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How do I recover a Notebook on OneNota iOS iPad that got deleted after pushing the “Refresh Now” button because it wasn’t syncing?

Santiago Ramírez 0 Reputation points
2026-03-19T05:17:33.3033333+00:00

A notebook got deleted because I pressed the “Refresh Now” button on the “You can’t edit this notebook because it’s not syncing, press Refresh Now to edit” pop-up or something along those lines. I don’t think it’s fair for it to just get deleted and disappear just because it didn’t sync… What can I do? How do I contact support?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | iOS
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  1. AI answer

    2026-03-19T05:17:47.2933333+00:00

    Pressing “Refresh Now” should trigger a sync, not permanently delete a notebook. The most effective options on iOS are to force a manual sync and then check the storage location (usually OneDrive) for the notebook, and if needed, contact the OneNote community/support.

    Try these steps on iPad (iOS):

    1. Manually sync the notebook
      1. Open OneNote on the iPad.
      2. On any page, tap the Show Notebooks button.
      3. In the pane that appears, press and pull down on the notebooks list to force a sync of all notebooks.
        • To sync a single section, go to that section and pull down on the page list.
        • To sync a single notebook, go to any section in that notebook and pull down the section list.
      4. Wait a bit and check whether the missing notebook or its sections/pages reappear.
    2. Check OneDrive directly for the notebook If the notebook was stored in OneDrive, it may still exist there even if it is not visible in OneNote:
      1. Sign in to OneDrive from the OneDrive home page or by using the Microsoft OneDrive app for iOS.
      2. Browse folders such as Documents or Notebooks and look for the notebook file or folder.
      3. If found, tap it to open it in OneNote.
    3. If the notebook is still missing
      1. Make sure OneNote for iOS is updated to the latest version in the App Store.
      2. Re-open any closed notebooks:
        • In the Notebooks list, tap More Notebooks.
        • Tap to open any notebooks that appear there.
        • To see additional notebooks, tap Open more from OneDrive.
    4. Get more help / contact support If the notebook still cannot be found after manual sync and checking OneDrive, use the community support channel for OneNote on iOS:
      • Post the issue (including device, iOS version, and what happened after pressing “Refresh Now”) in the OneNote forums on Microsoft Community. A member of the OneNote product team or another user may help investigate further.

    References:

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