Windows 10: Entire OneNote section disappeared, can be searched in search bar but cannot be clicked

I'm a university student and have been using OneNote for my class, reading, and assignment notes for years.I'm currently taking one class over the summer and have an entire section for that class -- I'm not using OneNote for anything else, and have not added anything to other sections. Just today, I opened OneNote and saw that the entire section with all my notes for only that class has disappeared. For some reason, when I go to Ctrl+F the section, it appears in the search bar but is not clickable. I've already checked my recently deleted notes and they are not there. I'm assuming that if I ca

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Entire OneNote section disappeared, can be searched in search bar but cannot be clicked

I'm a university student and have been using OneNote for my class, reading, and assignment notes for years.

I'm currently taking one class over the summer and have an entire section for that class -- I'm not using OneNote for anything else, and have not added anything to other sections. Just today, I opened OneNote and saw that the entire section with all my notes for only that class has disappeared. For some reason, when I go to Ctrl+F the section, it appears in the search bar but is not clickable. I've already checked my recently deleted notes and they are not there. I'm assuming that if I can still find the section by Ctrl+F, it has to still be there but I cannot access it.

Unfortunately, my OneDrive storage is full (can't afford more storage because I'm a student!) so none of my notes are backed up, meaning I can only access them through my laptop.

I've done some searching and found that this happened to others as well, with many saying the section just randomly reappeared after some time (i.e., a couple of days). Unfortunately, I do not have a couple of days because this is the last week of the term and finals will be next week. I have a big final assignment for this class (that I needed to use my notes for) as well as my final to study for, so this couldn't have happened at a worse time

Any and all help is appreciated!!!

The attached image is a screenshot of the section appearing in the search, but as mentioned they are not clickable.

 

Entire OneNote section disappeared, can be searched in search bar but cannot be clicked

You weren't syncing OneNote to your OneDrive? That's the whole idea of OneNote ... otherwise you may as well use Word.

If you aren't syncing OneNote, then you must be saving your Notebooks to your hard drive. Is your Section here:

C:\Users\your user account\Documents\OneNote Notebooks

-or maybe -

C:\Users\your user account\OneDrive\Documents\OneNote Notebooks

If you were backing up your notebooks (I hope) then your Section may be here:

C:\Users\your user account\Documents\OneNote Backups

-or maybe -

C:\Users\your user account\OneDrive\Documents\OneNote Backups

This is really a Windows forum. You may find more people who are familiar with OneNote in the Microsoft 365 and Office forum.

 

Onenote - search function quit working.

Hi,

Did you make any changes prior to this issue?

Is this specific to OneNote or the same persists with word?

I suggest you to try performing Windows app troubleshooter and check if it helps.

Follow the below steps:

• 
  Type troubleshooting in the
  Search area on the taskbar.
  
• 
  Click on View all on the left panel of the Troubleshooting Windows.
  
• 
  Select Windows store Apps.
  
• 
  Follow the on screen instruction.
  

Hope it helps. Revert to us with the results, will be glad to assist you.

Thank you.