After upgrading OneNote I find the page I was working on has disappeared

Question

After upgrading OneNote I find the page I was working on has disappeared

Joy Cordell 20

I closed OneNote, uninstalled the old 2016 (Mac) version, installed the new Office Home 2026 and now the page I was working on is missing. I have looked in the deleted files--nope. This is the local version, can't look for online backup.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Kai-H 23,910 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi, Joy Cordell

The page may have existed only in OneNote’s local cache or backup and was never fully saved elsewhere. Uninstalling the older app may have removed that cache, but a local backup or Time Machine copy could still exist.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

Do not uninstall OneNote again, clear its cache, or use a cleanup app, as this could remove recoverable data.

Open OneNote and select File > Open Backups. Open the newest section backup, find the missing page, then Control-click it and choose Move or Copy to restore it.

If no backup appears, in Finder press Command + Shift + G and open:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.onenote.mac/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft User Data/OneNote

Check any version-numbered folders for backups dated before the upgrade.

If Time Machine was enabled, restore the com.microsoft.onenote.mac container from a date before OneNote was removed, preferably to a separate location first.

Also search all notebooks using Option + Command + F and check File > Open Recent, in case the page is in a closed notebook.

Thank you for your patience in reading, I hope this information has been helpful to you.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment."

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Kai-H 23,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-22T06:43:10.7666667+00:00

Hi, Joy Cordell

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue.

Have you had a chance to check the replies provided?

Any update would be appreciated.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Kai-H 23,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-22T06:43:10.7666667+00:00

Hi, Joy Cordell

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue.

Have you had a chance to check the replies provided?

Any update would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Joy Cordell 20

I did all the steps except for this one, which I didn't quite follow.

If Time Machine was enabled, restore the com.microsoft.onenote.mac container from a date before OneNote was removed, preferably to a separate location first.

Could you provide more specific steps?

TIA

Kai-H 23,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-23T06:20:24.2533333+00:00
Hi, Joy Cordell

The safest approach is to save the current OneNote data first, then restore the older folder from Time Machine.

Quit OneNote completely.

In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder, then paste: ~/Library/Containers/

Find the folder named com.microsoft.onenote.mac.

Copy that folder to your Desktop and rename the copy OneNote-current-backup. Do not skip this step.

Keep the Containers folder open. Connect the Time Machine backup drive.

Open Time Machine using Spotlight, or select the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and choose Browse Time Machine Backups.

Use the timeline on the right to select a backup made before OneNote was uninstalled.

Select com.microsoft.onenote.mac, then select Restore. Time Machine normally restores the folder to its original location.

If asked whether to replace the existing folder, choose Replace only because you already saved the current copy on the Desktop.

Open OneNote without signing out, removing notebooks, or clearing anything. Search for the missing page using Option + Command + F.

If the page appears, copy its contents into a new document or notebook immediately. If restoring the folder causes a problem, quit OneNote and put the OneNote-current-backup copy back into ~/Library/Containers/.
Joy Cordell 20 Reputation points

2026-07-23T20:39:28.24+00:00

Super helpful and it worked. The odd thing was that there was no folder named com.microsoft.onenote.mac but I took at chance on the folder simply labeled Microsoft OneNote and that worked. As soon as I copied it to the desktop, the name resolved to com.microsoft.onenote.mac. And Time Machine was great--as soon as I opened the backup date I wanted, it resolved to the Container folder and I could click Replace and open OneNote and everything was there. Thank you!
Kai-H 23,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-26T06:23:42.39+00:00

Glad to hear that the issue has been resolved.

If you find my answer helpful, you can mark as "yes" so other people with similar issues can benefit from it.

Have a nice day!