it Notes adapt to work-from-home with Microsoft Teams app

Post-it Notes are getting a hybrid-work upgrade with a Microsoft Teams app that lets users digitize handwritten notes by holding them in front of the camera.

Maplewood-based 3M is partnering with Microsoft to bring a Post-it app into the virtual meeting platform, which was used by about 250 million people worldwide every month in 2021.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the new app during a customer conference Wednesday morning.

"3M has built a Post-it app on Teams to support all the ways people brainstorm and collaborate," he said. "Handwritten Post-it Notes are seamlessly transformed into a digital whiteboard by simply taking a picture."

Microsoft's technology can then sort and assign tasks based on what is uploaded.

"Collaborative apps represent a paradigm shift in how apps are built," Nadella said. "Work doesn't happen in a vacuum."

Heather Green, 3M's global vice president of the Post-it and Scotch brands, said in a news release "the ability to collaborate in hybrid environments is critical," as a mix of in-person and work-from-home moves from pandemic necessity to long-term trend.

About 58% of working Americans — 92 million people — had the opportunity to work at home at least one day a week this year, according to a McKinsey survey. And among those offered the opportunity, 87% said they took it.

As a result, video messaging services — including Teams, Slack and market-leading Zoom — are still getting heavy use.

Bringing a digital component to analog notetaking creates "an experience that is inclusive for all," Green said.

3M first released a Post-it app for smartphones in 2014 and relaunched it in 2019.

The Post-it app for Teams is being offered for free for the first month, then $2.99 per user monthly or $31.25 per user yearly.