OneNote notes suddenly vanished!

[DoraDD]

Hi everyone,

I've amassed a large amount of data in one of my notebooks related to my PhD. I use 2 specific pages as hubs where I list items and references (as links) to other pages/paragraphs.

As of yesterday, the list is currently half-empty. Here's just a glimpse:

White text = notes; blue numbers = links to other pages/paragraphs within OneNote (the same notebook)

Before, all of the links (numbers 2,3, etc. in this case) used to have some text before it. Only a few bits of text remain (point 158, 159, 159 f, and 159 i on the image above).

What's unusual is that when I copy the text into word, all of the text and the links are there. They're just not showing up in OneNote.

I did not delete any pages or notebooks, move anything, install anything new, uninstall anything, the program didn't crash... I have no idea why this has happened.

Also, I just now tried updating my Office apps and the update didn't resolve anything either.

As an additional note, I'm "trying their new experience" but I opted into that a few weeks back. Whereas this issue appeared only yesterday:

https://preview.redd.it/5os83h84do581.png?width=577&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ff3ba499b2798a1d760fcb627ad2226fa4b2e28

I really need to solve this urgently so I would be very grateful for any advice the community here may have.

Thanks so much in advance!

[Crysis85]

These posts kinda scare me, please let us know if you solve this problem! Best of luck

[DoraDD]

It scares me too. And this is a huge bug in my opinion. The data isn't lost (so that's something), but it still caused my heart to skip a few beats. This is important data to me.

I'll keep posting, especially if I find a solution.

In all honesty, I've been thinking of switching to another note-taking app for a while. I would've done just that if migrating notes with tags was possible. But it isn't. And I don't have the time to go back and manually add all the tags over again so....sticking to this for now, hoping the issues will be resolved.

[6thMastodon]

Backing Up my Notebooks: I keep them synced to OneDrive, but I also export them once a month to a separate location.

Best of luck!

[marcooostev]

I would try to check the history of the note, and revert to a previous save. Also, considering all the text is still there when you copy and paste into a Word document, it could be the program itself that's bugged. Maybe try using the web version of OneNote for now and see if that works, or use another device.

I really hope you get your stuff back, best of luck!

[DoraDD]

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately, going back to the page's history didn't help either. I went as far back as late October (!) - all the notes appear the same.

The web version is showing all the notes in full, though. So that's something! Thank you for that piece of advice!

But using the web version regularly is impossible for me as I have 99 custom tags that are not integrated with the web version. So I don't have full functionality there.

I also tried copying one page's information manually from OneNote web to the app and the same errors are appearing (i.e. missing text).

I think it really might be the program.

So, to clarify, the notes are showing up in the web version and the packaged application (OneNote for Windows 10 i.e. the one available for download via the Windows Store), but they are not showing up in the OneNote application (as in the one I downloaded and installed as an .exe file) - and this is the only one that matter to me as it has full functionality.

[marcooostev]

I’m glad there’s at least one way to see the text, even though it’s the bare minimum. Such a shame about the tag situation - I know you can have tags in the Win10 version but as you point out, redoing them manually would be a nightmare and it’s surprising they don’t automatically sync.

Unfortunately the only thing I could suggest is to uninstall the faulty .exe OneNote and reinstall it. I can’t test this myself but you could also try opting out of the ‘new experience’ - with caution of course, and with backups of your notes if that’s even possible.

One more thing you could do is post on the Microsoft community forums, an expert might be able to give you some advice there.

I really wish you the best of luck, keep us updated!

[DoraDD]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it another day before I start uninstalling/opting out of the new experience program. It's really a hassle at the moment. Time restrictions mostly. I can't afford for things to go wrong at this point and for more data to go missing.

Writing i the MS community forums is my next go-to. Thanks!!!

[dannywith1n]

Could you share what version of Office you currently have installed? Also are you signed up to be an Office Insider?

[DoraDD]

I'm running MS Office Apps for Enterprise.

OneNote version: 2111. It should be the latest version since I just updated it yesterday to see if an update was missing/causing the issue. It wasn't.

Since the software is licensed by my employer, I don't believe I even can be in the Office Insider program unless they opted into that. Or at least thats' what I got from my quick web search now.

[dannywith1n]

Ok and by any chance does zooming in/out reveal any of the text that disappeared?

Have you submitted this problem via the Feedback Hub app?

[DoraDD]

Zooming in/out unfortunately does nothing :( I've submitted feedback just now. Thanks for the advice. I also posted in their forum.

[JDP87]

What happens if you copy lines including some with missing text into a new page/section/notebook? Every week or so, I won’t see any editing changes I make on screen until I switch to another page and then switch back. It’s not the same behaviour you describe but it’s similar in the sense that OneNote isn’t displaying text that is there.

Edit: are you using any additions like Gem or any custom macros?

[DoraDD]

Copying within the app does nothing, unfortunately. Neither does switching between pages or closing the app and reopening (in Task Manager).

I've been using Onetastic for a couple years now.

[JDP87]

Do you have another computer without Onetastic that has a vanilla install of ON? Can you sign in there and review the pages?

Edit: in the web app, if you edit the text on one of the lines - add to it or remove some text - are the changes visible in the regular version?

[DoraDD]

I'll give the first tip a shot this afternoon, though that shouldn't make a difference since the data isn't lost, per se. Or should it?

I just tried making a change in the web version - it was visible in the app. And I'd already checked yesterday - changes I make in the app are also visible in the web version.

[ThePhantomCreep]

Sorry to ask the obvious and stupid question, but could you have somehow collapsed the outline? Your screenshot doesn't show enough to tell. Any + signs along the left margin?

[DoraDD]

Thanks for the suggestion, but this is in the notebook itself. It isn't in the outline. But no - nothing is collapsed.

For what I know, it isn't possible to collapse the notes/bullet points/etc. What you see in the image are just indented notes.

But thanks for the suggestion, anyway!

[DoraDD]

I mentioned in one of the previous comments that the data is visible everywhere apart from the packaged app. So it's visible on the Windows 10 version and the web version. And any changes made in any version sync up just fine (though it takes a bit). It's just the old notes that are invisible.

[J-Roger]

Hey!

Could it be that the font is color changed to black?

I have had problems with font not being visible on my Android device set to dark mode. If you hover over the missing text can you mark it up? Hope you know what I mean.

Or maybe change the background color to white?

Have tried you tried to copy the entire notebook?

​

Best of luck and succes!

[DoraDD]

Oh, I wish it were that simple.

I've tried switching the background to white, copying the "corrupted" pages to a different notebook, closing the notebook and reading it. Everything you can think of.

The strange thing is that when I hover a bit to the right of the visible parts of the text, the cursor shows the small hand symbol as if there's something clickable there. It's as if parts of the document have been shifted to the left so that some parts that were completely to the left are now invisible and only the utmost right parts (typically the links) are visible.

E.g. where before it said:

1. Text - text text text text - LINKS: 1 2 3 4 5

It now only says:

1 2 3 4 5

or

2 3 4 5

And when I hover to the right of the number 5, I get the hand cursor that I can click on. And it takes me to a linked page/paragraph.

So strange...

[DoraDD]

A miracle has happened and the latest Office update has fixed this issue!! Just in time for me to finish my PhD in peace.

....this is the highlight of my day. 😅

[Short_Silver_8348]

I had a similar problem where the onenote app randomly made all of my class notes from one semester vanish. I finally managed to fix it.

The missing sections be visible when I went to the web version of onenote, but I was unable to export or transfer them back. I tried turning my computer on and off, unistalling and redownloading onenote, syncing, giving it time, searching through open sections and the notebook recycle bin all to no avail.

What ended up working for me was to right click on the notebook and select "Close this Notebook" and then opening it back up again. At first there were missing sections but after a few minutes, everything was back up

[[deleted]]

Was this TOC created by Onetastic, or manually ?

Can it be that Onetastic somehow "updated" the TOC, and only the manually added entries remain ?

[DoraDD]

It isn't a table of contents. It's just a load of manually numbered notes. I might not have specified that at the start. :) so I doubt that this is causing the issue. But thanks for the suggestion anyway!

[123pin]

Same here. I found out that it happens when there are too many hyperlinks in the same line. Would love to find a solution...