Is it possible to back up and recover OneNote files? How to achieve this goal? With these queries, you can delve into this MiniTool guide that introduces how to backup OneNote manually and automatically.
Why Do You Need to Backup OneNote?
Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking software that acts as a digital notebook. It provides a hub for all of your notes, which can be organized into separate notebooks, and individual sections within notebooks. With it, you can jot down handwritten or digital notes and add multimedia content like online videos, audio files, and even screen clipping.
Some of you may usually utilize OneNote in your work so that files in OneNote and your workflow are highly correlated. Under such a case, you should always back up your notebooks, just like the rest of your computer’s files and data.
Not only that, backups protect against human errors, hardware failure, virus attacks, power failure, and natural disasters. If these happen to you, your notes will be gone forever. If you regularly back up your notebooks, you can restore them whenever you need to.
Here is a quick video guide:
Backup OneNote in Windows 11/10
OneNote is capable of backing up and saving all your work contents manually as well as automatically. Here’s how to get started on backing up OneNote on your PC:
Step 1. Open your OneNote and go to the File page.
Step 2. Select Options in the bottom left corner to evoke the OneNote Options window > choose Save & Backup in the left pane.
Step 3. Under Save, go to Backup Folder > click on Modify > change the location of OneNote backup folder > hit Select.

Step 4. Under Backup, expand the drop-down menu beside Automatically back up my notebook at the following time interval to choose the backup frequency.
Step 5. Confirm your backup settings and then click on Back Up All Notebooks Now to run the task.

Restore OneNote Backup
How can you bring your OneNote content back to life? Here goes:
Step 1. Launch OneNote > navigate to File > Info > click on Open Backups.

Step 2. In the Open Backup box, open your notebook folder by double-clicking it > select a specific page > click Open. Then it will display on your OneNote.
Step 3. Right-click on the section tab > choose Move or Copy > select where you want to move into in Move or Copy Section > click on Copy.
Step 4. After restoring your notes, right-click the backed-up section and choose Close.
Once done, go to the notebooks list and then you can continue working on your original notebook.
Backup Notebooks with MiniTool ShadowMaker
When it comes to data backup, you can rely on a piece of free and powerful PC backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker. This freeware is compatible with Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 and supports you in backing up files & folders from Desktop, Library, User, and Computer. Meanwhile, partition backup, disk backup, and system backup are also available.
Better still, MiniTool ShadowMaker also embeds lots of features. Examples include creating scheduled backups, cloning HDD to SSD, setting passwords, configuring backup modes, etc. Here’s how to utilize this software to backup files in OneNote:
Step 1. Click the download button below to install MiniTool ShadowMaker on your PC. After launching it, hit Keep Trial to enter its home page.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2. Navigate to the Backup page > select the SOURCE module > choose Folders and Files > pick out the notebooks you need to save > click on OK.

Step 5. Open the DESTINATION section to select an external hard drive (recommended) to store the OneNote backup image files.
Step 6. Tap on Options in the lower right > turn on Schedule Settings > set a particular time point in each day, week, month, or event to carry out the job > hit OK.
Step 6. Click on Back Up Now to execute the backup task.
Recover Notebooks from Backup
To resurrect the backed-up items, the steps are as follows:
Step 1. In MiniTool ShadowMaker, go to the Restore tab.
Step 2. Look for the image of your notebooks and then click on Restore next to it. If there is no the backup task, click on Add Backup to browse and add it to the list.

Step 3. Then follow its wizard to complete the recovery.
Make a Rough Comparison
| OneNote | MiniTool ShadowMaker | |
| Backup | Manually or automatically back up all or changed files | Support full/differential/incremental backup and automatic backup |
| Location | OneDrive/external hard drive/NAS/USB hard drive/local hard drive | External hard drive/NAS/USB hard drive/local hard drive |
| Restore | Manual import | One-click recovery |
| Advanced settings | No encryption and rely on the security of the storage location | Support backup encryption and compression |
In the sight of OneNote backup, the OneNote backup feature is sufficient. However, if everything taken into consideration, you can see the third-party backup program has more comprehensive functions for backup. The better is, for double insurance, to use the former to back up notebooks to the cloud, and the latter to regularly back up the entire OneNote storage directory.
Wrapping Things Up
To backup OneNote on Windows 11/10, you can try a third-party backup tool like MiniTool ShadowMaker or use the backup feature in OneNote. If you want to protect the overall OneNote folder, MiniTool ShadowMaker may be a better choice.
Do you have any difficulties or queries while using our product? If so, please feel free to contact us via [email protected] and we’ll reply to you as soon as possible. Appreciate your support.
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