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
    2017-06-07T20:25:14+00:00

    Sometimes this works, but not reliably. Sometimes closing and opening again works, not always. Sometimes opening from OneDrive works, but not always. I get this 10-15 times a day. Yesterday I was taking notes on the big screen in a client meeting, and the notebook disappeared and I couldn't get it back. Seriously embarrassing. 

    I use OneNote for everything, but if this issue isn't fixed soon I'm going to have to look at other options. I can't spend so much time babysitting OneNote! 

    This only happens with the Windows version (Office 2010) for me. I have a Mac at home syncing with the same notebooks and never see this issue, and don't on my iPhone or iPad either. Just Windows, which is kind of funny.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-06-07T17:08:56+00:00

    I use OneNote 2010 all day so this issue is a major problem. None of the suggested workarounds seem to fully address the issue. My URLs do not have the caret (^) symbol in them.  Performing a sync takes about 10min per notebook. Right now I see

      ![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/0603aa32-6412-480c-a436-e4fb79663861?platform=QnA) 

    It has bee this way for over 20min. If I click on the link, it go to my OneDrive with no problems. This only happens on my work laptop (Win 7, OneNote 2010). My Android phone and home laptop (Win 10, OneNote 2013) are both fine.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-06-07T11:38:28+00:00

    Same problem here. OneNote 2010, OneDrive. Which update can I uninstall to get it work?

    Regards,

    Jarda

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-06-07T03:14:52+00:00

    It's also hit or miss for me as well and I don't care for the format of the online version either.  I'm also leaving OneNote open all day.  Although, sometimes all my notes and folders disappear while I'm using OneNote. Soooo....

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