OneNote SP1 Preview - Read Only File Save Error

[Darren Lock]

OneNote SP1 Preview
Windows 2000 Pro + SP4

When exiting OneNote if the .one file is read only (in my
case the USB Mass Storage Device was write protected) a
warning dialog is displayed indicating that the file is
write protected and the following options are provided:
Try Again, Save To New File, Discard and Cancel
I had assumed Cancel would stop the exit process but
instead OneNote exits and the updates are lost!!

 

[Erik Sojka]

I'll agree that is inconsistent with other Office program
behavior (i.e. if you File | Exit out of Word, then
cancel the unsaved dialog box warning, Word remains
open). Hopefully that will be fixed in a future
version.

I think a general warning against using nontraditional
storage such as a USB key is in order. Remember that ON
documents are not like documents created in other Office
programs. There are files that ON uses all of the time,
and that ON expects to be present every time it starts
up. *.ONE files are not files like *.DOC and *.XLS files
are, in that the application does not know or care what
happens to a file once it is closed, deleted or moved.

 

[Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote]

I think a general warning against using nontraditional storage such as
a USB key is in order. Remember that ON documents are not like
documents created in other Office programs. There are files that ON
uses all of the time, and that ON expects to be present every time it
starts up. *.ONE files are not files like *.DOC and *.XLS files are,
in that the application does not know or care what happens to a file
once it is closed, deleted or moved.

Yes, although I use a USB key for some of my OneNote folders and it works
very well. It does add something else to worry about, of course, but I
haven't lost any work or had any serious problems as a result of it. My
primary notebook folder is still on my C: drive it's just some of my other
folders that I have on the USB drive. If I start Outlook and haven't attached
my USB drive then those folders simply aren't available, but the rest of
the app still works.
I would be a lot more nervous about using a USB drive as my primary notebook
location, tho. In that case I think it would be a lot more important to
be aware of the status of your USB drive before you do anything with OneNote.

 

[Kathy J]

A word of warning on the thumb drives: If you are using them to store your
notes, be sure to use "Safely Remove Hardware" to unmount them. In some
cases the last bit of information isn't written to the thumb drive until you
do so. (Learned this the hard way, believe me. Had to do with a PPT
presentation that didn't get all the way on to the drive and got corrupted.)

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
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Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

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[Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote]

A word of warning on the thumb drives: If you are using them to store
your notes, be sure to use "Safely Remove Hardware" to unmount them. In
some cases the last bit of information isn't written to the thumb drive
until you do so. (Learned this the hard way, believe me. Had to do with
a PPT presentation that didn't get all the way on to the drive and got
corrupted.)

Yes, excellent point. I always do that - a lesson I learned the hard
way some months ago when I unplugged my MP3 player prematurely and corrupted
the entire music library on it. Had to reformat and reload the whole thing.
:-(

 

[Erik Sojka]

Very good point. I've also lost data by incorrectly using a USB key.

I somehow assumed (probably incorrectly, I know) that the original poster
used the USB key as the primary storage for the *.ONE files.