Share via

OneNote Notebook Data Lost After Sync — Need Help Restoring Older Version

Diana 0 Reputation points
2025-10-05T12:58:11.25+00:00

Hello Microsoft Support,

I need help recovering my missing OneNote notes and pictures from my notebook

I was signed into my Microsoft account on both my Android phone and Windows PC. My phone contained all my recent notes and photos (evidence), while the PC version had older, incomplete data.

Recently, when OneNote synchronized, the PC’s notebook (with less content) overwrote the phone version, and now all of my newer notes and pictures are gone from both devices.

Could you please help me:

  1. Check if there is an older or pre-sync version of my “ Notebook” in OneNote or OneDrive that can be restored?

Confirm whether OneNote keeps any server-side version history or backup that includes my original phone data?

  1. Advise how I can recover my lost pictures or restore a previous version of the notebook?

These were important records, so I’d be very grateful for any possible recovery assistance.

Kind regards,

Diana

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | Other | Android
0 comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Alex_T 2,030 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-10-05T20:21:53.4166667+00:00

    Hello Diana,

    Thank you for reaching out in Microsoft Q&A forum.

    Regarding the issue with your OneNote notebook synchronization, I understand how important your notes and pictures are, and I know how frustrating that situation can be.

    Please try the following solutions to try to recover your data:

    1. Check OneDrive Version History
      • Sign in to https://onedrive.live.com.
      • Locate your OneNote notebook folder.
      • Right-click the notebook file and select Version History.
      • Restore a version from before the sync issue.
    2. Use OneNote Page Version History
      • Open OneNote on your PC.
      • Navigate to File > Info > View Versions.
      • Select an older version of the page and restore or copy the content.
    3. Recover Lost Pictures
      • Check OneDrive Photos and Recycle Bin for deleted images.
      • Also review your Android device’s backup (Google Photos or local cache).
    4. Local Backup
      • On your PC, look in:
      • C:\Users\<YourName>\Documents\OneNote Notebooks
      • %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\OneNote
      • These folders may contain older notebook copies.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

  2. Alex_T 2,030 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-10-14T15:40:20.8066667+00:00

    Hello Diana, have you successfully solved the problem yet? If you found the answer you needed, please mark the helpful reply as accepted. This helps others in the community facing similar problems. Thanks for your understanding.

    0 comments

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.