Lost Entire Work Day - All Notes Gone - not deleted

Hi @Carrie, 

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum and sharing your experience. 

I understand how important your OneNote content is, especially when it involves market plans and client information. I’m here to help you recover your notes and guide you through a few steps that may resolve the issue. 

It sounds like OneNote didn’t sync your changes before you powered down your desktop. This can sometimes occur if the app was closed before the sync completed or if there was a temporary issue with the connection to OneDrive or SharePoint. 

Let’s walk through a few steps to help you locate and recover your notes. 

1. You can try to check OneNote Backups 

• Open the OneNote desktop app on your desktop computer. 
• Click File > Info > Open Backups. 
• Look for a backup from the day you worked on your notes. 
• Open the backup and copy any content you need into your current notebook. 

2. You can search for Local Cache Files 

• On your desktop, go to this folder:  C:\Users<YourUsername>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneNote\ 
• Look for files ending in .one. 
• Sort the files by “Date Modified” and open any that match the time you were working. 
• These files may contain unsynced content that wasn’t saved to the cloud. 

3. If your notebook is stored in the cloud, you might try to check OneDrive or SharePoint Recycle Bin: 

• Go to your OneDrive or SharePoint site. 
• Open the Recycle Bin. 
• Look for any deleted sections or pages from the date in question. 
• Restore any items you find. 

4. Try to manual sync 

• Open the notebook on your desktop. 
• Click the sync icon next to the notebook name. 
• If you see an error, click “Try Again”. 
• Wait for the sync to complete before closing the app. 

5. Try to using the OneNote Diagnostics Tool 

• Visit Microsoft Support. 
• Download and run the OneNote Diagnostics Tool. 
• Follow the prompts to collect logs and submit them to Microsoft Support for further analysis.   

If you’ve tried these steps and still can’t locate your notes, I strongly recommend contacting your support engineer for further personalized assistance - Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn. Please let me know how it goes or if you’d like help with any of the steps above. 

Thank you again for your patience and for choosing Microsoft Q&A forum. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can assist you with. I’m here to support you every step of the way.

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Hi @Carrie, 

Good day! I hope this message finds you well.

It's been a while since our last conversation, and I wanted to check in on how things are progressing with the issues we've discussed. Have you had a chance to review the answers we have provided?

If there is anything else, I can help you, please don't hesitate to get in touch. I would be happy to help.

Thank you again for your patience and for choosing Microsoft Q&A forum. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can assist you with. I’m here to support you every step of the way.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment”.    

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.