OneNote is one of the most popular note-taking software on Windows today. In fact, many office workers and students use the app because it allows seamless sharing of notes with other users. That makes collaboration much more manageable. Besides that, OneNote can be used for personal purposes, like organizing recipes, writing a diary, or whatnot.
But regardless of OneNote’s purpose and usage, accidental deletion is every user’s worst nightmare. Finding out that your precious notes are gone for good is terrifying, especially if those files are critical for your work/studies.
There is still hope, though. There are 3 simple ways to recover OneNote deleted notes on a PC. And we’ve prepared a tutorial for each one of them below: Read on!
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Method 1: Recover OneNote Deleted Notes from the App’s Recycle Bin
Unlike other note-taking apps, OneNote can restore deleted files from the app itself. Yes! It has a Recycle Bin feature to make sure that you won’t accidentally delete notes permanently. You can make use of this to bring your deleted notes back.
For this method, there are two ways to follow depending on the OneNote app version you are using. The first way is for the 2016 version, while the second way is for the later versions. However, deleted notes are only recoverable within 60 days starting from the time of deletion.
Way 1: Recover OneNote Deleted Notes on 2016 Version
Step 1
Launch the OneNote app and go to the toolbar above at the top of the interface. Then, select the History tab. Next, click on the “Notebook Recycle Bin”.
Step 2
There, you will see all the deleted notes and files from your OneNote notebook. Just select and right-click on the note/s in question. Then, click Move/Copy. Lastly, pick the Notebook/location where you want them stored.
Way 2: Recover OneNote Deleted Notes on Later Versions
Step 1
Open the OneNote app and click on the View tab. There, select the Deleted Notes section. All the deleted notes and pages will be there.
Step 2
Locate the notes you want to undelete and select them. Afterward, just right-click on one of them and choose Restore To. Finally, select the destination of the recovered notes.
Method 2: Recover OneNote Deleted Notes from Backup
If you can’t find them in your OneNote’s recycle bin, there’s a pretty good chance they are on your Onenote’s Backup. Yes! OneNote has an automatic backup system that saves notes to your computer locally. Here’s how to find them:
Step 1
On your OneNote app, open the notebook that once contained the deleted notes. There, select the File tab and down to Info. Click on Open Backups right after.
Step 2
There, you will find different folders and they represent different notebooks that are saved onto the PC. Click twice on the name of the folder of the deleted notes.
Step 3
Then, open the notebook section backup file in question. If you see there your deleted notes, right-click on the page or section where they are located and move/copy the notes to your desired location.
Method 3: Recover OneNote Deleted Notes via Tenorshare 4DDiG
As mentioned, OneNote tends to store backup files of your notes and notebooks locally on your PC. While that sounds promising, there are times when the backup files are also missing. Perhaps, they’ve been deleted permanently by mistake or they’ve been corrupted. Regardless, it’s not much of an issue if you use a recovery tool called Tenorshare 4DDiG.
It’s a program designed to recover 2000+ types of files, including OneNote files, notebooks, folders, notes, and backup files. In fact, it can recover notes no matter the cause. If they’ve been deleted, overwritten, corrupted, infected by a virus, or whatnot, 4DDiG can still get them back without loss in quality.
Tenorshare 4DDiG scans the location or drive of your choice and then locates all missing and deleted files there. It can even sort files to make the search much easier. Once you locate the OneNote deleted notes, you recover them selectively or in bulk in just one click. Indeed! It’s a very convenient app.
As for compatibility, 4DDiG works on Windows 11 and earlier versions. So, you don’t really have to worry whether your PC has an older or newer OS.
Steps to Recover OneNote Deleted Notes with 4DDiG
Step 1
Install 4DDiG on your PC. Download the installer by clicking on the button below. Then, launch the app and select the drive that OneNote uses. It’s usually Drive (C:).
Step 2
Afterward, select the Scan button. The program will then look for all the deleted files on that drive. You may narrow down the search by sorting the file types. You can also type in “OneNote” on the search bar.
Step 3
Once you find the files, tick each one of them and click the Recover button. Then, select your desired folder destination for the recovered notes and backup files.
After that, you may repeat method 2 to recover OneNote deleted notes from backup files.
Conclusion
Many of us can’t afford to lose our precious notes in OneNote. But we accidentally deleted them, just know that it’s the end. There are methods that can effectively bring them back. The three methods above are the easiest and simplest methods you can perform by yourself. So, feel free to try them out.