Mac OneNote ver. 16.60 "Backups" does NOT show in Preferences

Igor,

I do appreciate your efforts—thank you.

The lack of Mac OneNote local backup or the ability to backup/sync with iCloud or other cloud service (thus, forced OneDrive usage) has always been my only complaint.

I consider OneNote "best of breed" in note-taking apps. Yet, for years, I have regularly tried every other note-taking application. I have done this due to my overarching fear that one day, OneDrive would fail, and my data would be lost. Now, with nearly two decades of data tucked away in OneNote, I cannot simply move to another application without an enormous expenditure of time. I've tried. Even still, no other application provides all of what OneNote delivers.

Back to backups. The "backup solution" from Microsoft for Mac users has always been to use the OneNote web app to manually download a zipped notebook. I have dozens of notebooks, many of which I enter new data daily. To take the time from my schedule and daily remember to zip and wait for a download of every notebook is beyond unreasonable. Thus, when the developers announced a local backup solution for OneNote, I was more than glad.

Of course, now for some unknown reason, not all Mac OneNote users have this new backup ability. Unfortunately, what this snafu also tempts me to ponder is the reliability of local backups when and if finally we do all have access. Microsoft does get many things right, yet, I do not think my uncertainty of the reliability of local backups is unwarranted.

I understand new features can result in bugs, however the announcement and release of a new feature before fully testing the feature is irresponsible. That rush-to-market model of software development has been customary of Microsoft for well over a decade—the user base is the ultimate test bed.

In the past, too many times, Microsoft released a new service, product, or feature set only to shutter it within a few years. I am tempted here to list the applications & services, and, of course, Windows Phone, and Microsoft stores that opened and then all closed. All that behavior does is create a culture of doubt.

I am not against trials. I am against presenting new products & services and including heavy promotion to enlist a user base, only to later pull the rug out from under them. The style and manner of letdowns conducted by Microsoft could only continue from a position of arrogance or simple sloppiness. None of the much smaller tech companies I deal with put out services, applications, or products with the "bug" history of Microsoft.

Lest anyone think this is sour grapes of a whiny, ungrateful newb, I have been in the computing world since the first iteration of DOS, a heavy Microsoft customer for more than 30 years, built computers, networks, did tech support, and am still heavily invested in tech.

Yes, that manner of Microsoft unreliability is exactly why I eventually banished all Microsoft services, applications, and products (barring OneNote and forced OneDrive) and moved to Apple. While Apple has issues at times like any company, they have never been anything like what I have experienced with Microsoft. My secret desire for years now has been that Apple would build a OneNote contender.

Well, enough early-morning rant; it is not directed at you, Igor. You have been responsive and helpful. In my opinion, you have far exceeded the type of help I have encountered too many times in the past from Microsoft. Again, thank you.

I will re-visit this forum daily to see if any progress has been made. If the bug is repaired rapidly, and local backups function properly, I will gain a new respect for Microsoft. If it is not, I will maintain my present demeanor of "well...ya' know...it's Microsoft...."

Thank you.

dlant

I just saw this update and searched for it and like you same problem. I'm on an iMac 2017 running Monterey 12.3.1; i7 so clearly this is a widespread issue. I suspect many people don't even know about this incredibly useful feature so are not looking. I stumbled upon it during another support call as for 2 months any files I embed via creating a link to Onedrive..those links don't work.

Wow. From borderline elation tonight when I saw in App Store that this feature has (finally) been added -- I immediately downloaded the update on both my Macs: an intel iMac running Catalina 10.15.7 and a Mac Studio rocking the latest Monterey (12.3.1) -- to exasperation when "backups" was nowhere to be found in either of my updated 16.60 (I checked and triple-checked) OneNote apps.

Is this new feature working for anyone?

Like others here, I'm a great admirer of OneNote and use it religiously on all my desktop and mobile devices. I've also learned through bitter experience that you can never have enough backup options for your priceless data, and that the Cloud can sometimes sync errors ... or disasters ... leaving you with no reliable backup other than a local one.

I’m afraid that I also have the same problem on an Intel mac, and I have also tested this on a M1 mac with a fresh install.

Thanks,

Hiren