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
    2017-06-09T21:39:06+00:00

    Is Microsoft continuing to work towards a solution?  I've been experiencing this same issue (my post here).  The female lawyer I work with has been experiencing issues again, and I would love to see this resolved in a timely manner.

    I am going to be trying the suggestion, but it does kind of sound like a temporary measure - I've already re-opened the notebooks through OneDrive, but the issue reasserts itself after a time, sometimes a few hours, sometimes after a day or so.

    Thank you,

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-06-10T01:16:01+00:00

    The OneDrive team informs me that the problem has been fixed. Please let me know if the problem recurs.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-06-10T01:16:26+00:00

    There's a small link at the bottom under "Other Download Options"

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-06-10T01:20:27+00:00

    Thank you, Nick Andre.  My OneNote 2010 (part of my Office 2010) has been stable today.  I wanted to wait one more day to make sure.  I'm grateful the OneDrive team focused resources on this problem to fix it.

    Update as of 6-10-2017: OneNote 2010 still stable.  Thank you the issue appears to be fixed!

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