One note Page Deleted Accidentally and I Can't Recover It

Question

One note Page Deleted Accidentally and I Can't Recover It

Jenny 0

Hi,

I accidentally deleted a page in one notes and I tried checking the recycle bin in one notes and one drive. I cannot find it. Please let me know what I can do. I really need that page back.

Thanks,

Jenny.

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Rukshan edirisinghe 1,645

Hi @Jenny

Don't worry yet, the page is very likely still there. A deleted OneNote page doesn't go to the OneDrive recycle bin, because it isn't a separate file. It goes into the notebook's own recycle bin and stays there for up to 60 days. As far as I know, the iPhone and iPad app doesn't show that bin, so you'll need a browser or a computer for this part:

Open onenote.com in a browser (a computer is easiest) and sign in with the same account.
Open the notebook the page was in.
Go to the View tab and select Deleted Notes.
Find your page, right-click it and choose Restore. It should then sync back to your iPhone too.

If you have the OneNote desktop app on a PC, History > Notebook Recycle Bin shows the same list.

Roughly how long ago did you delete the page?

If this resolved your issue, please consider accepting it as the answer. If the page isn't in Deleted Notes, let me know and I'll be happy to keep helping.

Reference:

Jenny 0 Reputation points

2026-10-09T02:54:44.47+00:00

It was deleted about 2 hrs ago. I checked the recycle bin already on my Mac browser and I did not see it. Just checks again now and still nothing.
Rukshan edirisinghe 1,645 Reputation points

2026-10-09T03:30:55.2166667+00:00
Thanks for checking, Two things often cause this.

First, Deleted Notes only shows pages for the notebook that’s open. If you have more than one notebook, open each one in the browser and check View > Deleted Notes again.

Second, if you have OneNote installed on your Mac, try it there too:

On the View tab, click the small arrow next to Deleted Notes and choose View Deleted Notes.

If your page is there, Control-click it, choose Restore To, and pick a section.

If it’s still missing in both places, the page may have been deleted on your iPhone before it finished syncing. In that case, please don’t sign out of OneNote or reinstall it on the iPhone for now, so nothing unsynced gets cleared.

Which notebook was the page in, and is it the one you checked in the browser?

Answer 2

Francisco Montilla 31,345 Independent Advisor

Hello,

Which device were you actually using when you pressed delete on the page (was it an iPhone, iPad, Mac app, or somewhere else)? Also, do you happen to have the OneNote app installed on your Mac or another computer, or were you only using the web browser?

Jenny 0 Reputation points

2026-10-09T03:23:38.3766667+00:00

I was on the app on my iPad. I have it installed on my Mac and I also checked the recycle bin on my Mac and on the browser.
Francisco Montilla 31,345 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-09T03:26:06.12+00:00

The iPad actually has its own separate recycle bin built right in that might not have pushed the deleted status cleanly to your Mac yet.

Open the OneNote app on your iPad, tap the back arrow at the top left until you see your full Notebooks list. Scroll to the very bottom of the Notebooks column or tap the Notebooks header to find Deleted Notes and check if your missing page is listed there.

If you see it, tap and hold the page name, select Restore, and choose the section where you want it placed.

Let me know if that works!
Jenny 0 Reputation points

2026-10-09T03:39:30.3866667+00:00

I don’t see a deleted notes section in the notebook list. Even in the settings
Francisco Montilla 31,345 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-09T03:43:42.6266667+00:00

Okay. Let's check your Mac desktop app cache since that is the most reliable place to recover unsynced deletions.

Open the OneNote app on your Mac. At the top Mac menu bar, click View and look for Deleted Notes. If it is empty or grayed out, click OneNote in the top menu bar next to the Apple logo, go to Preferences, select Backup, and see if there are any backup folders or open backup files listed there.

Does either of those show up on the Mac app?
Jenny 0 Reputation points

2026-10-09T04:09:47.0366667+00:00

It does but when I try to open it, it say it needs an application to open it in. When I chose Microsoft word, I noticed it was in odd characters. Like a kind of coding language
Francisco Montilla 31,345 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-09T05:19:47.82+00:00

Those backup files ending in .one (I guess) are raw OneNote notebook files, which Word cannot read and just opens as unreadable gibberish. You need to open them directly inside the OneNote app instead.

Inside OneNote on your Mac, click File in the top menu bar, then click Open Notebook (or Open Backup). In the file window, browse to that exact backup folder you just found, select the section file, and click Open.

That should open a temporary Open Sections tab in your notebook list where you can see your pages normally. Let me know if the missing page shows up inside that section.