Onenote 2016 MSO (64) stops syncing a few times a day, requiring Sign Out, And signing in again

Bill X 0 Reputation points
2025-01-22T16:08:56.9366667+00:00

This issue is getting really old. Its seems to be happening more often after installing 24H2 Windows 11 SP. I tried to download the Diagnostics tool, but it only comes back with a 502 gateway error.

Once I do sign it back in it works for anywhere from a few hours to a few days and then goes back to a Status of "1 not connected" in the status page where you can click on Sync Now. If it shows that 1 not connected, no sync will work, not All or the Sync Now button on the lower part of that dialog box.

Network is fine (350mb up and down AT&T Fiber) Speed test confirm its still working well when ON indicates its not connected.

Is there another link for the diag tool, one that works?

I haven't seen logs in the event viewer, but maybe I don't know where to look.

Thanks, Bill

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For business | Windows
Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For business | Windows
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  1. Emi Zhang-MSFT 30,056 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff
    2025-01-23T08:22:58.75+00:00

    Hi,

    Did you insert any files or external links in OneNote?

    According to your description, this issue appeared randomly before the update, and became more frequent after the update.

    I suggest try these methods

    1. Make sure OneNote have been fully synchronized, after syncing completely, close OneNote and re-open it.
    2. Try to change the Network environment to test whether the issue you described occurs frequently in a different network as well.

    Please test these suggestions and then troubleshoot the issue. Please let us know if you would like further assistance, I'm glad to help you.


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  2. Jiajing Hua 18,065 Reputation points Moderator
    2025-01-30T10:04:04.3766667+00:00

    Hi,

    As you siad you get a 502 gateway error, if your notebook is stored on OneDrive, check Microsoft Service Health status page for any outages.

    Are you using any proxy and VPN?

    If the Microsoft Service is OK, you do not connect any proxy or VPN, please delete the OneNote cache files to check this issue.

    • Please make sure your notebooks are all already synced successfully first. Otherwise, before doing following steps, for notebooks that aren't fully synced across all your devices, make sure you copy and back up any unsynced recent notes on the originating PC or device.)
    • Close OneNote, go to File > Options > Save & Backup > Scroll down, check the "Cach File Location".
    • Locate to the path that you find, open "16.0" folder, open "cache" folder, and empty this folder.

    If this step does not work, I also suggest you copy all sections to a new one. (Please make sure your notebooks are all already synced successfully first.)

    • Export the Notebooks as .onepkg format files to local computer, we may call it "Backup". User's image
    • Open the local Backup.onepkg in OneNote, close the previous one.
    • Then go to the notebook online storage, such as OneDrive, create a new notebook, we may call it "New".
    • Find Backup notebook in OneNote, right - click one each section tab, click "Move or Copy".

    User's image

    • Copy each section to the "New".
    • After all the sections have been copied to the "New" notebook, close the "Backup". Then check the sync issues.

    If nothing helps, have you tried reinstalling the OneNote or Office suite before?

    If re-installing Office does not work, I suggest you open a ticket like Emi suggested.

    The references you may have a look:

    Fix issues when you can't sync OneNote

    OneNote syncing best practices


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