OneNote Backup Exporter

A Windows desktop application for exporting complete OneNote notebooks or selected sections to backup and offline-reading formats. It communicates directly with OneNote Desktop through Microsoft's COM API.

Download

Download the latest Windows x64 installer or view the latest release.

The installer is self-contained, so users do not need to install the .NET runtime separately. The application version and short build revision are available from the ? button in the header.

Published assets use stable names across releases:

• OneNoteBackupExporter_Setup.exe
• OneNoteBackupExporter_Setup.exe.sha256

Highlights

• Export complete notebooks or expand a notebook and select individual sections.
• Create full-fidelity OneNote packages, browser-readable HTML, PDF, or XPS files.
• Preserve OneNote section-group structure when exporting sections or HTML pages.
• Copy an existing local OneNote backup folder when that option is available.
• Protect previous exports with staging files or directories until the new export succeeds.
• Recover once from supported temporary OneNote COM/RPC connection failures.
• Cancel cooperatively without closing or terminating OneNote Desktop.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit
• OneNote Desktop with the COM API available, such as the desktop app included with Microsoft 365 or a supported Office installation

The retired OneNote for Windows 10 UWP app does not expose the required COM API and is not supported. Open OneNote Desktop at least once before using the exporter.

Quick start

1. Open OneNote Desktop, allow cloud notebooks to finish syncing, and unlock any protected sections you want to export.
2. Start OneNote Backup Exporter. The header should report OneNote Desktop (COM API available).
3. Select one or more notebooks. To export specific sections instead, choose Sections on a notebook and select the required sections.
4. Choose a destination folder and export format.
5. Select Export and keep OneNote open until the result is shown.

Exports can take several minutes for large or cloud-hosted notebooks. Progress messages indicate which notebook, section, or HTML page is currently being processed.

Export formats

Format	Selection	Result and intended use
OneNote Package (.onepkg)	Notebook or section	Recommended backup format. Preserves OneNote content and can be imported into OneNote.
HTML Web Pages	Notebook or section	Offline browser copy with generated notebook and section indexes, individual .htm pages, and companion assets.
PDF Document (.pdf)	Notebook or section	Widely readable rendered output. For large notebooks, section-by-section export is safer.
XPS Document (.xps)	Notebook or section	Rendered output with good layout preservation. For large notebooks, section-by-section export is safer.
Local Backup Copy	All notebooks	Copies the complete local OneNote backup directory. Manual notebook selections are ignored.

HTML output

HTML exports create a <Notebook>__<stable-id>_html directory containing an index.html start page. Each OneNote page is published separately because OneNote's COM API provides reliable HTML publishing at page level.

• Complete notebook exports link to all exported pages from generated notebook and section indexes.
• Selected-section exports create or refresh the notebook index with the section indexes that are present in the destination.
• Section groups remain nested directories.
• Images and other companion assets written by OneNote are kept beside the exported pages.
• Stable IDs prevent same-named notebooks, sections, and pages from overwriting one another.
• Re-exporting replaces the previous HTML directory only after every page and index succeeds.

HTML is designed for offline reading. It is not a re-importable substitute for .onepkg. OneNote subpage levels are currently listed as normal pages in the generated indexes.

Large PDF and XPS exports

OneNote does not expose notebook size through its COM interface, and its renderer can fail on large whole-notebook PDF or XPS exports. Before such an export, the application offers three choices:

1. export every unlocked section separately (recommended);
2. create a complete .onepkg backup instead; or
3. attempt the whole-notebook rendered export.

Section-by-section output preserves section groups as folders and uses collision-safe names.

Local backup copy

This option copies all files from OneNote's local backup directory and ignores notebook selection. Version 1.3 currently checks the German OneNote 16.0 backup path:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\OneNote\16.0\Sicherung

The option is disabled when that directory does not exist, cannot be read, or is empty.

Reliability and cancellation

• OneNote COM work runs serially on a dedicated STA thread.
• Single-file and HTML exports are written to protected staging locations. An existing good export is replaced only after the new result is complete.
• Temporary supported COM/RPC failures receive one bounded reconnection and retry attempt.
• Cancel never closes or terminates OneNote. A synchronous OneNote Publish call cannot be interrupted safely; cancellation takes effect as soon as OneNote returns control.

Known limitations

• Password-protected sections must be unlocked in OneNote before export.
• OneDrive and SharePoint notebooks must be fully synced before export.
• Export fidelity and supported page content are ultimately determined by OneNote's own publishing engine.
• Large whole-notebook PDF/XPS exports can still fail inside OneNote; use the recommended section-by-section mode or .onepkg.
• HTML indexes currently flatten OneNote subpage levels.
• The local backup-copy option currently uses the German Sicherung directory shown above.

Verify a download

Download the matching SHA-256 checksum and verify the installer in PowerShell:

Get-FileHash .\OneNoteBackupExporter_Setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256
Get-Content .\OneNoteBackupExporter_Setup.exe.sha256

The two hashes should match.

Build from source

The project requires the .NET 10 SDK on Windows. Inno Setup is optional unless an installer is needed.

dotnet test .\tests\OneNoteExporter.Tests\OneNoteExporter.Tests.csproj -c Release
dotnet publish .\OneNoteExporter.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true

Run build.ps1 to create the self-contained application in build and, when Inno Setup is installed, artifacts\OneNoteBackupExporter_Setup.exe.

Automated builds and releases

GitHub Actions runs the tests, publishes the self-contained Windows x64 application, and compiles the installer for every pull request and every push to main. The installer and SHA-256 checksum remain available as workflow artifacts for 14 days.

Pushing a semantic-version tag such as vX.Y.Z publishes a GitHub release when the tag version matches <Version> in OneNoteExporter.csproj. The release contains the installer and checksum.

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.