How do I import my old OneNote notebook after changing computer?

Hi Merryweather1

after reading all the replies to your initial dilemma, I couldn't figure out how to do this either. And after about an hour of trial and error, I finally figured out a way as I was having the same issues, after recently getting a new laptop.

This is what I did:

OLD COMPUTER

• Mack a copy of your OneNote account (which essentially contains all your Workbooks created).
• This is where I found my copy (assuming this is MS default location) :    C:/users/username/AppData/Local/Microsift/OneNote

here you'll find a folder called 15.0 (have no idea what this means, but in it are all your workbooks that you've created in OneNote).

• Copy this entire 15.0 folder and paste onto a USB stick.

NEW COMPUTER

• Open up windows explorer and brows to the same location:  C:/users/username/AppData/Local/Microsift/OneNote
• If you already see a folder there called 15.0, dont worry about this for now and we're going to replace it with the copy you made currently sitting on your USB.
• insert your USB. Right click on the 15.0 folder and click 'copy.
• then move to the location above (C:/users/username/AppData/Local/Microsift/OneNote), right click and 'paste'. 
• You'll get an error message stating there is already a folder with this name here, do you want to replace it etc.  Whatever message you get, ensure you click something that says 'replace it'.

NEXT STEP

• now open up OneNote
• Click on File 

in the white area, you'll see a square with a few yellow folders and the words 'Open Backups'. Double click this.

• it will automatically open up a Windows Explorer page.  Browse to the locationwhere you copied your OneNote files.  (C:/users/username/AppData/Local/Microsift/OneNote/15.0) and click Open
• This will now import all your workbooks and all data within each into OneNote.
• to access each workbook now, you will have to sync.
• to do this; File and then click on each Workbook you've created.
• at the top of the workbook, you'll get some message that says 'click here to enter your password in order to sync and access your workbooks'.
• You will need to enter your Microsoft login and password here. once done, it'll automatically sync your workbook.
• repeat this by clicking on the message at the top of each workbook you created.  But you wont have to reenter your login, it will now automatically sync.

and you should be done.

Hope this helps.

Rgs, Ruth

Bernd P., thank you for posting.

However, Merryweather1's issue is not as easy to solve as your reply indicates.

I too have experienced similar issue.

I have attempted to copy/move OneNote files from a recovered hard drive.  There wasn't a chance to Export into Microsoft OneNote Single File Package (.onepkg).   Nor did I realize the backup was set to every 10 days by default, obviously too late. 

So I discovered in trying to recover onenote files that the file structure could be disrupted.  I suspect local cache plays a part in the disorganization in moving/restoring .ONE files. 

I found it easy for to move the .ONE files but quickly discovered sections land in places that seem to be random.  Or moreover in my case, also duplicated.  If you know the difference between what a rifle does vs a shotgun, you'll realize the effect of a typical user attempting simple copy/paste files via OS.

There's not much out there to describe the structural aspects of OneNote especially with sync with shared drive, SkyDrive and the mobile situation.

Obviously I learned that backup and/or export is the way to go. 

Since I didn't have satisfaction with backup, I'm using Export as a single file package (.onepkg) to preserve the structure of sections, pages, and folders.  If you copy paste OneNote Sections (.one), it's too easy to get disrupted.

The only way I have found to deal with the mashup results is to manually reorganize, plus dedup.  At this point I'm finding it's wickedly time consuming and difficult because the metadata of the underlying pages in each section don't show last modified date.

The only tool to assist in this onerous task is the search -  Using * wildcard, I can find all of the .ONE sections and one by one clean up the folders, sections, and pages.

I hope this helps anyone that's puzzled with disorganization with Onenotes.

Look for any .one file, and double click on it.

Ideally it should open in 2013 as well. Once open recreate the sections in the new notebook.

I just double-clicked on the .onepkg file and Onenote 2013 automatically brought up a dialog to import it as a whole Notebook. I only had one Notebook in my .onepkg file, so not sure how well it will work for those with multiple. Might have to have a .onepkg file for each Notebook? Hope this helps.

Thx for your contribuzion, vmare.

The discussion going a little technical, I'm not sure we have exactly the same problem.

Let me restate my question: How do I add my old OneNote sections (saved from another computer) to the notebook that the program opens by default?

The old notebook is lost, only the section files remain. I can open and edit them by selecting the 'Open Backups' command, however I end up with a never-ending list of sections (cf. below) and I'd like to import them direcly into my current Notebook or create a new one and add them. Copying the files and moving them to my current notebook inside the directory didn't work, the sections are still invisible as I open OneNote.

Thx for your 2p.

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