OneNote: why does this message keep coming up: There are no sections open in this notebook or section group

Anonymous
2017-05-31T20:12:42+00:00

Hello,

I have OneNote 2010 downloaded from a CD onto an upgraded Windows 10 pro -- from Windows 8.1 pro -- and it's been working okay, but for the past two weeks I've been seeing a message that states, "There are no sections open in this notebook or section group," regarding all three of my Notebooks, which in fact contain many sections, and have for years. The first time I saw the message I became scared because I thought it meant that my OneNote Notebooks' sections were all missing, with all my work and research gone, but then -- lo and behold -- the sections reappeared, usually after I synced -- sometimes, however, the syncing didn't work right away, and so I would repeatedly try it and anything else that came to mind.

This "disappearance" has happened over and over, but, again, only for the past two weeks. I don't know what's going on, and I'm a bit concerned that one day my Notebook sections might never reappear again.

I might add that I've also been seeing a message repeatedly pop up up asking if I want to upgrade my OneNote 2010, but I always decline; I don't know if this has anything to do with the "disappearance" problem.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2017-06-07T22:00:39+00:00

**Update 6/9 6PM PDT:**According to the OneDrive team they've fixed this issue. Please let me know if it recurs.

OneNote Engineer here: We're aware of this problem and working to get it resolved ASAP. Thanks for letting us know!

6/9: We've narrowed it down to a problem with receiving an updated authentication token from OneDrive. This results in OneNote believing you don't have permission to the sections and removing them from display.

Update 6/8: As mentioned above, if you open the notebook in Edge and restart all processes, OneNote 2010 appears to properly get the auth token and sync properly.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-06-07T03:14:21+00:00

    im having the exact same problem.

    i have tried closing the notebooks and reopening them from the onedrive stored location.

    notebooks load and then a couple of hours later i get the same things happen again.

    also tried starting a new notebook with a different new name and transfering the sections to the new notebook with the same response.

    i also have a windows 10 computer that was upgraded from windows 7.

    i have found that the included onenote 2013 does not lose the sections when i lose them in onenote 2010.

    if i close onenote 2010 and restart the application then it will sync and reload from onedrive.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-06-07T02:56:24+00:00

    For me this work around is hit or miss.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  I have found that if I go to OneDrive and open the online version, it is always there, bu tit is a pain to have to work in the online version.  Hope MS gets this fixed soon.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-06-06T20:28:54+00:00

    Go to Twitter #onenote #disappearingnotebooks @msonenote

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-06-06T19:44:19+00:00

    Same issue

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