Why do some (not all) edits to OneNote pages via MS graph return error 20280

Hi Andy,

Thank you for sharing the detailed information.

Error 20280 is not currently documented in the official OneNote API error code reference. Based on previously reported cases, it appears to be an internal OneNote service-processing error returned through as HTTP 500. Similar errors have previously affected other OneNote operations and were treated as service-side issues.

A successful page update should return 204 No Content. Since the same request works for some pages but fails consistently for others, the issue is more likely related to the internal state of those pages or sections than to authentication, permissions, or the overall request format.

Please try the recommended tests:

1/ Test a minimal title update

PATCH https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/onenote/pages/{page-id}/content
Content-Type: application/json
 
[
 {
 "target": "title",
 "action": "replace",
 "content": "Test title"
 }
]

Run the same request against one working page and one failing page.

For your reference:

• Update OneNote page content
• Update page using Microsoft Graph

2/ Retrieve the affected page with generated IDs

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/onenote/pages/{page-id}/content?includeIDs=true

This will help determine whether the affected page can be read correctly and whether its generated element IDs are available for PATCH operations.

3/ Copy a failing page

Copy an affected page to a new section, retrieve the new page ID, and test the PATCH request again. If the copied page works, the original page or section may have an inconsistent backend state.

4/ Create a new page in an affected section

If a new page can be updated, the problem is likely limited to existing pages. If the new page also fails, the section itself may be affected.

Since the error has persisted for more than a day, limited retries with exponential backoff are reasonable, but continuously retrying the same pages is unlikely to resolve an object-specific issue.

If the problem continues, please contact your IT admin to open a support request and provide the UTC timestamp, request-id, client-request-id, one working page ID, one failing page ID, and the results of the tests above. These details will help the support team investigate the notebook’s backend state.

They can follow the steps outlined in this article to contact Microsoft Support: Get support – Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.

If you’re unsure who your administrator is, this guide may help: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support. 

I hope this information helps. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to let me know.