problems with singing into one note and syncing

Question

Dear Microsoft Support,

I have been using OneNote for about a year, and shortly after I started using the app on my iPad, I began experiencing persistent sign-in and syncing problems.

I use OneNote every day, but I frequently receive the notification: “We’re having trouble syncing. Tap ‘Sign in again’ to fix this issue.” When I tap “Sign in again,” I try to sign in several times, but the sign-in page often only opens for a moment before disappearing, followed by a message saying that I was unable to log in. What is especially confusing is that the app still shows me as being signed in.

This problem has been happening for a long time, and my notebooks are apparently not syncing properly. When I check OneNote on the web using my MacBook, it says that my notebooks are synced. However, when I try to open one of them, the page simply keeps reloading and I cannot access my notes.

I am very concerned about this because I rely on OneNote every day and want to make sure that my notes are safely backed up and synchronized across my devices. I have really enjoyed using OneNote otherwise, and I would very much like to continue using it.

Could you please help me resolve this sign-in and syncing issue? I would especially appreciate guidance on how to make sure that all of my notes are safely synced without risking any data loss.

Thank you very much for your time and help.

Kind regards

Answer 1

Hi @Kosić Šoba, Danaja

As far as I know, this issue appears to be similar to the repeated sign-in prompts in OneNote for Mac, iPhone, and iPad that Microsoft documented in the past for the OneNote 2016 version.

You can refer via: Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in OneNote for Mac, iPhone, and iPad

While this article relates to an older OneNote 2016 scenario and may not reflect the exact root cause of your current issue, it may still be worth trying the troubleshooting steps outlined there to see whether they help resolve your sign-in issue.

As a first step, please ensure that OneNote and all Microsoft Office applications on your device are fully up to date. If the issue persists after installing the latest updates, you could try clearing the Office credentials and signing in again so that new authentication credentials can be created on the device. This is one of the troubleshooting methods that Microsoft previously recommended for repeated sign-in and sync-related issues.

This could help ensure that your credentials stored on the device are properly synchronized with Microsoft's services and that any outdated, missing, corrupted, or expired authentication tokens are refreshed. Based on my research, OneNote may still appear to be signed in, while the token used for synchronization is no longer valid, which can result in repeated sign-in prompts and synchronization issues.

Regarding data safety, clearing Office credentials only removes your locally stored sign-in information from the device. It does not delete notebooks, remove data from OneDrive, or affect content that has already been synchronized to the cloud. After signing in again, OneNote will recreate the required credentials and re-establish its connection to the notebooks.

Note: As a precaution, I would recommend to verify that your notebooks are accessible from OneNote on the web or directly from OneDrive before performing any credential reset steps. This helps ensure that your notebook data is safely stored in the cloud before making authentication-related changes.

Additionally, since the issue appears to have started shortly after OneNote was configured on your iPad. As a test, you could try to sign out of OneNote on the affected iPad (or temporarily remove the account from that device) and then monitor whether notebook access and synchronization behave normally on your other devices.

If synchronization becomes stable after the iPad is disconnected, this could indicate that the issue is related to locally stored credentials, cached authentication data, or a device-specific synchronization issue on the iPad. Before signing out, however, please verify that any recent notes are already available in OneNote on the web to avoid the risk of leaving unsynchronized changes only on the device.

You could give this a try and let me know whether it helps. If you have any additional concerns or questions, please feel free to reply below. I would be more than happy to assist further.

Answer 2

To reduce the risk of data loss first, verify which notes are already available in OneNote on the web. If a notebook opens there, that copy is stored online. If a notebook keeps reloading in the browser, that can indicate a server-side or notebook-access issue rather than only an iPad app issue.

For the iPad sign-in and sync problem, use this order:

1. Update OneNote and other Microsoft Office apps on the iPad. Microsoft notes that Office apps on iOS share credentials, so an outdated Office app can affect OneNote sign-in.
2. Clear the stored OneNote sign-in credentials on the iPad. Go to iOS Settings > OneNote > Reset OneNote > Delete Sign-In Credentials and turn it on.
3. Fully close OneNote. Open the app switcher and swipe up on OneNote so it is no longer running.
4. Reopen OneNote and sign in again.
5. If sync still does not resume, sign out of all accounts associated with OneNote and then sign in again.
6. After signing back in, force a sync from the iPad. In the Notebooks list, pull down with a finger. A spinning progress indicator should appear while OneNote tries to re-sync open notebooks.
7. On the Mac, make sure OneNote is also updated. If repeated sign-in prompts also happen there, Microsoft recommends signing out of OneNote, quitting it, opening Keychain Access, searching for items containing Office15, deleting those credential items, then reopening OneNote and signing in again. This removes authentication credentials, not notebook data.
8. If a notebook still cannot be opened in OneNote on the web, check whether the notebook is stored on OneDrive or SharePoint:
   • If it is on OneDrive, check the Service Status page for interruptions.
   • If it is on SharePoint, contact the administrator.
9. If the issue continues after these steps, report it through Help > Feedback in OneNote or use the OneNote forums on Microsoft Answers.

Notes on safety:

• Clearing credentials signs the app out but is intended to recreate the sign-in state cleanly.
• Deleting local notebooks or app data should only be considered after confirming the notebooks are already visible online, because local-only content could be lost.

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References:

• Fix issues when you can't sync OneNote
• Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in OneNote for Mac, iPhone, and iPad