Moving OneNote files to a new non-networked computer via SkyDive

[Stephen Stollmack]

I had a well-developed set of notebooks on my home computer and I
needed to transfer them over to a new laptop. I mistakenly thought I
would be able to use a thumb drive like I do with Excel or Word
files. I checked a few forums and was advised that I could set up a
Windows Live ID account and then upload the notebooks to SkyDrive and
so be able to open them from any computer. Two things happened which
have resulted in me spending hours spinning my wheels. I went through
the upload process on my desktop. Then, I went back to open OneNote
(on the desktop) and found it to be devoid of notebooks (like empty).
After a desperate mouse click here and mouse click there, I was able
to restore the NoteBook named “Personal”, which has 24 separate
notebook sections each with up to several pages in each, but several
other Notebooks (which I had created) had disappeared. So, my 1st
problem is how to get those notebooks back. If I can figure out where
they are stored in the "sky" and manage to get the missing ones back
this will help me solve the second problem which is how to open them
from a second (non-networked computer). When I attempted to do that
(from the laptop) tonight I somehow pulled up a “Notebook properties”
box which gave me the “path” to what I thought was ALSO the SkyDrive
location for my desktop’s OneNote files (something like
https://skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/pesonal/personal?cid=4a7ddafaf496
…). When I switched back to the Desktop and entered this URL it took
me to an address which had the following information on:
Recent Documents: Name (OneNote Notebook name, I think), time last
opened, location (Skydrive), last modified by, and size. There were 3
entries:
Personal, General, and Notebook1 with file sizes 11, 367, and 18 KB,
respectively.

I clicked on “General” and OneNote Web App General on SkyDrive opened
with a number of notebook sections with information on how to use
OneNote bit none of my notebooks or Notebook sections.
So, I back tracked and clicked on Notebook1 and this took me to a
totally empty file titled OneNote Web App Notebook1 on SkyDrive.
So, I back tracked and clicked on Personal and this took me to a
different NoteBook file titled OneNote Web App Personal on SkyDrive.
There were four sections listed: Journal, Scrapbook, Shopping and
Travel (none of which had any entries in them).

I came to the conclusion that this location (that I somehow got from
the laptop) is not the one that has the files uploaded from the
desktop version of OneNote. I apologize for writing so much but I am
trying to figure out what it is that I don’t know. Maybe someone can
simply tell me how to locate my OneNote file that I sent to the sky
from my Desktop and then how to get back those notebooks that
disappeared. Actually, at this point I would just like to make a safe
landing on the ground (with my lost NBks, if possible).
Thanks

 

[Stephen Stollmack]

I had a well-developed set of notebooks on my home computer and I
needed to transfer them over to a new laptop. I mistakenly thought I
would be able to use a thumb drive like I do with Excel or Word
files.  I checked a few forums and was advised that I could set up a
Windows Live ID account and then upload the notebooks to SkyDrive and
so be able to open them from any computer.  Two things happened which
have resulted in me spending hours spinning my wheels.  I went through
the upload process on my desktop. Then, I went back to open OneNote
(on the desktop) and found it to be devoid of notebooks (like empty).
After a desperate mouse click here and mouse click there, I was able
to restore the NoteBook named “Personal”, which has 24 separate
notebook sections each with up to several pages in each, but several
other Notebooks (which I had created) had disappeared.  So, my 1st
problem is how to get those notebooks back.  When I click on "File" andchoose "View Synch Status" the >"Notebook Location" box is empty. If I goto my laptop and do this it gives me an address but the only files at that>address are the instruction Pages that come with the application.
Maybe someone can simply tell me how to locate my OneNote file that I sentto the sky
from my Desktop and then how to get back those notebooks that
disappeared.  Actually, at this point I would just like to make a safe
landing on the ground (with my lost NBks, if possible).

 

[Tony Vella]

I'm not sure I understand the whole thing but I had a couple of notebooks on
my desktop and wanted to work on them on my lap top where I have the same
OneNote 2010 installed. I copied the files in the backup folder of my
desktop to the backup folder of my laptop [using a flash drive] and they all
work fine for me. Forgive this old geezer if this reply is useless - it's
the advice I was given when I wanted to move notebooks over from one machine
to another. This is also what I do with all other Office Pro files.
--
Tony Vella
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

I had a well-developed set of notebooks on my home computer and I
needed to transfer them over to a new laptop. I mistakenly thought I
would be able to use a thumb drive like I do with Excel or Word
files. I checked a few forums and was advised that I could set up a
Windows Live ID account and then upload the notebooks to SkyDrive and
so be able to open them from any computer. Two things happened which
have resulted in me spending hours spinning my wheels. I went through
the upload process on my desktop. Then, I went back to open OneNote
(on the desktop) and found it to be devoid of notebooks (like empty).
After a desperate mouse click here and mouse click there, I was able
to restore the NoteBook named “Personal”, which has 24 separate
notebook sections each with up to several pages in each, but several
other Notebooks (which I had created) had disappeared. So, my 1st
problem is how to get those notebooks back. If I can figure out where
they are stored in the "sky" and manage to get the missing ones back
this will help me solve the second problem which is how to open them
from a second (non-networked computer). When I attempted to do that
(from the laptop) tonight I somehow pulled up a “Notebook properties”
box which gave me the “path” to what I thought was ALSO the SkyDrive
location for my desktop’s OneNote files (something like
https://skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/pesonal/personal?cid=4a7ddafaf496
…). When I switched back to the Desktop and entered this URL it took
me to an address which had the following information on:
Recent Documents: Name (OneNote Notebook name, I think), time last
opened, location (Skydrive), last modified by, and size. There were 3
entries:
Personal, General, and Notebook1 with file sizes 11, 367, and 18 KB,
respectively.

I clicked on “General” and OneNote Web App General on SkyDrive opened
with a number of notebook sections with information on how to use
OneNote bit none of my notebooks or Notebook sections.
So, I back tracked and clicked on Notebook1 and this took me to a
totally empty file titled OneNote Web App Notebook1 on SkyDrive.
So, I back tracked and clicked on Personal and this took me to a
different NoteBook file titled OneNote Web App Personal on SkyDrive.
There were four sections listed: Journal, Scrapbook, Shopping and
Travel (none of which had any entries in them).

I came to the conclusion that this location (that I somehow got from
the laptop) is not the one that has the files uploaded from the
desktop version of OneNote. I apologize for writing so much but I am
trying to figure out what it is that I don’t know. Maybe someone can
simply tell me how to locate my OneNote file that I sent to the sky
from my Desktop and then how to get back those notebooks that
disappeared. Actually, at this point I would just like to make a safe
landing on the ground (with my lost NBks, if possible).
Thanks

 

[Stephen Stollmack]

To Tony Vella:
Yes. This is exactly what I tried to do (initially before some forum
advised me that I could do the transfer via SkyDrive) but I must have
copied the files to the wrong directory or something. What did you
mean when you said you copied them from the backup directory to the
backup directory on the new machine. What is that? Like what files
did you copy and from what directory? Did you find some way of
copying the notebooks from within OneNote or did you use the file
manager Explorer to copy the files?
Thanks

 

[Tony Vella]

Hi Stephen. Here is what worked for me:

1. With OneNote open, go to "options" and then "backup & save".
2. In the "save" box there are three folders indicated; the second one
being "backup folder". --- Note the location of this folder.
3. A little lower down the same page select button "backup all notebooks
now".
4. Wait for backup to finish.
USING WINDOWS EXPLORER
5. Go to folder location and copy on flash-drive all sub-folders and files.
6. Go to new computer and find out where its ON backup folder is.
7. Copy all files on flash-drive to this folder.

This process worked fine for me; hope it works for you.