Recover Microsoft Notes: Deleted OneNote Files

The tech giant Microsoft provides note-taking services called OneNote to its users. Using OneNote, users can create personal notes that support text, tables, pictures, screen clippings, audio commentaries, and drawings. Microsoft OneNote is a service mainly developed for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. These notes can also be shared with other users over the Internet or through any other network. OneNote comes as a part of the Microsoft Office Suite. It can also be downloaded as a standalone application for Windows 10. macOS, iOS, and Android. Microsoft also supports OneNote on the web, as a part of Office for the Web and OneDrive.

These notes come in really handy when you store critical information. However, human errors cannot be avoided. You may have accidentally deleted these notes and want them back. Or else, after deleting the OneNote file, you may have changed your mind and want them back. These accidental errors can even cost a fortune as these notes may contain very important information. If you want to recover your OneNote file after deleting it, then don’t worry. OneNote provides a lot of options to recover your deleted file. Here are a few methods to help you out –

Table of Contents

Method 1 – Search for Automatic Backups

If you are using the 2013 or 2016 version of OneNote, you may still be in luck. This is because these versions of OneNote keep a limited number of automatic backups by default. However, the location of these backups depends upon the storage of your computer. Here are the two most prominent locations where you need to search for the backup of your lost notes –

1 – Backups on Your Computer

Using OneNote, you can store notes on your device storage. If you are saving your note files on your computer, then your backup will most probably be there. Here is what you need to do to check for backups –

Open your Microsoft OneNote Application (Desktop application, mobile application or web application).
Go to the notebook where you lost your file.
Click on File, and then File Info.
Choose Open Backups.
A dialog box opens up. In the dialog box, there is a list of many folders. Each folder denotes a OneNote notebook that you have stored.
Click on the notebook folder that you want to open.
In there, there are different sectional backups of the notebok. Select the one that you want to recover and click Open.
Check the backup and if you find your deleted notes in the particular file, then right click on the section tab or the single page tab.
Use move or copy to restore your notes to their original location.

2 – Backups on OneDrive

If you are sharing your OneNote notes with other people, then you are most likely to store them on OneDrive. In such cases, your automatic backups will also be stored in OneDrive. Here is how you can check if there is a backup of your deleted file and recover it –

Open your Microsoft OneNote Application (Desktop application, mobile application or web application).
Click on the shared OneNote notebook where you have lost files.
Click on the View tab, and then select Deleted Notes from the dropdown list.
A list of all your recently deleted notes will apear here. Find the note that you are looking for in the list.
Once you find the file, right click on it and use Move and Copy to restore it to the original destination.

This is how you can recover your files from the automatic backup feature available on OneNote. However, there is no guarantee that your files will be found here. If you don’t find your files here, then keep reading to find the next possible way to retrieve your files.

Method 2 – Recover Microsoft Notes With Recycle Bin

In order to protect from accidental data loss, OneNote provides a Recycle Bin feature. In this feature, all the files that you delete will be stored in a recycle bin for 60 days. Within this recovery period, you can restore your files. After 60 days, your files are permanently deleted. You cannot get back your files after that. So, if it is less than 60 days from the day you deleted your file, then you can use this method to recover your file. If it has exceeded the recovery period, then this method is not for you. You can keep reading to find the perfect method that suits you the best.

The method of accessing the recycle bin of OneNote changes with the version of OneNote you are using. Find the version of OneNote you are using and follow the steps that are given below the respective version.

From OneNote 2016

Open the Microsoft OneNote 2016 application on your PC.
Go to the History tab from the toolbar.
From the options listed below, select the Notebook Recycle Bin tab. A list of all the notes that were deleted in the past 60 days appear here.
Scan and locate the page that you want to recover.
Right click on the particular file and choose Move or Copy.
Select the Notebook location where you want to restore your file.

From other OneNote Applications

Open the Microsoft OneNote application on your PC.
Make your application full-screen.
Click on the View tab from the toolbar.
From the options listed below, select Deleted Notes. A list of all the notes that were deleted in the past 60 days appear here.
Scan the list and find the file that you want to recover.
Right click on the particular file and choose Restore To.
Now, select the location where you want to restore your file.

Note: This method works only if your files are deleted within the past 60 days. Also, the files should be deleted only from the OneNote app or Desktop.

Method 3 – Use External Data Recovery Software to Restore OneNote

If any of the solutions mentioned above does not work for you or if you are facing problems with them, then you can make use of external data recovery software. There are dozens of data recovery software available on the internet. They help you recover all your deleted, lost, encrypted, and inaccessible files. However, not all of them are trustworthy. So you need to be careful in deciding what to use and what not to use. A few trustable professional data recovery platforms like Stellar Data Recovery and EaseUS can recover your deleted files in no time.

Method 4 – Contact Microsoft Support Team

If none of the methods mentioned above doesn’t work for you or if you are facing some other problem with your Microsoft OneNote account, then you can contact the Microsoft Support Team. Just visit the official website of Microsoft Support and you will a list of articles that can help you. If none of the articles there helps you, you can directly contact a support team member. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will find all the various methods to contact the support team.