How to roll back a OneNote notebook

Question

How to roll back a OneNote notebook

pavel a 20

I've moved a section from a OneNote notebook to a new notebook. The target notebook has not received the section, and it has been disappeared from source notebook. All my data is lost. How to roll it back?

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Answer accepted by question author

Norah-L 9,360 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello pavel a

I’m sorry this happened. When a section disappears during a move, it may still be in the Notebook Recycle Bin, a local backup, or Misplaced Sections if the move failed to sync.

Please try the options below:

If the move just happened, press Ctrl+Z in OneNote immediately.
Open both notebooks in OneNote for the web and search for a unique word from the missing section. This helps confirm whether it reached the cloud but is not showing in the app.
In the desktop app, select History > Notebook Recycle Bin. If the section appears, right-click it, select Move or Copy, and restore it. Deleted sections may remain there for up to 60 days. Recover deleted notes
Check the notebook list for Misplaced Sections. If found, right-click the section and copy it to another notebook. Resolve misplaced sections
On Windows desktop, select File > Info > Open Backups, open an earlier copy, then copy the section back.

Please let me know how it goes after trying these steps, and I'll be glad to continue looking into it with you.

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Norah-L 9,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-04T05:04:24.3566667+00:00

Hi pavel a

Have you had the chance to check my answer yet?

Please do keep me updated.
pavel a 20 Reputation points

2026-08-04T17:36:37.1+00:00

Hello Norah-L,

Thank you for the prompt reply.

The lost section indeed was in "misplaced sections", so the data was not lost. A big relief.

So I decided not to roll back the source notebook and continue with moving manually.

Then there was additional problem: the source section name contains a comma and this seems to prevent it from moving directly into the target notebook. So I started copying pages one by one, and after several pages got sync errors "server busy".

Then something strange happened: several hours later, after a break, I found that the section has been moved from "misplaced" to the target book, with correct (original) name. I don't understand how this happened. Maybe it just took time to move several dozens of pages, but finally OneNote did this automatically. Maybe a Microsoft support personnel intervened. I got no further messages or notifications. I have not thoroughly verified the notes, they look OK.

So the issue looks resolved. Hope these details can help the next user in similar situation.

Thank you again

-- P.
Norah-L 9,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-04T23:29:03.75+00:00

Good day pavel a

I’m really glad to hear that the section was recovered and eventually moved to the target notebook.

Thank you for sharing the outcome. These details should be useful to anyone who encounters the same behavior.

Best regards.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Norah-L 9,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-04T05:04:24.3566667+00:00

Hi pavel a

Have you had the chance to check my answer yet?

Please do keep me updated.
pavel a 20 Reputation points

2026-08-04T17:36:37.1+00:00

Hello Norah-L,

Thank you for the prompt reply.

The lost section indeed was in "misplaced sections", so the data was not lost. A big relief.

So I decided not to roll back the source notebook and continue with moving manually.

Then there was additional problem: the source section name contains a comma and this seems to prevent it from moving directly into the target notebook. So I started copying pages one by one, and after several pages got sync errors "server busy".

Then something strange happened: several hours later, after a break, I found that the section has been moved from "misplaced" to the target book, with correct (original) name. I don't understand how this happened. Maybe it just took time to move several dozens of pages, but finally OneNote did this automatically. Maybe a Microsoft support personnel intervened. I got no further messages or notifications. I have not thoroughly verified the notes, they look OK.

So the issue looks resolved. Hope these details can help the next user in similar situation.

Thank you again

-- P.
Norah-L 9,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-04T23:29:03.75+00:00

Good day pavel a

I’m really glad to hear that the section was recovered and eventually moved to the target notebook.

Thank you for sharing the outcome. These details should be useful to anyone who encounters the same behavior.

Best regards.

Answer 1

Hello Nora,

Thank you for the prompt reply.

The lost section indeed was in "misplaced sections", so the data was not lost. A big relief.

So I decided not to roll back the source notebook and continue with moving manually.

Then there was additional problem: the source section name contains a comma and this seems to prevent it from moving or copying as a whole directly into the target notebook. So I started copying pages one by one, and after several pages got sync errors "server busy".

Then something strange happened: several hours later, after a break, I found that the section has been moved from "misplaced" to the target book, with correct (original) name. I don't understand how this happened. Maybe it just took time to move several dozens of pages, but finally OneNote did this automatically. Maybe a Microsoft support personnel intervened. I got no further messages or notifications. I have not thoroughly verified the notes, they look OK.

So the issue looks resolved. Hope these details can help the next user in similar situation.

Thank you again

-- P.