OneNote does not sync

Question

Hi there,

This morning I started to have problems with OneNote 2013. First I got an error saying that one notebook (stored in OneDrive) could not sync: "We're sorry, something went wrong during sync. We'll try again later. (Error code: 0xE4020017)"

The errors were associated to a particular section. Following: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Fix-issues-when-you-can-t-sync-OneNote-299495ef-66d1-448f-90c1-b785a6968d45, I tried to open that notebook in OneNote online. That worked although I could not open the section. Then I copied all the pages in that section to a newly created section. This did not help either. now two sections could not sync. Then I decided so sort the pages in that section and distributed (moved) the pages among various notebooks and sections. Now several of my notebooks cannot sync..... :-(

Finally I decided to close the notebook but now I cannot re-open it. it looks like all the data is still in OneDrive but i cannot sync the notebook to my local OneNote 2013 (windows 8) and also not to my ipad. 

This is quite frustrating. anyone with a suggestion/solution to my problems?

Thanks,

Raul 

PS: after moving various pages around i ended up with several empty sections. I deleted these sections from various notebooks but these sections keep on re-appearing after a few secs.... :- S

EDIT: I just noticed that there is something wrong with several of my notebook files stored in OneDrive. I wanted to make a back up of my notebooks by copying them to another location in OneDrive but the problematic notebooks cannot be copied... I hope that I did not loose any important file. I would appreciate receiving help from the Microsoft community to fix my issues. Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi ConnerTenn,

Interesting that you have found (part of) a solution.

Exactly how did you delete the problematic sections? In OneNote online, in a local version on desktop or iPad?

Did you do something with the local cache files?

Best regards from Belgium,

Bart

Answer 2

Same problem here. This just happened today on multiple machines. After doing some troubleshooting steps, I've also concluded that this is a OneDrive issue because problematic notebook sections can't be opened via the web app.

I've been using OneNote since the first version and this is the first time I've ever considered migrating to another note platform. I have several years worth of notes and not being able to open a section even in the web app scares me.

Edit: I'm using OneNote Home and Student 2016 version 16.0.7070.2033 on both my machines.

Answer 3

I have Onenote 2016. Last night one of my notebooks had a sync error (0xE4020017). When I went to the Onenote Online, the Notebook is there and all the section tabs work except one. When it is clicked nothing happens. There is not even an error notice. It will not open the content. All the other sections were fine. 

So, as is the common practice with Onenote errors, I created a new section in my desktop version (labeled "archive"). That showed up in the cloud. I copied over the section. It worked. But later the "archive" section no longer works, except just before I wrote this review.

I also renamed the affected section, section1. The name transferred but none of the content did. I just get the same error number on the desktop. 

I can create a new notebook, add a new section, even write into a new page and it syncs. But when I copy files from the affected section (via an *older backup* so it *cannot be corrupted local backup files*) I get the sync error again. 

I have done a quick repair to no avail. I have closed the entire notebook. And I have reopened that notebook's backup into a newly named notebook. The name copied to the cloud. The section name copied. I copied one section (instead of all of them) but the content is missing again. No error named in the cloud. 

Something squirrelly is happening to my cloud service. I pay for that service. MS email support just tells me to go here! Multi-billion company that does not have a redundant system to bypass this problem?

Answer 4

Hi Edwin and Jaustin,

Sorry to read that you are having similar problems.

I hope that this is just a OneDrive glitch. it is indeed scary to think that I might have lost several years of notes....

Let's hope for a prompt response from the coresponding Microsoft teams

Best,

Raul

Answer 5

I am using Microsoft Office 365 and have suddenly been having the same issues as Raul for notebooks on Onedrive. I am currently using Onenote Version 16.0.7070.2036 on Windows 10, but I think the problems were occurring before I updated my Onenote version.

I have tried uninstall and reinstalling office, removing the old Onenote registry key folder (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OneNote), and using the web app. The problem sections cannot be synced or deleted, and any new notebooks that I create cannot be synced either, regardless of whether I create them on the computer or my ipad. I suspect this is a Onedrive issue.

Let me know if there's any more information needed that can help with solving this issue.

Cheers,

Edwin