File format changes in OneNote 2010
Posted on 19. Nov, 2009 by OneNote in Help Articles
Microsoft OneNote 2010 uses a newer file format for saving notebooks than previous versions of OneNote. However, the OneNote 2007 file format has been preserved in OneNote 2010 so that notebooks saved in the older format can still be shared among multiple authors working together in different versions of OneNote. This article outlines important considerations about notebook conversion and also offers information for OneNote 2003 users who are upgrading directly to OneNote 2010.
Important: Since OneNote 2010 is still in Beta, converting mission-critical and otherwise important notebooks from their original OneNote 2007 format is not recommended, especially if you are using such important notes as part of your work or are sharing them with other people. If you still want to test the conversion features in OneNote 2010 Beta, we suggest that you first back up all of your current notebooks in a safe location, or make copies of them with which you can experiment on a separate computer.
Creating new notebooks in OneNote 2010
New notebooks that you create in OneNote 2010 are automatically saved in the new OneNote 2010 file format. This format is required for many of the new OneNote 2010 features to work — including the following:
- Math equations
- Linked Notes
- Multi-level subpages
- Versioning
- Recycle Bin
Using the OneNote 2010 notebook format also lets you share your notebooks on the Web, so they can be viewed and edited in a Web browser. (Note: This feature is not currently available in the Beta version of OneNote 2010.)
Converting OneNote 2007 notebooks to OneNote 2010
OneNote 2007 users will not be able to open and use notebooks that are saved in the newer OneNote 2010 file format. However, OneNote 2010 can open, view, and edit OneNote 2007 notebook files.
When upgrading from OneNote 2007 to OneNote 2010, your existing notebooks in the OneNote 2007 format are not converted automatically. This way, you can use OneNote 2010 for all of your notebooks and also collaborate in shared notebooks with people who still use OneNote 2007.
To check which file format a notebook is saved in, do either of the following:
- In OneNote 2010, open a notebook, and then look at the title bar of the OneNote application window. If [Compatibility Mode] is shown next to the notebook name, then the notebook is saved in the older OneNote 2007 format.
- In OneNote 2010, right-click the notebook’s icon on the Navigation bar, and then click Properties. In the Notebook Properties dialog box, note the Default Format to see what format the notebook is saved in.
Manually converting notebooks between file formats
By default, new notebooks that you create in OneNote 2010 are automatically saved in the new OneNote 2010 file format. However, OneNote 2010 also provides a conversion tool that lets you easily change any existing notebook from one format to another. This is useful whenever you need to share a OneNote 2010 notebook with people who still use OneNote 2007, or when you’re done sharing a OneNote 2007 notebook and you want to be able to use all of the features in OneNote 2010.
To manually convert an existing notebook to the format you want, follow these steps:
- In OneNote 2010, on the Navigation bar, right-click the icon of the notebook that you want to convert, and then click Properties.
- In the Notebook Properties dialog box, check the existing notebook format listed next to Default Format, and then do one of the following:
- To convert a OneNote 2007 notebook to the newer OneNote 2010 format, click Convert to 2010.
- To convert a OneNote 2010 notebook to the older OneNote 2007 format, click Convert to 2007.
Caution: Converting a notebook to the older 2007 format will disable several features in OneNote 2010 — including math equations, linked note-taking, version history, multi-level subpages, Recycle Bin, and Web-based editing — and any notebook content created with these features may be affected or disabled. Specifically, math equations will be converted to static images, and any context links, version history, and Recycle Bin content will be permanently removed from the notebook. Consider making a separate backup copy of your OneNote 2010 notebook before converting its original version to the older OneNote 2007 format.
If a notebook contains individual notebook sections that are stored in the older OneNote 2007 format, an Information Bar will be displayed at the top of every page. You can click this bar and choose to convert that particular section or the whole notebook.
If you move a page or a section from a notebook in one format to a notebook in another format, OneNote 2010 will display a warning before attempting to convert its format.
Note The OneNote 2010 file format cannot be used by OneNote 2007. If you have already upgraded a notebook to the OneNote 2010 format and you need to revert to the older format, simply follow the previous steps to convert the notebook back again.
Upgrading from OneNote 2003
OneNote 2010 can open and edit notebooks that are saved in the OneNote 2010 and OneNote 2007 file formats. However, it can only read the OneNote 2003 format.
If you are upgrading from OneNote 2003 to OneNote 2010, and you want to be able to edit your existing notes, you will need to upgrade your notebook to either the OneNote 2010 or the OneNote 2007 format. To do this, open the notebook in OneNote 2010 and then click the Information Bar that appears at the top of every page in your OneNote 2003 notebook.
Note: If you upgrade your OneNote 2003 notebook to the OneNote 2007 format, several OneNote 2010 features will be unavailable — including math equations, linked note-taking, multi-level subpages, versioning, and the Recycle Bin. You will also be unable to view, edit, or share your notebook on the Web.
Caution: OneNote 2003 cannot read OneNote 2010 notebook files. Once your OneNote 2003 notebook has been converted to a newer format, it cannot be changed back. Consider making a separate backup copy of your OneNote 2003 notebook before converting its original version to a newer format.
Roderic Rinehart
07. May, 2010
OneNote is the greatest and most useful program IMO.
I am intensely curious to see if Office Live will work on the iPad, as the current version (as well as Google Docs, Zoho, and Docs.com) do not work due to Rich Text Format (I think).
If I can get OneNote to work on my iPad and store the files on Office Live or Skydrive and then access them from home, it would be the greatest thing ever.
SO… will OneNote work in Mobile Safari on the iPad?
John Dee
07. Apr, 2010
I’m contantly adding pages to sections to the point where I would like to convert a section to a notebook. Other times, I want to convert an underutilized notebook to a section. Sometimes, I would like to convert underutilized sections to pages — and important pages to sections. Is there a conversion capability that lets me do this? Thanks.
Ryan
29. Mar, 2010
Hi, does anyone have any idea when the save to SkyDrive feature will become available?
Thanks in advance,
Ryan
Dave
06. Mar, 2010
I am using the 2010 beta version of one note and mistakenly changed the unfiled section to the 2010 format and can’t seem to change it back to 2007 format as the properties item is grayed out. Is there any way to get the format back to 2007. I have lot of files that need to be moved back a forth thru unfiled section to other 2007 notebooks.
thanks
brad
14. Feb, 2010
Please foward me the conversion package for Onenote from 2010 to 2007. I have used the beta and unfortunitly can not afford the upgrade yet and I made the stupid mistake of taking notes on my tablet in 2010 and I have to revert back to 2007 and cna not get my notes back!! Please help.
Abraham
04. Feb, 2010
Jonathan, thank you sooooo much. I was so frustrated at not being able to open up my notebooks in 2010. The thing is, I was able to figure this out the first time I installed 2010, but I had to uninstall it a few months ago. Now that I reinstalled it, I wanted to use it but could not remember how I originally got OneNote 2010 to open my 07 notebooks that were located on Dropbox. You’re a life saver. Almost uninstalled 2010 again. Thanks!
Kathleen
29. Jan, 2010
Hi. About 3 months ago I discovered OneNote 2007 and used the trial version. I LOVED it so much I purchased it as soon as the trial ended. And I just downloaded 2010 Beta, but I have 3 questions:
1. I used all the power toys available in 2007, but when I installed 2010 Beta, the power toys on my system are still part of the 2007 installation. I use the web page “Send It To OneNote A LOT, and all the others. How do I get all of these power toys to apply to 2010 Beta. I intend to convert all my notebooks to 2010 and upgrade to the stand alone when it becomes available.
2. THE ONLY THING I HATE ABOUT ONENOTE: I use tables ALL THE TIME and I can’t believe you didn’t include the ability to “split” and “merge” rows and columns in either 2007 or 2010. I use tables instead of lists to organize myself so I tend to need header rows, etc. CAN YOU ASK MR/MS INCHARGE (who ever that is) to PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE inclue these two table functions in the final version. As it stands I have to create my tables in word then print them into OneNote (which is really a cool feature in and of itself)
3. What’s with this CANVAS feature. I don’t get when it applies. Is it just an option you can choose as a property when setting up a notebook, is it a “view” available like print preview, I didn’t understand the explanation when it arrived for 2007 and I don’t want to HAVE to have my notebooks in this format all the time, though it would be nice as a view you could shift to and work in at will.
Sorry to be so long winded but I use OneNote multiple, multiple times a day and think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Thx, Kathleen
David
24. Jan, 2010
Hi
Do you have any expectation about when XML schema and API would be released?
I have OneNote 2007 addon and I would like to use new features, especially Math in the new version.
Thanks,
David
Sandman PK2
21. Jan, 2010
Why don’t MS just make a converter for OneNote File Versions 2003-2010. it should at least be considered for all of the people who have become users of this product.
poonam
15. Jan, 2010
I upgraded from 2007 to 2010. I had no problems with the files converting over. I then had to revert back to 2007 since I was having outlook issues. I thought the 2007 version of OneNote would read my notebooks created in 2010 but it doesn’t. Can you tell me how I can convert the notebooks back into the 2007 file format? Any help will be appreciated.
Petee
11. Jan, 2010
Michael,
I suffer from brain damage to my frontal cortex and have used OneNote just enough to see that it could really help mitigate the effects of the damage. Specifically planning, decision making and control in day to day life are my problems. Do you have a more detailed example notebook you would be willing to share that would demonstrate how you’ve used ON2010? It specifically doesn’t need to be polished up for prime time – I’d almost rather see something raw and practical. It would be a big help.
joe
27. Dec, 2009
I tried to convert a 2007 Notebook, but receive a “compatability” error stating that there is a problem with a “journal” entry that prevents upgrading the notebook… and this means I can see the 2007 notebook but it is in read only mode… How do I fix this? Or do I copy and paste all the pages from the 2007 Notebook into a new 2010 Notebook? Thanks!
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
09. Jan, 2010
Joe, can you try and reproduce the error and then tell me the exact and complete wording of the error message you’re seeing? If it’s too long, you can also take a screenshot and post it for me somewhere. Thank you!
mark
17. Dec, 2009
Great post this will really help me.
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
09. Jan, 2010
Thank you for the positive feedback, Mark. Much appreciated! :)
John G
03. Dec, 2009
I was hoping there would be a way when converting handwriting to text to have it keep the handwriting as it makes quite a few mistakes. I end up leaving everything as handwritten notes.
I thought it was a no brainier and have been waiting for something like this since 2003. Like a regular OCR program when converting text will show you the original image near a pane with the OCRd version. Only instead of just during conversion make an option to keep the info permanently as both converted and original.
Also moving around handwritten text really doesn’t work that well. If one try’s to insert notes it invariably makes a jumble of the notes below.
Ribbon is very useful organizational tool in onenote.
Michael B
23. Dec, 2009
I, too, have been having problems with jumbling of handwritten notes. It’s especially problematic with notes written over images or “printed” documents – very frustrating to highlight a few paragraphs of text, then scribble in some more notes at the top of the page or in the margin, and then go back to see that all (or sometimes just some) of your highlighting has been shifted down an inch while the page behind hasn’t moved at all.
I’ve noticed this more after converting from 2007 to 2010 file format; I may convert back to the old file format to see if that makes things better, but I’m scared of further garbling of my existing notes… Definitely don’t want to switch back to OneNote 2007 itself (though I never had this problem in close to 2 yrs of heavy use of that application) – I love the ribbon too much :-)
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
09. Jan, 2010
John, thank you for your feedback. Is OneNote 2010 Beta the first version of OneNote that you’re using? Or are your comments about the handwriting a comparison to older, previous versions? Please let me know.
Michael, thank you as well. How did you move from OneNote 2007 to the OneNote 2010 Beta? Did you upgrade over it, install separately and opened old handwritten notes? Please provide as much details as you can. Thank you!
Andrew Perez
02. Dec, 2009
I am currently running my OneNote notebooks through a dropbox folder so that I can share them between a few computers. It has been working perfectly with OneNote 2007 but when I set a new computer up with OneNote 2010, it is unable to open any of the notebooks that are saved in my shared location. It treats them as a normal folder and will not open them as a notebook; it just opens the folder to see the folders/files below it. Is there a setting change that would allow it to view these notebooks/folders correctly?
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
04. Dec, 2009
Andrew, rather than double-clicking all the way through to the notebook folder and viewing its contents, can you single-click the notebook folder to select it and then click Open?
Andrew Perez
04. Dec, 2009
Thanks for the reply. I tried doing that and it is performing the same action as if I had double-clicked the notebook folder on two separate machines. Also, I noticed that the name of the folder does not populate into the File Name: field. It continues to read “Open Notebook”. Finally, I tried typing the name of the notebook folder in the File Name: field and this way also opens the folder to show the sub-folder contents rather than open the notebook.
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
14. Dec, 2009
Hey Andrew, still trying to repro this issue. Quick question: are you comfortable/experienced with editing the Windows registry? There’s a test I can have you try to see if it fixes your issue.
Andrew Perez
16. Dec, 2009
I am still having this as an issue and I am comfortable with editing the registry. Even if I weren’t, I installed this Office on a testing computer that I am not afraid of making a mistake and re-imaging.
Andrew Perez
16. Dec, 2009
Also, if it helps, I installed the 64-Bit Office 2010 on a Dell Precision M6300 with 64-Bit Windows 7 Enterprise.
Thanks.
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
17. Dec, 2009
Hello Andrew, please check your e-mail. I just sent you some instructions for testing.
James
28. Dec, 2009
Hi, Michael
I met the exact problem as described by Andrew when I tried to open notebook folder created in OneNote 2007. Could you send the solution to me, too? By the way, I am comfortable with Windows Registry and use 32-bit Windows 7 Professional.
Thanks!
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
05. Jan, 2010
Hello James, please check your e-mail that you registered with on this site. Thanks!
Jonathan
06. Jan, 2010
I am also having this exact problem on 32-bit XP SP3 and would appreciate any help solving it. All my attempts so far have proved futile. Thanks.
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
09. Jan, 2010
Jonathan, I’ll e-mail you the workaround shortly.
Jonathan
10. Jan, 2010
Michael,
Thank you very much for sending me the suggested workaround, I have good news and bad news.
The bad news, unfortunately I couldn’t get the registry method to work for me.
But, the good news, I have managed to open all my workbooks from OneNote 2007.
It seems that if you just open a section inside of a workbook, OneNote 2010 will then open the whole workbook.
The steps to do this:
File > Open > Open Notebook
Delete “Open Notebook” from the ‘File name’ field.
From the ‘Files of type’ drop down field select “OneNote Sections (*.one)”.
Navigate to a a section file (“example.one”) inside the workbook you wish to open.
Double click the section file.
The whole workbook should then open.
A bit of additional information: I have installed the beta while keeping Office 2007 Ultimate installed, I wonder if this may be the reason I am unable to open workbooks in the normal way.
Clinton
15. Feb, 2010
Hi, I am experiencing this same problem;
In 2007, I had Open as Notebook in Onenote – that is no longer available with the 2010 install. I have read the articles and tried to click Open and it only opens folder. My Notebooks are all 2007 at this stage. I have converted one to 2010; Inside the folder now is a onetoc2 file called Open Notebook.
Would love to just open notebook like I used to in 2007; please help
RaMtheMan
08. Apr, 2010
Easy Workaround: create a new OneNote notebook exactly where your old one is with the exact same name. OneNote 2010 will ask you something like “that this Notbook already exists…” answer Yes and your will get your old notebook opened with one additional folder (just delete that) and you are done.
April
30. Nov, 2009
I agree with scoobie; tagging is very, very important. I realize that it might not seem so from an engineering view, but from a user vantage point, it is crucial. In a meeting, I need to find my tags NOW- my boss has the patience of a gnat. And I need custom tags that he can follow, which don’t later disappear or lose functionality.
Also, why remove the Outlook integretions? I like some of the new features in 2010, but not enough to give up features in 2007 that I need and use. I think you might sell more product if you keep functions that business users are likely to want and need. OneNote is the greatest software Microsoft ever made. If you can keep it tightly paired with that ‘other’ incredibly popular application, you can conquer the world:)
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
02. Dec, 2009
Thank you for the feedback, April. What Outlook integration features are you missing? Some of the entry points in the user interface have changed as a result of the Ribbon, but the integration features should still be there.
Eric
29. Nov, 2009
Can I scan a document in pdf and convert the scan to text? If not what hardware do I need?
Eric
Michael C. Oldenburg [MSFT]
02. Dec, 2009
Eric, if the scan is of high quality and the text in the image is clear and readable, you can right-click the imported scanned image in OneNote and then click “Copy Text from Picture.” You can then paste the extracted text anywhere on a page and edit it there. As with all Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, you may have to clean up a few recognition errors here and there, but a quick Spell Check can help with that.
scoobie
26. Nov, 2009
Well I take back what I said. This time installing the beta didn’t destroy my old tagged notes.
However, the new tagging functionality is , well, exactly the same as the old tagging functionality. I don’t think there’s been a single change has there? A shame because tagging notes really needs a rethink the way its currently set up imo – like what on earth are all these little symbols meant to stand for? Yellow square versus green square?
scoobie
20. Nov, 2009
I sense deja vu here. During the release of ON 2007 it was pretty clear the onenote team hadn’t thought through customised tags upgrading. I reported issues with this during the beta which were ignored. Consequently, the upgrade process ruined my files, even in Release 1. I had to lobby about it for ages to get the issue fixed in the first Service pack for 2007. You haven’t mentioned it here, which makes me think we’re about to repeat the same process all over again. Please tell me we this time you have thoroughly tested upgrading existing notebooks with customised tags?