OneNote making my text invisible!

Anonymous
2017-03-08T20:19:19+00:00

I imagine this is some sort of bug...

OneNote in Office 365 on Windows 10 

I use OneNote for a lot of notes, including one section that is password protected. All of a sudden a few days ago, it has this very annoying glitch where the text I type is invisible.

It basically allows me to type / click check boxes, etc., but it is all invisible. As in, it creates space for the words but there is nothing there. I mostly have been using the password protected section, so I notice it there. If I close OneNote and open it back up, the previously invisible words then show up. Sometimes it lets me type regularly again, or sometimes it just makes any new text I type invisible also. 

If I press backspace, for example, the cursor moves backwards but the deleted words are still visible (until I close the program, for example).

If I switch to a non-password protected section the words are usually invisible while typing also- but if I keep typing gibberish then after a few seconds, this seems to reset and do the same thing as closing / reopening the program.

Any ideas? This is quite annoying!

Thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2017-03-10T02:24:31+00:00

Hello,

This issue is also occurring for me. I will type text and the cursor will move as if it is typing but the text does not appear. A short-term solution I have found is that switching to another section and then switching back to the "trouble" section then displays the text when typing.

I have tried both Quick and Full Repair.

The version is Office 365 Home Edition OneNote 2016 desktop app on Windows 10.

Help appreciated!

Thanks,

Jeff

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-04-23T11:41:50+00:00

    I have the same issue. I'm not using any fancy network paths, just using the default OneDrive for syncing.

    switching sections back and forth seems to fix it temporarily, but is annoying.

    I also sometimes experience the preview of a container, when dragging, being a completely black rectangle, which might be related.

    I use a 4k monitor and have on average about 3 OneNote windows open side by side, filling the whole screen, though sometimes some more on other Virtual Monitors (using Dexpot).

    I also use Outlook like that (giving it a third of the screen. I heavily use the tasks Outlook/OneNote bridge.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-05-01T01:07:47+00:00

    Same problem. Happens across multiple computers, different fonts (including different font sizes), different OneNote books. I have tried all the steps mentioned in this forum discussion, but still the problem persists.

    The temporary workaround involving switching between pages helps temporarily, but the issue is severe enough and frequent enough that it is difficult to use OneNote (I cannot check off items properly, and I cannot write new tasks properly, and I cannot use it for taking notes in meetings properly).

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-05-16T20:45:56+00:00

    Thank you! I read this whole thread. Your workaround works!

    None of Microsoft's posts are useful: just boilerplate configuration questions and instructions to reinstall. Clearly this is a bug in OneNote affecting a bunch of users.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-05-19T16:08:04+00:00

    This is happening to me as well.  It could be due to a video driver update.  I'm running

    • Multiple 4K monitors
    • On an NVidia card

    Is the latter a common vein?

    Thank you,

    Josh Usovsky

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