How to Back Up Your Notebooks in OneNote

To back up your notebooks in OneNote for Windows, go to File > Options > Save & Backup and select Back Up All Notebooks Now. For automatic backups, choose a Backup Folder on the same screen, ideally on a USB drive or network folder instead of your computer’s main drive.

This covers the OneNote app for Windows (OneNote for Microsoft 365, OneNote 2024, OneNote 2021, and OneNote 2016). Older OneNote 2013 has the same Save & Backup screen. OneNote for Mac and OneNote for the web have no backup setting, so they use the export method further down. The steps come from Microsoft’s Back up notes, Restore notes from a backup, and Export OneNote notebooks articles.

Which Backup Method Should You Use?

Method	Where it works	What you get	Best for
Back Up All Notebooks Now	OneNote for Windows	Copies of every section in your backup folder	A quick safety copy before big changes
Automatic backups	OneNote for Windows	Copies on a schedule, weekly by default	Ongoing protection
Export as a OneNote Package	OneNote for Windows	One .onepkg file for a whole notebook	Archiving or moving a notebook
Export notebook	OneNote for the web	A ZIP file of the notebook	Mac users and personal OneDrive notebooks
Export as PDF	OneNote for Windows and Mac	A read-only copy of a page, section, or notebook	Sharing or printing

Notebooks saved to OneDrive already sync to the cloud, but syncing isn’t a backup. If you delete a page or a sync problem overwrites it, the change syncs everywhere. A backup is a separate copy you control.

Check Which OneNote You Have

The backup settings are only in the OneNote app for Windows, the one that has a File tab at the top left. Microsoft ended support for the separate OneNote for Windows 10 app on October 14, 2025, and that app is now read-only. Its unsynced changes were backed up automatically and can be opened in the OneNote app for Windows, which comes with Microsoft 365 and is available in the Microsoft Store. See Microsoft’s page on what is happening to OneNote for Windows 10.

How to Back Up OneNote Notebooks Right Now

Make a manual backup whenever you add or change a lot of information you can’t afford to lose.

1. In OneNote, select File > Options. The OneNote Options dialog box opens.
2. Select Save & Backup in the list on the left.
3. On the right, under Save, select Back Up All Notebooks Now.

4. Wait for the notice that the backup is complete, then select OK.

The Backup Folder line on the same screen shows where the copies were saved. Each notebook gets its own folder inside it, holding copies of its sections.

How to Set Up Automatic OneNote Backups

Pick a backup location that isn’t on your computer’s hard drive. If that drive fails, your notes and their backups would be lost together.

1. Go to File > Options > Save & Backup.
2. Under Save, select Backup Folder, then select Modify.
3. In the Select Folder dialog box, go to your backup location, such as a private network folder or a USB drive. Create a folder there if you want to keep the backups together.
4. Choose Select, then select OK.

OneNote now backs up your notebook files automatically every week. To back up more often, change Automatically back up my notebook at the following time interval in the same Save & Backup settings. If you back up to a USB drive, leave it plugged in when backups are due, or run a manual backup each time you connect it.

How to Keep Older Backup Copies

The newest backup is usually the one you need. To keep an archive of important notes over time, make sure newer backups don’t replace the older sets.

1. Go to File > Options > Save & Backup.
2. Increase Number of backup copies to keep.
3. Select OK.

More copies take more space in the backup folder, so check the drive’s free space now and then.

How to Export a Whole Notebook as a OneNote Package

A OneNote Package is a single file with the .onepkg extension that holds a whole notebook. It’s easy to copy to an external drive or another cloud service.

1. Open the notebook in OneNote for Windows.
2. Select File > Export.
3. Under Export Current, select Notebook.
4. Under Select Format, select OneNote Package, then select Export.

5. Choose a folder in the Save As dialog box, then select Save.

To open the package later, double-click the .onepkg file on a PC with OneNote for Windows and choose where to unpack the notebook. The package can’t be opened in OneNote for the web.

The same Export screen can save a page, section, or notebook as a PDF. A PDF is a snapshot, so changes you make later in OneNote won’t appear in it. A PDF is good for sharing but can’t be edited in OneNote. See Microsoft’s Export notes from OneNote as a PDF.

How to Restore OneNote Notes From a Backup

You can only restore from a backup you’ve already made, so set up one of the methods above first.

1. Select File > Info > Open Backups.
2. In the Open Backup dialog box, double-click the folder for the notebook you want, select the section, and select Open. The backed-up section appears in the Open Sections area.
3. Review the pages to find the content you need.
4. To restore the whole section, right-click its section tab and select Move or Copy. To restore only certain pages, right-click those page tabs and select Move or Copy.
5. Choose where the section or pages should go, then select Copy.
6. When you’re done, right-click the backed-up section and select Close, then select your original notebook from the Notebooks list.

The Move button isn’t available when you restore from a backup. That keeps you from deleting part of a backup you might need later.

If you also keep important email, you can back up your Gmail messages with Google Takeout.

How to Recover Deleted Notes Without a Backup

If you didn’t make a backup, OneNote may still have the content:

• Undo: If you just deleted something, press Ctrl+Z.
• Notebook Recycle Bin: On the History tab, select Notebook Recycle Bin. Right-click the deleted page or section, select Move or Copy, pick a destination, and select Move. Deleted pages and sections can be recovered for up to 60 days. A deleted section group can’t be recovered as a group, but its sections can. See Microsoft’s Recover deleted notes.

• Page Versions: On the History tab, select Page Versions. Earlier versions appear in the page list. Right-click the one you want and select Restore Version. See Review the history of a page.

How to Export a Notebook From OneNote for the Web

On a Mac, or if you don’t use OneNote for Windows, you can download a copy of a notebook from OneNote for the web. This only works for notebooks stored on a personal OneDrive, not OneDrive for work or school or SharePoint.

1. In a web browser, go to OneNote for the web at onenote.com/notebooks and sign in.
2. Right-click the notebook you want to export.
3. Select Export notebook.
4. Check the size shown, then select Export. You’re notified when the download finishes.

The download is a ZIP file containing a folder named after the notebook. Large notebooks can need several gigabytes of free space. If the download stops partway, you may be low on space; free some up and try again.

To open an exported notebook, Microsoft’s steps use OneNote for Windows: extract the ZIP file, check that the folder contains the OneNote files, and double-click OneNote Table of Contents. This doesn’t work on iPhone or iPad. The matching import feature is deprecated, so treat the ZIP as a backup copy rather than a way to move notebooks between accounts.

Notebooks saved to OneDrive stay in sync with the cloud. To keep that sync working, follow the steps for syncing OneDrive on Windows 11. OneDrive also has its own size limits for notebooks and other files, which you’ll find with the steps for uploading large files to OneDrive.

Because that sync works both ways, removing old notebook files from your OneDrive folder also removes the online copy, so read how to delete files from OneDrive on Windows 11 before you clean them up.

Troubleshooting

• There’s no Save & Backup option. You’re using OneNote for the web, OneNote for Mac, or the retired OneNote for Windows 10 app. Install the OneNote app for Windows, or use Export notebook in OneNote for the web.
• Open Backups shows nothing. No backup has run yet, or the backup folder was changed. Check the Backup Folder path in Save & Backup, then run Back Up All Notebooks Now.
• The USB drive or network folder isn’t connected. OneNote can’t save to a location that’s missing. Reconnect it, or pick a new Backup Folder.
• Export notebook is missing or fails for a work notebook. Web export doesn’t support OneDrive for work or school or SharePoint. Use the backup or OneNote Package method in OneNote for Windows instead.
• The export says the notebook is too large. Split it into smaller notebooks and export each one.
• The ZIP file only contains errors.txt. Open that file in a text editor to see what went wrong, and include its contents if you contact Microsoft support.
• You can’t download a notebook from the OneDrive website. OneDrive doesn’t download notebooks as regular files. Use one of the export methods instead. For other download limits, read about moving files from OneDrive to your PC.

How to Check That Your Backup Worked

Open the folder shown next to Backup Folder in File Explorer and look for a folder for each notebook with today’s date on the files. Or select File > Info > Open Backups and open a section to make sure the pages are there. Testing a restore once, before you need it, is the surest check.

Frequently Asked Questions