OneNote Setup and Troubleshooting

This guide is for OneNote 2016. It's an older, but more feature-rich version of OneNote. The OneNote Windows 10 app is newer and significantly easier to use, but may not have all the same advanced features just yet. If you want to use the newer OneNote, simply sign in with your FSU email and it will work. If you want to use the older OneNote 2016, continue below.

This guide will demonstrate the following:

1. Set up OneNote 2016 to sync with OneDrive using myFSU accounts.
2. Show how to fix when notebooks are saved incorrectly to OneDrive.
3. Show how to move a notebook on OneDrive properly (avoiding sync errors)

 

1. Set up OneNote to sync with OneDrive using myFSU accounts

1. Open “OneNote 2016” from your Start Menu (Not “OneNote”)

2. If it asks you to sign in right away, just press the “Esc” key. Signing in here will not sign you in properly.

3. Accept the terms and conditions, if prompted.

4. Click on “File” and then go to “Account”. Then Click on “Sign in”

5. Sign in with your FSUID email address.

6. If prompted to use the account everywhere, uncheck the box that said “Allow my organization to manage my device and click “Yes”.

7. You are now set to sync to OneDrive. Now we will create a new Notebook and have it syncing. Go to File>New and click on “OneDrive – Florida State University”, then click the “Browse” button.

8. Make sure that the location in the top bar looks like it’s going to a sharepoint.com website (see arrow in next screenshot).
9. It is recommended to make folders to keep organized. A folder per semester with subfolders for each class, or perhaps just one “OneNote Notebooks” folder for only keeping Notebooks in. You can right-click to create a new folder.

10. Then give your notebook a name and click “Create”

11. If asked to Invite people, click “Not now”

12. Go to “File” in the top left of OneNote and make sure that the new notebook location shows a sharepoint.com URL

13. You can click on the “View Sync Status” button to check Sync progress or last successful sync time.

 

2. How to Fix When Notebooks are Saved Incorrectly to OneDrive

1. When you are making a Notebook, if the location at the top is NOT a sharepoint.com URL, but says it is “OneDrive – Florida State University” (as seen below), then you are in the wrong location to save the Notebook. All your folders may seem to be the correct place, but syncing will inevitably fail

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2. When you look at the location in the File menu, a Notebook in the wrong location will show on the C: drive. This means it is not syncing properly as well.

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3. Click on the Settings next to the notebook and click Properties

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4. In the box that opens, click on “Change Location”

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5. Click on “Desktop” in the top left. Make a new folder by right-clicking and call it “temp”.

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6. Press the “Select” button

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7. If there are any warnings about unsynced changes being lost, you can ignore them.
8. Verify that the location is now showing that it’s on your Desktop.

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9. We now need to use the web version of OneDrive to flush the bad copy of the  
10. Open a web browser and navigate to https://webmail.fsu.edu
11. Login to your myFSU email.

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12. Click the 9 dots in the top left and then click on “OneDrive”

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13. Find the folder that contains the Notebook documents. Make sure no other files are in it, and then select it and click “Delete”
    1. The item will stay in the OneDrive Recycle Bin for 30 days, so if something gets messed up, it is easy to restore within the next month.

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14. Go back to OneNote and click on Settings next to the Notebook, then click “Share or Move”

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15. Select “OneDrive – Florida State University” and then click Browse

16. Navigate to the location you’d like to save the Notebook, and re-enter it’s name (You have to retype the name here. This is also an opportunity to change the notebook name if you’d like to)

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17. Click Move
18. Verify that the notebook location is now showing the sharepoint.com location

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19. Check the sync status. Once the sync has completed, you can delete the temp folder from your desktop.

 

3. How to move a notebook on OneDrive properly (avoiding sync errors)

1. Make sure that your Notebooks are syncing properly with OneDrive following the above steps. If your notebooks are already not syncing right, they need to be fixed first.
2. Open a web browser and navigate to https://webmail.fsu.edu
3. Login to your myFSU email.

4. Click the 9 dots in the top left and then click on “OneDrive”

5. Make note of the location the Notebook is currently located.
6. Go to OneNote and make sure the notebook has finished syncing
7. Click on the notebook settings, then click on “Close”

8. Return to the OneDrive website and use the web browser to move the Notebook to the location you would like it to be in.

9. Return to OneNote and click on File > Open
   1. Do not use the “Recent” view to reopen the notebook, as it is looking at the old location
10. Click on OneDrive – Florida State University.
11. Navigate to the new location of your notebook, and click on it to open.

12. Verify that the notebook is open and the location shows the sharepoint.com URL, and let the notebook sync. It may take a while to sync the first time from the new location.