Can't import saved notebook

Question

Can't import saved notebook

Christopher Pradhan 0

Trying to import a locally saved notebook to my new account.
The importer page asks if i want to upload all my files after accepting it just keeps loading.
the foler is 447MB i have enough space for it.

I can see all the .one files. But cant open individual files with onenote to import one by one.

Uploaded the whole notebook to ondedrive it sees all the .one files as notebook files but when opening i get the following error
--> "This section needs to be converted. Open this notebook section as a local file in the onenote for windows desktop app"

How do i do this ? cant open it from the desktop.

Edit*
Also tried to uploading a smaller subfolder with the .one files to the OneNote importer instead of the whole notebook. Getting the following message "The selected folder is not a valid OneNote notebook."

If i click the .one file in OneDrive i can choose to open it with the desktop app. But getting the following message. "This section was originally created in an older version of oneNote" after the initial message it shows "We couldn't open this section" but i do see the title of my OneNote page in the left pane.

At this point i'm also open to transferring the notebook to another app. Tried obsidian but it does not work with locally saved files.

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Answer 1

John Oliver 11,700 Independent Advisor

Hello Christopher Pradhan, thanks for posting this in our community. I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue. Moving your OneNote notebook to a new account should be simple, and I understand how frustrating it can be when things don’t work as expected—especially with such a large and important file.

Since OneDrive is showing the message, “This section needs to be converted. Open this notebook section as a local file in the OneNote for Windows desktop app,”

try use the OneNote Desktop (Office version) to open the files locally. You can do this by launching OneNote Desktop, going to File, selecting Open, then Browse, and navigating to the folder where your .one files are stored.

I recommend using the Office version of OneNote Desktop, as it's more suitable for importing and converting local notebooks. If you don’t have it installed, you can download it from https://www.onenote.com/download. This version offers better compatibility with older .one files, which the OneNote app from the Microsoft Store (OneNote for Windows 10) may not fully support.

Kind regards,

John Oli

Christopher Pradhan 0 Reputatiepunten

2025-10-20T06:53:43.18+00:00
Hi thanks for the reply. Still not able to open the notebooks.

I'm using mac os. if i hit file-> open notebook -> i get the following screen. Not able to go through my files to select a notebook.

If i click the .one file in OneDrive i can choose to open it with the desktop app. But getting the following message. "This section was originally created in an older version of oneNote" after the initial message it shows "We couldn't open this section" but i do see the title of my OneNote page in the left pane.

Trying to convert the file in OneNote but can't find the properties option of the file in mac os OneNote

Right-Click the Section: In OneNote, right-click on the section that’s causing the error.

Select “Properties”: This will open the section’s properties window.

Choose “Convert to 2010-2016”: If available, select this option to update the section to a compatible format

Also tried to uploading a smaller subfolder with the .one files to the OneNote importer instead of the whole notebook. Getting the following message "The selected folder is not a valid OneNote notebook."