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

Anonymous

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

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Anonymous

**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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49 additional answers

Anonymous

2017-06-07T23:04:41+00:00
Hi Everyone,

This may be premature but I could have a possible workaround for our OneNote 2010 issue. So far it seems to be working for me today on my Windows 10 machine for the past 5+ hours. Feel free to try this at your own risk and post a reply with your results.

Remove the OneDrive standalone client from your machine (assuming you're like me and don't use it). You can follow the instructions on this web site starting with the section header labeled "Complete Remove and Uninstall OneDrive". Here's a summary of what you will need to do:

Basically you'll need to run the following in an Administrator Command Prompt:
1. Terminate any process of OneDrive by running the following command:
  taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe
2. Uninstall OneDrive app by running one of the following command: In 32-bit Windows 10 (x86):
  %SystemRoot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
  In 64-bit Windows 10 (x64):
  %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
Cleaning and Removing OneDrive Remnants

Important

Make sure that the following folders no longer contain any user data before proceeding with the following commands.
```
rd "%UserProfile%\OneDrive" /Q /S
rd "%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\OneDrive" /Q /S
rd "%ProgramData%\Microsoft OneDrive" /Q /S
rd "C:\OneDriveTemp" /Q /S
```
Delete and Remove OneDrive in File Explorer Folder Tree Registry Key

OneDrive has registry keys which add itself to the Navigation Pane of File Explorer in Windows 10. After uninstalling OneDrive, these registry keys are orphaned, and can be removed.
```
REG Delete "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}" /f
REG Delete "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}" /f
```
After I completed those tasks, my notebooks sections in OneNote 2010 have remained! If you try this, let me know if it works for you as well. Keep your fingers crossed that this is our solution until Microsoft comes up with a permanent fix.

Update: 9 hours later and my sections are still there!

EDIT: My sections disappeared again after 24 hours. This workaround seems to not be a permanent solution. :(
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Anonymous

2017-06-08T14:01:41+00:00

this issue just started yesterday for me on a Win7 desktop using OneNote 2010. I tried this which re-sync'ed online notebks immediately and so far so good.

Go to Services then find each of these and re-start: MS Shadow copy, offline files, office software protection, webclient.

not sure which did the trick but I'll take it
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Anonymous

2017-06-08T15:10:18+00:00

This didn't work for me. I ended up just switching to the Windows 10 App instead of the 2010 installed version I was used to. That may not be an option for a lot of people but it saved me.
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Anonymous

2017-06-08T15:44:24+00:00

@sydsho if you like you can try the solution I posted yesterday. It has been working for me for nearly a full day now. TLDR: uninstall OneDrive client from your Windows 10 machine (https://techjourney.net/disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-completely-in-windows-10/)

EDIT: My sections disappeared again after 24 hours. This workaround seems to not be an effective solution. :(
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