Web version overwrote local, more current copy

Question

I had an older version OneNote on my local Mac with a local copy of my notes. When my laptop was refreshed, a newer version of OneNote was installed and the Web copy of my notes overwrote my local copy (Web version was 4 months behind). I have the OneNote directory and files from the local version, but the newer version of OneNote cannot read them.

Is there a way to get the bits for the older version of OneNote or get these files converted so I can recover the data?

Thanks!

Annette

Answer 1

Hi AnnetteBeatty1,

Thanks for your valuable feedback and sharing updates with us and I understand your frustration, I know how hard it is to work when things don’t go as expected, and I appreciate your kind words.

As you know that OneNote for Mac requires access to OneDrive using a Microsoft account. Actually the "local" copy is a cache file where OneNote stores the notes before syncing them. It is not readable, except by OneNote. we can't open it in OneNote.

Your above-mentioned error will occur when we overwrite existing cache files with old cache files and forcing OneNote to read.

Regarding to, “Is there a way I can find out which version was used for these files?” I’m afraid that there is no out of box way to check. I’m sorry that it doesn’t meet, I do understand the inconvenience caused by it.

I appreciate your understanding and stay safe!!

Best Regards

Waqas Muhammad

Answer 2

Waqas,

Thanks so much for sending me the instructions! I've pulled down my backups from TimeFinder in the directory you indicated. My issues is that for work, our backups do not include the Applications folder, so I don't have a backup of the version of OneNote I was using. I pulled down an older version of OneNote (15.41) and I get this error when I tried to use my old files

"OneNote can't use the current notebook cache because it's from a pre-release version. If you continue, you will lose any changes to online notebooks that haven't been synced. We're sorry. To keep your changes, please click Cancel. Then start your pre-release version of OneNote (you might need to reinstall it) and fully sync before upgrading again."

Is there a way I can find out which version was used for these files? I can download and install the correct version from here - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac.

Thanks so much for all your help!

Annette

Answer 3

Hi AnnetteBeatty1,

Thanks for your valuable feedback and sharing updates with us and I really appreciate your effort and your precious time doing. First, please accept my apologize (its my humbly request please don't mind) because you meet such an issue and I understand it effort on your daily work.

And I appreciate your kind words.

Try to go into the Time Machine (Time Machine runs a backup once an hour,), back in time, and see the ~/Library/Containers/com.microsfot.onenote.mac files from different dates. Here I find similar thread, you may try and see if the content can be retrieved. OneNote for Mac: Recovering Data from OneNoteOfflineCache_Files

In the meantime for some reason you still cannot recover your OneNote latest content, to avoid this situation and avoid data loss in the further,  we’d suggest you Save your Office files into OneDrive, then turn on AutoSave. AutoSave is a new feature available in OneNote, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint for Office 365 subscribers that saves your file automatically, every few seconds, as you work.

With these options enabled, you’re giving yourself the best chance of having a backup of your work, or a version that you can recover, if something goes awry. All it takes is a few clicks, but it could save you lots of time and effort further down the line.

I appreciate your understanding and stay safe!!

Best Regards

Waqas Muhammad

Answer 4

I found an older copy of OneNote and installed it on my computer. From my time machine backup (on my Mac), I have the older OneNote directory which had my later versions of the files (~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.onenote.mac/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft User Data/OneNote/). How do I now recover using this version of the files?

Really, my issue is that OneDrive overwrote my local OneNote with a stale version, so I lost months of data. I'm trying to recover that data.

Thanks!

Annette

Answer 5

Hi AnnetteBeatty1,

First, my pleasure to assist you.

As per your description, please don’t worry, we can work together to narrow down and resolve the situation.

Regarding to, “Is there a way to get the bits for the older version of OneNote " Which version of Office do you have on your Mac OS? In order to install older version, here is a link for Update history for Office for Mac(Microsoft 365,2019)(select the old version to install Office on your Mac OS).

I appreciate your understanding and stay safe!!

Best regards

Waqas Muhammad