Windows 10: Sync OneDrive data to new Notebook

Hello community,I used OneDrive with my old notebook which died 2 weeks ago. I bought the new Surface Laptop 4 and want to sync my data from OneDrive to the new notebook. There is one thing I don't understand. The Desktop of my new Laptop 4 is still empty. If I now log into OneDrive there is of course the Desktop folder with all my stuff from my old notebook. I am now a bit afraid if I start the sync process that OneDrive kind of says: oh... the Desktop is empty that basically means all data has been deleted from the notebook so I can delete this data from OneDrive as well ending up losing all

:)

 

How to Sync Notebook That Won't Sync Normally?

Many thanks for your response, Greg. However, if the tutorial doesn't tell how to fix a broken sync or rename an existing notebook, it's isn't much help, Since, the post you probably read, I've found the notebook in question (let's call it Summer) in the
notebook backup folder of OneDrive is synced to something, but I don't know what. Further, the Sync Status list doesn't show Summer, which indicates something is amiss.

Maybe now I've found Summer in OneDrive, I can create a new notebook, recover the backup files, and copy them to the new notebook.

 

How to Sync Notebook That Won't Sync Normally?

I'm running OneNote 2016 on a Windows 10 Pro desktop computer. My OneNote has many notebooks that are synced and have synced automatically without problems. However, I have one notebook containing data I can easily read and access that won't sync. I've
tried creating another notebook with a similar name and moving the data into it, but it won't sync either.

I like OneNote 2016 except for a few reasons. Apparently, it's not possible to rename a notebook without causing a problem. Notebooks can't be deleted. And, thirdly, syncing is mystical.

Anyway, I created a new notebook with a name completely different from the name of the notebook that wouldn't sync. Then, I renamed the new notebook using its Properties, created sections, and moved data from the notebook that wouldn't sync into the appropriate
sections. Finally, I closed the notebook that wouldn't sync. Everything looked great. Then, I checked OneDrive and the new notebook wasn't there. Likewise, I checked syncing status, and the new notebook wasn't there either. So, I had a new notebook that
looks great but didn't seem to be part of the gang.

Now, the situation is totally nuts! Even if I create a new notebook with a name entirely different from the one that won't sync, the empty new one won't sync either because an error message says its files (that aren't there) are being synced by another
program. OneDrive seems to sync notebooks and their files continuously, but OneNote continually refuses to sync new notebooks with or without files.

FIXED

I created a new notebook using the name I preferred even though it had been used before, which I thought was illegal, but this time I created the notebook using OneDrive rather than This PC. The empty notebook synced, and I was able to restore files to
it from the OneDrive OneNote backup files. According to information on the Web, the best option to choose when creating a new notebook is
OneDrive because it places the notebook in cloud storage. A notebook placed in cloud storage can be accessed from anywhere by any device that can access the Internet. Perhaps, I used the OneDrive option before and forgot
it. If not, I may have a mixture of storage places for my notebooks. But, don't cry for me, Community. Read on.

I looked for a notebook and its contents I made during my struggle today. I found everything on my Android smartphone running Android 7.0 using OneDrive, but it was messy. Using the OneNote app made finding my notebooks easy. Using my tablet, I found
the information via OneDrive on my tablet running Windows 10. Using the OneNote app, I easily found the information presented in an organized manner. I very much wish I had learned about using the OneDrive option when creating notebooks, but maybe I wasn't
using OneDrive at that time or not how it's currently used. Fortunately, using the OneNote app, which is also part of Office 2019, existing OneNote notebooks on my computer's SSD are automatically moved to the OneDrive cloud when opened using the OneNote
app. At last, my notebooks will be properly and automatically organized.

Well, guys, I was way behind the curve learning Microsoft is sunsetting OneNote 2016 and switching to the OneNote app that comes with Windows 10. Office 2019 will also use that app. I'm wondering why no Community member told me how ignorant I was of OneNote
changes.

 

OneDrive Placeholders are coming back, now called On-Demand Sync




"At Ignite 2016, Microsoft has just announced that it is bringing Placeholders back to OneDrive on Windows 10. Now, they are not called Placeholders anymore — Microsoft is renaming the feature to “On-Demand Sync” which makes a lot more sense than “Placeholders”.

The company demoed this feature at Microsoft Ignite today, and it works just like it used to previously. As you can see in the screenshot above, the files stored in OneDrive weighed in around 9GB, but the actual size on disk was only around 3MB which is really neat. Of course, this feature isn’t anything new as it was available back in the Windows 8 days. However, Microsoft removed the feature with Windows 10, and after lots of waiting, they are finally coming back.

In case you are not familiar with OneDrive Placeholders, it’s a pretty neat feature which lets you see all of your OneDrive files on your computer — but they are not actually downloaded on your PC. When you open them, OneDrive will download the files on-demand, saving your local space which is really useful, especially if you have a PC that doesn’t have a lot of storage.

While Microsoft didn’t announce when exactly On-Demand Sync will be available to OneDrive users, we suspect it will be available with Windows 10 Redstone 2 — which is expected to arrive early next year. "

OneDrive Placeholders are coming back, now called On-Demand Sync - MSPoweruser