Notebooks not syncing from desktop to online drive

Question

Almost all of my notebooks in OneNote have a pending sync symbol, but when I try to sync them all (File -> Sync All Notebooks), nothing happens. When I log in to my OneDrive and open OneNote, I don't see the changes, new notebooks, etc. that I see in the Desktop App...I very rarely use the online version.

What can I do to fix this? I'm scared to log out and log back in to find notebooks and sections missing. Being able to sync all the notebooks will give me great peace of mind in case something happens to my laptop (which I've had happen before). I'm in my last year of graduate school and have been using OneNote since undergrad for courses, teaching, etc. Basically, my entire academic career is in these notes.

Here is a screenshot of just some of my many notebooks:

Thank you for any advice or suggestions!

Answer 1

Dear Alao, Temi
Welcome, and thank you for sharing your issue in the Q&A forum.

Your fear of losing your notes is completely understandable, especially during your final year of graduate school. Since you are using macOS, here are the recommended steps, prioritizing data safety first.

The most immediate step is to ensure your current local changes (the ones you see on your Mac but not online) are securely saved.

• Create a new notebook in your OneNote application on Mac.
• For any sections showing the pending sync icon, right-click the section name and select Move/Copy.
• Choose Copy to duplicate that section into the newly created notebook.

This step ensures your most important data is duplicated locally, providing a safeguard in case closing and reopening the original notebook causes unsynced data loss.

Since you rarely use the online version, checking it now is vital to diagnose the issue.

• Log in to OneNote Online via your web browser.
• Check if your notebooks appear and if the content is up to date.
• If content is missing or old, it confirms the issue is with your Mac app failing to upload the changes. You must rely on the manual backup/copy you performed

Sync issues are often caused by expired

• Open OneNote on your Mac.
• Go to OneNote (in the Menu Bar) >>Preferences >> Accounts.
• Verify the login account(s): If you have multiple accounts (school, personal), identify the correct primary account.
• Check Sync Status: Go to Notebooks >> Sync Status.
  • If you see errors like "Password required" or "Server not responding," handle the notification accordingly (sign out and sign back in, check your network).
• Check Storage: Ensure your OneDrive storage is not full. If it is, no new data can be uploaded.

I hope this information is useful to you. Please attempt these steps. If you encounter any problems or need further assistance, feel free to share, I am always ready to support you.

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