Sync Request Failing
Sometimes OneNote stops syncing with the your notebooks that are stored in the cloud on their Office account. This usually affects all your devices and upon opening the application it will give an error describing the sync request failing.
Resolution
If closing completely/force quitting and reopening the applications does not resolve the issue, do the following:
- Log in to Microsoft 365 online by going to office.byu.edu and sign in with your netID@byu.edu.
- Open up OneNote online by clicking on the grid icon in the top left of the screen and selecting OneNote.
- Verify that you are able to view and open their saved OneNote notebooks.
- Exit/close the OneNote application completely. OneNote usually stays open in the background, so make sure that you have closed the program completely and that there is no icon in the Task bar (Windows) or that they right click the icon and select Force Quit (Mac). If needed, you can have a TSC agent show you how to do so.
- After doing so, reopen the application. You should no longer receive a sync error and all the notebooks should be accessible.
- You may want to also try creating a new notebook to verify that it syncs.
- Also note that Notebooks may be stored locally on the computer, making them inaccessible online.
Steps to move a notebook online
- Select File > Settings (next to the notebook in question).
- Continue to Share or Move > OneDrive - BYU Microsoft 365.
- Click on Notebooks.
- This is where notebooks are stored when they are created from OneNote online.
Files Not Appearing After Syncing
Changes made to OneDrive files within notebooks should be synced automatically between a user's desktop and Office Online, but at times these files do not appear. To resolve this issue, the user can follow these steps:
- Download the OneDrive application.
- Open each notebook manually to force the files inside the notebook to sync. The files may also need to each be opened manually to ensure the sync is initiated.
Further Troubleshooting
Another known issue OneNote seems to have fairly often is failing to sync due to a OneDrive syncing conflict.
When you have a OneNote notebook that is stored in OneDrive, you must not sync the OneNote notebook using both OneNote and OneDrive. Doing so causes weird sync issues. Microsoft sent the following Documentation on how to resolve this issue.
Problem
The notebook... saved on your OneDrive for Business... isn't syncing and gives you the error: "We're sorry, something went wrong during sync. We'll try again later. (Error code: 0xE402005F)" for over 6 of the sections in that notebook.
Cause
OneNote is a folder based application and not document based. Thus, OneNote files aren't individual files, but rather a collection of files. OneNote notebooks should always be synced and moved by the OneNote application, and not by file based synchronization systems such as a client application (such as the OneDrive sync client or DropBox local client) or offline folders.
The sync through OneNote client ensures the following:
- Web Apps and Mobile Sync - The built-in sharing functionality correctly sets up the notebook on the server so that OneNote Web App will be able to open it. Also, the mobile versions of OneNote (Windows Phone, iOS, Android) can only open notebooks that are shared through this mechanism.
- Offline edits - OneNote creates a local copy of the notebook for offline editing in the Local Settings folder and merges the changes to the cloud when a connection is re-established. Unlike other file synchronization methods however, OneNote can merge the changes without creating conflicts within the notebook.
- Efficient syncing - OneNote has built-in sync logic with OneDrive allowing it to synchronize only the changes, which is significantly more efficient than file synchronization mechanisms like the OneDrive Desktop app or DropBox as it knows about the file format and can sync only the changes.
OneNote connects directly with the OneDrive for Business server to sync notebooks. Because OneNote notebooks have their own sync mechanism, they aren't synced by the OneDrive for Business sync client. For OneNote client to sync notebooks in OneDrive document library the location link should correspond to https://onedrive_document_library_address/ of the OneDrive server. But saving OneNote notebooks using OneDrive for business sync client altered the location of the notebook to C: drive path.
When notebooks are saved/created using the OneDrive for Business sync client, OneNote client application did not recognize the correct location of the notebook. Therefore, presenting the error: “This section can't be edited because it's in archive format. Click here to enable editing." and we see an internet shortcut file in the OneDrive for Business sync client folders in place of OneNote notebooks. This behavior is by design, as all OneNote notebooks are represented as internet shortcuts within the OneDrive for business sync client application so that the OneDrive sync client allows OneNote to perform the syncing of the file. However, no data is lost during this process.
Resolution
This can be resolved by by following these steps:
- Remove OneNote notebooks folders that are being synced using OneDrive sync client.
- Browse the OneDrive for Business folder using Internet explorer.
- Use the "Open with explorer" option, open the notebook in Windows explorer mode.
- Copy the sections that are showing errors and paste them under a backup folder under My Documents/OneNote Backup.
- Open the sections to confirm that you are able to view the data.
- From Windows explorer, delete the corrupted sections.
- Resync the notebook using OneNote client and find the sections not showing up anymore.
- Allow it to completely sync then copy the sections one at a time from Open sections to the desired notebook.
Reference: Restrictions and limitations when you sync SharePoint libraries to your computer through OneDrive for Business (OneNote notebooks section)
Additional Information
Steps to change the location of notebooks
Below are the steps describing the recommended method for changing location of the notebooks. You should follow these steps to move all the notebooks they want to move to OneDrive for Business folder on the server.
- Open Internet explorer and browse to the SharePoint/OneDrive for Business site.
- After successfully signing in, open the Document folder and copy the address from the address bar of the Internet explorer.
- Paste it in to a notepad. Delete the portion of the URL after “username_company_com/” and copy the URL again. The edited URL will look like this “https://microsoft-my.sharepoint.com/personal/username_microsoft_com/” or “https://microsoft.sharepoint.com/teams/”
- Open OneNote desktop client.
- Go to File > Info > Settings (next to the name of the notebook that the you would like to move to the cloud location) and select Properties.
- In the Properties dialogue box click on Change Location.
- Paste the copied SharePoint/OneDrive for Business location in the address bar of the window and hit Enter to confirm that the location is accessible before moving the notebook to the document library.
- After the location shows folders like Documents and Site Assets etc., browse to the appropriate folder.
- If the folder already contains the notebook you are trying to move, the notebook will appear as a folder with the same name as the notebook you are trying to move. Create a new folder in the root Documents folder.
- Once in the folder, click on Select. (You must ensure that you are inside the folder. Merely selecting the folder will not put the notebook in that folder; it will not move the desired location)
- A notification will appear saying that OneNote notebook is now syncing to the new location.
Reference: OneNote syncing best practices