OneNote Notebook Backup and File Synchronization

[Jerry]

Hi,

I'm trying to setup OneNote on my laptop and then use a USB drive to
synchronize with OneNote on my desktop PC. I'd like to be able to write on
my laptop and then transfer to my desktop PC and write on my desktop PC and
transfer to my laptop (my notebook files).

Laptop - Window Vista Ultimate SP1 and Office 2007
Desktop PC - Windows XP SP3 and Office 2007

I'm not sure if OneNote can be used in this fasion as I have had nothing but
issues trying to get this to work for a week now.

So a few questions that I would greatly appreciate answers to:

1. Can OneNote be set up to work this way and if so how?
2. Can OneNote work with third-party File Syncronization software?
3. Can I backup the OneNote notebook to a USB drive using the File
Scripting Object (FSO) copy method directly or do I need to be performing a
backup using Options in OneNote and then copy the backup files using FSO?
4. What is the prefered and MS supported way to make this work?

I've been getting a consistent weird error message about OneNote not being
able to access the OneNote cache file and I have had to reimage my hard drive
8 times. Leading up to this I was trying to use a VBScript with FSO to copy
the OneNote files with OneNote closed to a USB drive. The operation would
work well for the copy but when I would lauch OneNote again I would get the
error and sometimes it would appear to go away only to return. When it
wouldn't go away OneNote would exit.

It got so bad that I repaired OneNote and that didn't help and when I tried
to uninstall Office to install it again it would fail with the unistall. I
never even got the files over to the desktop PC to try out because I kept
getting errors on the new laptop.

All other Microsoft applications and third-party applications are working
fine with this approch but OneNote is having issues.

I'm reinstalling Windows Vista Ultimate now and will reimage as I go for
each set of apps to baby step this thing but if anyone has any ideas how to
make this work (if it is supported) I would greatly appreciate some
assistance.

Also, I'm pretty versed in Microsoft software and have quite a few MS certs
so feel free to be technical in the reply if needed.

Thanks

Jerry

 

[Ilya Koulchin]

I'm trying to setup OneNote on my laptop and then use a USB drive to
synchronize with OneNote on my desktop PC. I'd like to be able to write on
my laptop and then transfer to my desktop PC and write on my desktop PC and
transfer to my laptop (my notebook files).

This should work. Read on for details...

1. Can OneNote be set up to work this way and if so how?

What you want to do is store the notebooks on the USB drive. This will
avoid the need for copying them back and forth, and will let you utilize
OneNote's offline capabilities. You'll be able to edit on either the
desktop or the laptop with or without the USB drive, your changes will
merge when you transfer the USB drive between machines, etc. Here's how
you'd set this up.

1. Go into OneNote and close the set of notebooks you want to share.
2. Use Windows explorer to transfer the notebooks to the USB drive. You
can now delete the copies stored on the desktop and the laptop, or keep
them as backups.
3. Plug the USB drive into one of the computers, launch OneNote, go to
File->Open->Notebook and open the notebooks you want to share.
4. Repeat step 3 with any additional computers that you want to use the
notebooks on.

You're done! You no longer have to worry about any file synchronization
software, copying notebooks back and forth, remembering to have the USB
drive, and all that. If the USB drive is not plugged in, OneNote will
save your changes to the local cache. The next time you plug in the USB
drive, OneNote will save the cached changes to the drive and pull in any
changes made on other machines that have been saved to the drive (note
that you'll have to launch OneNote and let it sit for a bit (or hit F9)
for the sync process to start).

2. Can OneNote work with third-party File Syncronization software?

Yes, but this is generally not a recommended way to share notebooks,
since you will be unable to edit the same section on multiple computers
between synchronizing everything, or you'll get duplicated sections all
over the place. Also if file synchronization happens to kick in while
OneNote is trying to read/write to a file, that can cause all sorts of
weird errors.

3. Can I backup the OneNote notebook to a USB drive using the File
Scripting Object (FSO) copy method directly or do I need to be performing a
backup using Options in OneNote and then copy the backup files using FSO?

Actually, if you're going to be moving between computers, I'd recommend
storing your notebook on the USB drive, and backing it up to a PC (or
multiple PCs!) instead.

I've been getting a consistent weird error message about OneNote not being
able to access the OneNote cache file and I have had to reimage my hard drive
8 times. Leading up to this I was trying to use a VBScript with FSO to copy
the OneNote files with OneNote closed to a USB drive. The operation would
work well for the copy but when I would lauch OneNote again I would get the
error and sometimes it would appear to go away only to return. When it
wouldn't go away OneNote would exit.

There might be some residual corruption left in the cache. After you do
step 1 above, go into OneNote and see if you keep getting this error on
the remaining set of notebooks. If you do, try deleting the OneNote
cache (it's located at
c:\users\<username>\appdata\local\microsoft\office\onenote\12.0\onenoteofflinecache.onecache).
Note that if you have any unsynced changes in your local notebooks this
will discard them as well.

Ilya

 

[Jerry]

Hi Ilya,

Thanks for the indepth reply...esp where the OneNote cache file was located.

Yeah I started out working from the USB drive and then had a VBScript to
archieve out my writing directories and files removing older directories > 60
days with FSO. I'm hoping that was the item that was corrupting OneNote.

I reimaged my laptop last night starting from scratch with JUST Windows
Vista Ultimate and updates. Today the plan is to install Office 2007 and
updates and do another image. That should give me a nice fall back spot if
things go south trying to get this to work.

I'm hoping it was the FSO copy, a corrupt install or a third-party software
issue that was bringing it down. I'll test out your approach and let you
know.

Thanks again for your help.

Jerry

 

[undisclosed]

Something I'm trying is keeping my section (.one) files in my Dropbo
folder. Dropbox syncs with online storage/access and also with othe
computers I'm sharing it with. I've noticed that the tabs in OneNot
have a little arrow, meaning the files are stored outside of the M
Notebook directory. This better work or I'm abandoning OneNote.
absolutely have to sync stuff between computers

https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTE4Mzc0OTM