Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking application developed by Microsoft Corporation. You can create notebooks in OneNote. It syncs your notebooks automatically for a particular account. Due to this, you can open your OneNote notebooks on any device by signing in to your Microsoft account and continuing from where you left the last time on another device. While creating or editing notes on OneNote, some users have experienced syncing issues with OneNote. In this article, we will see some possible solutions that you can try if OneNote is not syncing.
Fix OneNote is not syncing
If you find OneNote is not syncing, first check your internet connection. The most common cause of OneNote syncing issues is a poor internet connection. If your internet is working fine but OneNote is still not syncing, you can try the following suggestions to resolve the issue.
- Close and reopen OneNote
- Check the Service Health Status of OneDrive
- Close the OneNote application and log in to onenote.com
- Sign out from Office applications, unlink OneDrive, and sign back in
- Force sync your OneNote notebooks
- Clear the OneNote Cache
- Use OneNote Diagnostics Tool.
Let’s see all these fixes in detail.
1] Close and reopen OneNote
Sometimes, syncing issues can be fixed simply by closing and reopening the OneNote application. You can also try this and see if it helps: Close your OneNote application, wait for a few minutes, and then open it again. Now, check if it can sync your notes.
2] Check the Service Health Status of OneDrive
This solution is for users who saved their OneNote notebooks in OneDrive. If OneDrive is having issues, you will experience syncing issues with the notes you have saved in OneDrive. You can check the OneDrive status by visiting the Service Health Status page. If the page shows any outages, wait until Microsoft resolves the problem.
When Microsoft fixes the outage issues, your OneNote sync problems will also get resolved automatically.
3] Close the OneNote application and log in to onenote.com
Some users were able to fix the problem by using this method. Close OneNote applications from all your devices. After that, open your web browser and log in to the web version of OneNote. Now, open the OneNote application on your device and wait for some time. The sync process should get started automatically.
4] Sign out from Office applications, unlink OneDrive, and sign back in
If the above trick did not fix your problem, sign out from Office applications, unlink OneDrive, and sign back in. The steps to do this are written below:
How to sign out from Office applications
The following instructions will help you sign out from Office applications.
- Open OneNote or any other Microsoft Office application.
- Go to “File > Account.”
- Click Sign out.
- You will receive a prompt message “Removing this account will sign you out from this and other Office applications.” Click Yes.
The above steps will remove your Microsoft account from other Office applications.
How to unlink your account from OneDrive
Follow the instructions given below to unlink your account from OneDrive:
- Click on the OneDrive icon on the Taskbar.
- Click on the gear-shaped icon on the top right side and select Settings.
- Select the Account tab and click Unlink this PC.
- In the confirmation box, select Unlink account.
After performing the above steps, sign back into the Office applications and link your account again to OneDrive. Simply open OneNote or any other Office application. Go to “File > Account.” Click Sign in and follow the on-screen instructions.
After performing the above steps, the issue should get fixed.
Read: OneNote Spell Checker not working.
5] Force sync your OneNote notebooks
You can also force your OneNote notebooks to sync. The steps to do this are as follows:
- Open OneNote.
- Go to “File > Info.”
- Click View Sync Status.
- Select Sync automatically whenever there are changes.
- Click Sync all.
6] Clear the OneNote Cache
Clear the OneNote Cache and see if that helps.
7] Use OneNote Diagnostics Tool
Download and use the OneNote Diagnostics Tool from Microsoft. It enables users to collect and send Diagnostic Logs to the OneNote team.
How do I fix OneNote Server Timeout error 0xE000078B?
If you see OneNote Error 0xE000078B (Server Timeout), it means OneNote is having trouble communicating with the Microsoft server. The server could be busy and is unable to respond to your requests. Wait and then try syncing your notes again in a few minutes.
Here are some posts to help you if OneNote is not syncing:
- OneNote sync error 0xE0190193 (403: Forbidden)
- OneNote sync error 0xE000005E (ReferencedRevisionNotFound)
- OneNote sync error 0xE4020045 (Unsupported Client)
- OneNote sync error 0xE40105F9 (Unsupported Client Build)
- Error 0xE000002E, Something went wrong during OneNote sync
- OneNote sync error 0xE4010641, You’re offline or network location is unavailable.
Why is my OneNote not syncing?
The most common cause of syncing issues with OneNote is poor internet connectivity. Therefore, if you are facing sync issues with OneNote, first, check if your internet is working fine or not. Another reason why OneNote is not syncing is the OneDrive server outage. If you have saved your OneNote notebooks in OneDrive and OneDrive is experiencing a server outage, you will face syncing issues with OneNote.
Read next: Fix OneNote Not working, Not opening, Problems, Errors, Issues.
OneNote is not syncing with OneDrive
If OneNote is not syncing with OneDrive then this post shows how to properly enable syncing of files from OneNote to OneDrive.
How do I force OneNote to sync?
To force OneNote to sync, open OneNote and go to “File > Info > View Sync Status.” Now, click on the Sync Now button next to the notebook that you want to sync. If you want to force sync all your OneNote notebooks, click on the Sync All button.
Read: OneNote can’t sync this section because you’ve run out of space in your OneDrive or Office 365 Account (Error 0xE00C0796).