Forum Discussion
ZERO backup methods that work for Mac OneNote?! I'm at wit's end.
I have one rule: If I can't be sure my data's backed up, I don't use the platform that denies me that certainty.
Hope I'm wrong, but an exhaustive search & many experiments suggest that this is the case with OneNote for Mac. Unless you also have a PC (actual or virtual), there is apparently NO WAY AT ALL to create backups of OneNote notebooks that you can actually use.
If you're a Mac user and have found a method, please please tell me what it is!
Yes, you can save & download .one files via OneNote Online--but neither the Mac OneNote App nor OneNote online can open & read those .one files (stupidest thing in the history of stupid, but true). Nor can any other app I've found--you get ASCII salad at best. Such files are 100% useless without a Windows machine.
Yes, the Mac version lets you export ONE PAGE AT A TIME as a PDF--losing all filing hierarchies in the process--but that's the ONLY export option in the Mac version. And that's useless, for reasons I trust I don't need to explain. Also, Mac versions of other note platforms (like Evernote) have no "Import from OneNote" options. Even making backup copies to another part of Microsoft OneDrive is a fail--the copies get created, but will not open with either OneNote online or the Mac app.
The upshot: if anything ever corrupts my OneDrive-stored OneNote notebooks, they're gone and I'm screwed. No true way to save a recovery copy anywhere, unless I buy a PC. Somebody tell me what I'm missing, please. I absolutely love using OneNote, but I'm this close > < to dumping it over this issue.
Again, hope I've missed something obvious. But if not, I'd advise any & all Mac users to steer clear of OneNote.
What kind of a Mickey Mouse notes app provides no way whatsoever to backup your notes?
- I was afraid of this. No other Mac users have found a backup method either, right?
Finally found ONE CRAZY WAY - but it requires having access to both a mac and a Windows machine with OneNote 2016 for Windows.
- sync everything
- open MS Onedrive and log in
- open documents folder on onedrive. Don’t select any files inside it. Just open it.
- Click “Download” tab that appears at top of browser screen
- Choose to open the zip file with the Unarchiver or whatever else opens it.
- This will create a folder called "Documents". Inside it are .one files that OneNote 2016 for windows can read and restore! I did this today with a friend's windows machine and it works.
Save it on your mac, an external drive, or wherever you keep secure backups. - Repeat 1-6 frequently.
