One note syncing not working at all, I’ve tried everything

Lucia Oduro 0 Reputation points
2026-10-04T20:29:41.5933333+00:00

My one note desktop wasn’t letting me add new notebooks so I made some on the one note on my iPad. The notebooks wouldn’t sync so I signed into my OneNote online and I could see the notebooks that I had made. I’ve tried deleting the cache, uninstalling and reinstalling, deleting my windows credentials literally everything and my desktop one note won’t sync. If I open a notebook from the online OneNote in the desktop one it says I can’t open it because it either doesn’t exist or I don’t have permission. I use the same account across my devices for one note so why is this happening? The notebooks I made on my iPad also say that I can’t edit them because they won’t sync. I haven’t touched one note since June and it was completely fine back then.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | Other | Windows
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  1. Chloe-V 13,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-10-05T03:58:00.5166667+00:00

    Hi @Lucia Oduro
    I’m sorry you’re dealing with this, especially after the notebooks were working normally before.

    Since you have already completed the common app and credential troubleshooting, please do not uninstall, reset, or remove the account from the iPad again while those notebooks contain unsynced notes.

    As a diagnostic test, create one new blank notebook directly in OneDrive on the web, add a test page, and then check whether that notebook appears in both the Windows desktop app and the iPad app. This will help determine whether the problem affects only the existing notebooks or the connection between OneNote and your account in general.

    Please also check your available OneDrive storage and share the complete error code shown under File > Info > View Sync Status in desktop OneNote. The exact code is important because messages about a notebook not existing, permissions, storage, and an unavailable notebook location require different handling.

    Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-10-04T20:30:01.08+00:00

    Since the notebooks are visible in OneNote for the web but the desktop app says they do not exist or there is no permission, the most likely causes are a desktop sync/authentication problem or a stale local notebook connection.

    Try this order:

    1. Confirm the notebook opens in OneNote for the web
      • Since the notebooks already appear there, that helps show the notebooks exist in the account and are not missing.
    2. Open the notebook from the web into the desktop app again
      • In OneNote for the web, open the notebook.
      • Select Open In OneNote.
      • If prompted, sign in with the correct account information.
      • If this fails again, continue with the steps below.
    3. Sign out of all OneNote accounts, then sign back in
      • This is recommended for account authentication sync issues.
      • After signing back in, try syncing the notebook manually.
    4. Manually sync the notebook in desktop OneNote
      • Go to File > Info > View Sync Status.
      • Select Sync Now next to the affected notebook, or Sync All.
      • Also check whether File > Options > Sync has Sync notebooks automatically enabled.
    5. Close and reopen the affected notebook connection
      • This can reset the sync connection between the desktop app and the OneNote service.
      • Important: before closing a notebook that is not fully synced, copy and back up any recent unsynced notes first.
      • In the desktop app:
        1. Select File.
        2. On Info, right-click the notebook URL shown under the notebook name and select Copy.
        3. Next to the notebook name, select Settings > Close.
        4. Paste the copied URL into a browser.
        5. When it opens in OneNote for the web, select Open in Desktop App.
    6. Reset stored Windows sign-in credentials again, then restart Windows
      • Since this was already tried, repeat it only if the sign-out/sign-in and reopen steps above do not work.
      • Close OneNote and browser windows.
      • Open Start > Settings.
      • Search for Credential Manager.
      • Open Windows Credentials.
      • Remove entries beginning with MicrosoftAccount and MicrosoftOffice.
      • Restart the PC, open OneNote, and sign in again.
    7. Make sure desktop OneNote is fully updated
      • In OneNote 2016, go to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.
    8. Check whether the issue is only with one notebook or all notebooks
      • If only one notebook or one section is failing, the notebook content or section metadata may be the problem.
      • A documented workaround for section-level sync problems is to create a new section in the same notebook, copy the pages from the old section into it, and then run File > Sync All Notebooks.
    9. For the iPad side
      • On iOS, there are no options to force sync a single notebook.
      • For account-related sync problems, remove the account in OneNote for iOS, close the app, reopen it, and sign in again.

    If the notebooks still open in the web app but desktop continues to report that they do not exist or there is no permission, that points more strongly to a desktop authentication/connection issue than to the notebooks being missing.

    References:

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