OneNote offline and offline files

[Peter Mairhofer]

Hi,

First: The option concerning "Windows Offline files" in the options dialog
does not help!

My problem is: I've a network logon drive u: where all my personal files
are stored.
In u:, there is a directory "offline" where I save all my data that I want
to go with me when I take the tablet with me and have not network
connection.
u:\offline is also mapped to o:.

In ON03, all files were saved in the profile which was not so good because
there is an automatic daily backup on the server. Also, I could not access
them when I do not have the tablet with me.
Now I want to make use of the OneNote offline sync-feature to also store my
OneNote files on the server (for automatic backup, ...).

I've created u:\OneNote for that purpose - u: is NOT offline available
through windows offline files - only u:\offline!

The problem is now that in offline mode, all subduirectories in u:\OneNote
exists and some files but not all of them!
Now OneNote believes that the folder is not offline and I have an empty
NoteBook in offline mode!!

Why does the windows-offline-files-feature display folder in offline mode
that it mustn't display?

Is there a way to solve the problem?

Thanks a lot!

peter

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Peter Mairhofer shared these words of wisdom:

First: The option concerning "Windows Offline files" in the
options dialog does not help!

What for? What do you want it to do for you?

My problem is: I've a network logon drive u: where all my
personal files are stored.
In u:, there is a directory "offline" where I save all my data
that I want to go with me when I take the tablet with me and
have not network connection.
u:\offline is also mapped to o:.

Take your ON files out of there.
And exclude them from the "Offline Files" mechanism on your
laptop/tablet.
You'll run into a mess otherwise, sooner or later.

In ON03, all files were saved in the profile which was not so
good because there is an automatic daily backup on the server.
Also, I could not access them when I do not have the tablet with
me.

The situation with computers to-go-out has totally changed in ON 2007.
One might call it a shift of paradigm.
And the main thing is the necessary mental shift on the side of the
user.

Now I want to make use of the OneNote offline sync-feature to
also store my OneNote files on the server (for automatic backup,
...).

Pretty easy. That's how ON 2007 was designed.

I've created u:\OneNote for that purpose - u: is NOT offline
available through windows offline files - only u:\offline!

OK, that's the first step.

The problem is now that in offline mode, all subdirectories in
u:\OneNote exists and some files but not all of them!

Why? Did you not put them there?

Now OneNote believes that the folder is not offline and I have
an empty NoteBook in offline mode!!

Obviously you have not yet changed things on your tablet to the way
needed.
They main thing is:
a) Now no more notebook files on the mobile devices.
ON puts all of what it works with in a cache locally;
b) any changes made to notebooks when on the road are saved in the
cache;
c) when the mobile computer comes home again and is re-connected, the
cache and the files on the desktop/server are automatically synched.

Why does the windows-offline-files-feature display folder in
offline mode that it mustn't display?

Sorry. Don't know. I so far only touched the Windows offline features
and still do not know how it works. [grin,siiiigh]
I regularly (daily) let synching run on the data partition of my
laptop/tablet and the desktop and with an external HDD as a backup
device in addition. Works the way I need it.
But the OneNote directory is excluded <!!!>

Way to go:
0.) Explicitly close all notebooks in ON. Close ON.

1.) After having backup the files (in case of a case) Copy/Move all of
the OneNote stuff on your tablet to the server.

2.) Delete everything in the tablet's OneNote directory.
No need to have any files there, perhaps except the "Unfiled notes..."
("Nicht abgelegte Notizen) file.
On *can* keep "Unfiled " on the mobile device (and not synch that),
but that's no must. I would recommend to have just this category on
the tablet as - due to a bug - synching of this category does not yet
work 100% as it should.

3.) Then open ON on the tablet and through the menu "File | Open
Notebook ..." open all of your notebooks from your connected/mapped
drive "U:".
You'll see a sign (circle with an arrow <??>) on the notebook icon in
the left navigation pane representing the notebooks.
If the sign is green, the notebooks open on the tablet (better what's
in the local cache) are in synch with the sources on the
server/desktop. If the signs are red, this indicates that ON is
offline.

That's basically all.

HTH. If any further questions pls ask.

Rainald

 

[Peter Mairhofer]

Hi!

Thanks for your answer!

Peter Mairhofer shared these words of wisdom:


What for? What do you want it to do for you?

I just wanted to say this to prevent answer like "look in the
settings" ;-)

Take your ON files out of there.

I think you misunderstood me.
u:\ is NOT made available offline through windows offline-mechanism. It's
*only* the subfolder u:\offline!
The OneNote files are in u:\OneNote!

And exclude them from the "Offline Files" mechanism on your
laptop/tablet.

I've done this!

You'll run into a mess otherwise, sooner or later.

I know....

[...]

Now I want to make use of the OneNote offline sync-feature to
also store my OneNote files on the server (for automatic backup,
...).

Pretty easy. That's how ON 2007 was designed.

I've created u:\OneNote for that purpose - u: is NOT offline
available through windows offline files - only u:\offline!

OK, that's the first step.
good.

The problem is now that in offline mode, all subdirectories in
u:\OneNote exists and some files but not all of them!

Why? Did you not put them there?

I don't know! I would ask Windows if I could!
Again: I have NOT made u:\ (including u:\OneNote!!) made available
through windows offline-files mechanism - ONLY u:\offline.

Therefore this mustn't happen!
But it does!
I hate it :-(

Obviously you have not yet changed things on your tablet to the way
needed.
They main thing is:
a) Now no more notebook files on the mobile devices.
ON puts all of what it works with in a cache locally;

There are no local OneNote files any more!

b) any changes made to notebooks when on the road are saved in the
cache;

It should, yes!
But, again: Normally, u:\OneNote MUST NOT exists when I'm on the road
(because the folder is not made offline available). But instead, it
exists with empty subfolders but with no files in it!
That means that OneNote seems to believe (while being on the road) it's
connected to the network because the folder exists but no files are in
there! Therefor, OneNote does not display anything and the status in
OneNote is "online".

c) when the mobile computer comes home again and is re-connected, the
cache and the files on the desktop/server are automatically synched.

Should be.
If it would work.
If Windows offline files would work

Why does the windows-offline-files-feature display folder in
offline mode that it mustn't display?

Sorry. Don't know. I so far only touched the Windows offline features
and still do not know how it works. [grin,siiiigh]

Hehe, there are so many problems with them!

I already thought of synching the files manually with unison...
However, I've heard that in Vista this feature should work better because
it's completely new implemented.

But: Do I want to install this big fat Vista on my nice tablet (1.1Ghz
ULV, 512MB RAM, new Fujitsu Stylistic)? I do not want to have a slower
(new!) tablet after upgrading!

I regularly (daily) let synching run on the data partition of my
laptop/tablet and the desktop and with an external HDD as a backup
device in addition. Works the way I need it.
But the OneNote directory is excluded <!!!>

On our server, there's an automatic (redundant) backup every day. So I
won't loose anything and I do not have to think about it all the time.

Profiles are server-based but I use the hibernate feature and normally
the profile is not copied to the server for +7 days! So the automatic
update is only done all 7 days on my ON files which is not much (till
now! That's the thing I'd change)

Way to go:
0.) Explicitly close all notebooks in ON. Close ON.
done.

1.) After having backup the files (in case of a case) Copy/Move all of
the OneNote stuff on your tablet to the server.

backup done.
copying done.

2.) Delete everything in the tablet's OneNote directory.
No need to have any files there, perhaps except the "Unfiled notes..."
("Nicht abgelegte Notizen) file.
On *can* keep "Unfiled " on the mobile device (and not synch that),
but that's no must. I would recommend to have just this category on
the tablet as - due to a bug - synching of this category does not yet
work 100% as it should.

no folder, no file is on the tablet any more (concerning ON)

3.) Then open ON on the tablet and through the menu "File | Open
Notebook ..." open all of your notebooks from your connected/mapped
drive "U:".
You'll see a sign (circle with an arrow <??>) on the notebook icon in
the left navigation pane representing the notebooks.
If the sign is green, the notebooks open on the tablet (better what's
in the local cache) are in synch with the sources on the
server/desktop. If the signs are red, this indicates that ON is
offline.

Also done.

But I think the problem is on the stupid, stupid, very stupid windows
offline files!!!

Now I've created another share on the server exclusively for the OneNote
files.
Now it seemd to works. Very stupid hack but I should be happy that I can
solve the problem in Windows on some way

mfg,
peter

 

[Patrick Schmid]

Windows Offline Files is a pain...

So your current solution works?

Patrick Schmid
--------------
http://pschmid.net

Hi!

Thanks for your answer!

Peter Mairhofer shared these words of wisdom:


What for? What do you want it to do for you?

I just wanted to say this to prevent answer like "look in the
settings" ;-)

Take your ON files out of there.

I think you misunderstood me.
u:\ is NOT made available offline through windows offline-mechanism. It's
*only* the subfolder u:\offline!
The OneNote files are in u:\OneNote!

And exclude them from the "Offline Files" mechanism on your
laptop/tablet.

I've done this!

You'll run into a mess otherwise, sooner or later.

I know....

[...]

Now I want to make use of the OneNote offline sync-feature to
also store my OneNote files on the server (for automatic backup,
...).

Pretty easy. That's how ON 2007 was designed.

I've created u:\OneNote for that purpose - u: is NOT offline
available through windows offline files - only u:\offline!

OK, that's the first step.
good.

The problem is now that in offline mode, all subdirectories in
u:\OneNote exists and some files but not all of them!

Why? Did you not put them there?

I don't know! I would ask Windows if I could!
Again: I have NOT made u:\ (including u:\OneNote!!) made available
through windows offline-files mechanism - ONLY u:\offline.

Therefore this mustn't happen!
But it does!
I hate it :-(

Obviously you have not yet changed things on your tablet to the way
needed.
They main thing is:
a) Now no more notebook files on the mobile devices.
ON puts all of what it works with in a cache locally;

There are no local OneNote files any more!

b) any changes made to notebooks when on the road are saved in the
cache;

It should, yes!
But, again: Normally, u:\OneNote MUST NOT exists when I'm on the road
(because the folder is not made offline available). But instead, it
exists with empty subfolders but with no files in it!
That means that OneNote seems to believe (while being on the road) it's
connected to the network because the folder exists but no files are in
there! Therefor, OneNote does not display anything and the status in
OneNote is "online".

c) when the mobile computer comes home again and is re-connected, the
cache and the files on the desktop/server are automatically synched.

Should be.
If it would work.
If Windows offline files would work

Why does the windows-offline-files-feature display folder in
offline mode that it mustn't display?

Sorry. Don't know. I so far only touched the Windows offline features
and still do not know how it works. [grin,siiiigh]

Hehe, there are so many problems with them!

I already thought of synching the files manually with unison...
However, I've heard that in Vista this feature should work better because
it's completely new implemented.

But: Do I want to install this big fat Vista on my nice tablet (1.1Ghz
ULV, 512MB RAM, new Fujitsu Stylistic)? I do not want to have a slower
(new!) tablet after upgrading!

I regularly (daily) let synching run on the data partition of my
laptop/tablet and the desktop and with an external HDD as a backup
device in addition. Works the way I need it.
But the OneNote directory is excluded <!!!>

On our server, there's an automatic (redundant) backup every day. So I
won't loose anything and I do not have to think about it all the time.

Profiles are server-based but I use the hibernate feature and normally
the profile is not copied to the server for +7 days! So the automatic
update is only done all 7 days on my ON files which is not much (till
now! That's the thing I'd change)

Way to go:
0.) Explicitly close all notebooks in ON. Close ON.
done.

1.) After having backup the files (in case of a case) Copy/Move all of
the OneNote stuff on your tablet to the server.

backup done.
copying done.

2.) Delete everything in the tablet's OneNote directory.
No need to have any files there, perhaps except the "Unfiled notes..."
("Nicht abgelegte Notizen) file.
On *can* keep "Unfiled " on the mobile device (and not synch that),
but that's no must. I would recommend to have just this category on
the tablet as - due to a bug - synching of this category does not yet
work 100% as it should.

no folder, no file is on the tablet any more (concerning ON)

3.) Then open ON on the tablet and through the menu "File | Open
Notebook ..." open all of your notebooks from your connected/mapped
drive "U:".
You'll see a sign (circle with an arrow <??>) on the notebook icon in
the left navigation pane representing the notebooks.
If the sign is green, the notebooks open on the tablet (better what's
in the local cache) are in synch with the sources on the
server/desktop. If the signs are red, this indicates that ON is
offline.

Also done.

But I think the problem is on the stupid, stupid, very stupid windows
offline files!!!

Now I've created another share on the server exclusively for the OneNote
files.
Now it seemd to works. Very stupid hack but I should be happy that I can
solve the problem in Windows on some way

mfg,
peter