OneNote app on old laptop has all Notes but on new laptop must navigate to OneDrive > Docs > links to cloud

Question

Hi:

Switched laptops for a user. On old laptop OneNote app has all Notes. On new laptop, open OneNote app and logon (Business Std. account) but no Notes visible. However, can get to Notes on new laptop by navigating to OneDrive > Documents > links to Notebooks that open browser, i.e. can get to Notes in browser.

How to add Notes to local OneNote app on new laptop?

Thank you!

Bob H.

Answer 1

Because the notebooks are stored in the cloud (OneDrive/SharePoint), they must be opened from that cloud location in the OneNote app on the new laptop.

Use this process on the new laptop:

1. Make sure all notebooks are fully synced on the old laptop
   • In OneNote on the old laptop, verify there are no sync errors. Unsynced notes will not appear on the new device.
2. Open the notebooks from OneDrive/SharePoint in OneNote on the new laptop
   • In a browser on the new laptop, go to OneDrive and open the notebook (as already done).
   • In OneNote for the web, use Open in OneNote. This opens the same cloud notebook in the OneNote desktop app and adds it to the notebook list on the new laptop.
   • Repeat for each notebook link under OneDrive > Documents.
3. Confirm the notebooks stay listed in OneNote
   • After using Open in OneNote, the notebooks will remain in the desktop app’s notebook list and will sync from the cloud going forward.

If any notebook was originally stored only on the old PC (local path) and not in OneDrive/SharePoint, it must first be uploaded using the desktop version of OneNote on the old laptop, then opened from the cloud on the new laptop.

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References:

• Moving to OneNote on Windows
• Notebook storage options in OneNote for Windows 10
• Fix issues when you can't sync OneNote
• Open or create notebooks in OneNote for Windows 8
• Open an existing OneNote for Windows 8 notebook from your computer or a network file share