OneNote/SharePoint/Vista/XP Not syncing properly

[Erik]

This is complicated so please bear with me on the background.

Users systems are a combination of Vista and XP running IE 7 and IE 8
OneNote version 2007 for all users

XP users collaborating on a single notebook via SharePoint have no issues
adding and editing sections, pages and notes in the same notebook. Users
changes are merged during synchronization and behavior what's expected.

Vista to Vista collaboration via SharePoint is a bit more complicated
because the users is required to check-in each section after synchronizing
with the SharePoint server. Sections not checked in are not visible by other
users. In order to make changes to sections, pages or notes, users much first
check out the section, make changes, synchronize and then check back into
SharePoint. There appears to be no way to check-in/out from within OneNote so
the user must be logged into the SharePoint site and OneNote. This does not
appear to be the case for XP to XP collaboration. In fact, between XP users,
there's never a need to check-in/out.

Vista to XP Collaboration

This is flat out broken. Sync errors abound, XP users experience inverted
section creation when edits are made to the same section by a Vista and XP
users. The older version gets labeled with higher number which misleads the
users into which version of the section is the most current. These new
sections need to be check in for everyone else to see them, and there is no
way to feel confident you're looking at the most up to date data.

Is this a known issue between Vista/XP and Vista/Vista OneNote collaboration?

Is OneNote/SharePoint working as designed?

We've decided we can't use it because we're afraid we won't capture all the
data.

 

[Ilya Koulchin]

Do your scenarios work if you disable required check-in/check-out on the
document library hosting the OneNote notebooks?
Also, please make sure you've applied all servicepacks, both for Vista
and OneNote.

Vista to XP Collaboration

This is flat out broken. Sync errors abound,

Can you give us some examples of the sync errors you're getting?

 

[Erik]

Ilya,

We did have check-in required turned on. I have turned that feature off.
Thank you.

I can try to provide examples of details, but I am afraid it could be quite
lengthy and difficult to follow. I could record a session if you have a way
to recieve a series of screen captures. The problem is the sync errors don't
tell you anything more than there was a sync error, and sometimes even though
you recieve the error, the sync still works, while other times you know
there's more content available, but you get no complaints that he sync
failed. How would you like me to proceed, with a video or textual response?

Thanks,

Erik

 

[Ilya Koulchin]

I can try to provide examples of details, but I am afraid it could be quite
lengthy and difficult to follow. I could record a session if you have a way
to recieve a series of screen captures.

Can you post the screenshots somewhere on the web? If not, feel free to
email them to me.

The problem is the sync errors don't
tell you anything more than there was a sync error, and sometimes even though
you recieve the error, the sync still works, while other times you know
there's more content available, but you get no complaints that he sync
failed.

If you open the File->Sync->Notebook Sync Status dialog, is there
anything listed in the errors tab? If so, what are the error codes?
If not, what other message does OneNote show that leads you to believe
there was a sync error? Please include the full, exact text of the
message, including any numbers or error codes that might be there.