Recover information from OneNoteOfflineCache.onenote

Let me clarify one thing. I don't have the OneNoteOfflineCache.onenote file. All the files I could recover with that filename were too old. What I have is a bunch of files that were stored in my OneNoteOfflineCache_Files with really long names of alphanumerics. They don't have file extensions. It looks like some of those files are JPGS or other graphics. I was hoping some of them were text, but maybe all the text is stored in the OneNoteOfflineCache.onecache file. If that's the case, I don't know how to recover it because it looks like it was just written over - not deleted.

Am I stuck?

Normally you should have local backups, automatically created by Onenote. To find under File | Info | Open Backups.

The rules are under File, Options, Backup.

Bernd

I don't have backups turned on. My mistake. I was using another backup solution that didn't work out because I didn't realize OneNote only used a local cache instead of a local copy of my notebook.

I've actually managed to find a "OneNoteOffliceCache.onenote" file through system restore from yesterday afternoon, but I can't seem to open it with OneNote. If I open it in WordPad, I see some of my text, so I can try to mine through it and pull some of what I lost out of it, but there must be a way for a support person to open this file as a notebook. Can anybody help with this?

I would try to contact directly John Guin.

His Blog is here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johnguin/

Use the "Email Blog Author" at the upper right. You're not the first ...

Bernd

What I have is a bunch of files that were
stored in my OneNoteOfflineCache_Files with really long names of
alphanumerics. They don't have file extensions. It looks like some of
those files are JPGS or other graphics. I was hoping some of them
were text, but maybe all the text is stored in the
OneNoteOfflineCache.onecache file.

Exactly the latter.
What's stored in "OneNoteOfflineCache_Files" are only copies if embedded
files (images, docs, audio files etc.).
They are if no use at all in your current situation.

Rainald

I don't have backups turned on. My mistake. I was using another
backup solution that didn't work out because I didn't realize OneNote
only used a local cache instead of a local copy of my notebook.

Too bad. And really sad.
You are now hit by the results of three most serious mistakes:
a) No synching with the files in the SkyDrive.
This is easy enough and it should be done regularly.
b) No backups.
Those can made automatically and the frequency can be fine tuned down to
1 min.
c) Deletion if the Cache (which is the playground where ON works)
without have synched.

I've actually managed to find a "OneNoteOffliceCache.onenote" file
through system restore from yesterday afternoon, but I can't seem to
open it with OneNote.

Right. The Cache's file can nit be opened in ON.

If I open it in WordPad, I see some of my text,
so I can try to mine through it and pull some of what I lost out of
it,

AFAICS WordPad is anything but a proper instrument for extracting parts
of what was stored in the cache.
It might be possible to grab some parts with a "hex-editor" but fear
that you won't be able to really recollect larger parts.

but there must be a way for a support person to open this file as
a notebook.

"Must"?
I fear not. It might be that some developer might be able to puck up
some parts of what was in the cache-file.
But don't hope for too much.

I have today found myself in a very similar predicament.

8 hours of typing into onenote while offline for a university assignment, and suddenly get the corrupt cache message.  My remote laptop uses offline files with the central copy stored on my home pc.  The Notebook and pages are all ON'10 versions, and, there is no Anti-virus or other "file-intercept" products on my remote laptop.

After rebuilding the cache, the page I've been typing into comes back with "The page is not yet available.  This page was added from another computer.  It will become available if that computer reconnects and syncs."

So I go home from the uni library, and sync offline files with my home PC (where my ON files are centrally stored and backed up daily).  Try opening Onenote on the remote laptop, and still get the same error.  But now, try to open via ON'10 on my home PC, and guess what, now get the same error.  So the "rebuilt cache" has even corrupted the central copy!!

I have been able to recover pages from last nights backup, but have still lost the 8 hours of work from today!!

What is going on with ON'10?  I never had these problems in ON'07, and, with respect to Rainald's comments above, backing up every minute creates so many backup files, it makes a big mess of storage, especially considering ON'07 was so trustworthy, I would never have perceived having a need to backup every minute, besides, this would not work in the circustances I have encountered above.

Microsoft, you owe us a proper explanation or a patch to resolve this issue.  We should at least be able to turn the Cache off if we are not sharing notebooks and use offline files to sync.

J :(

 

DPJayJay,

If you have a corrupt cache file, please contact me via my blog.  I'm sorry for the problems.

---

John Guin [msft]
OneNote Test Team
http://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin

This is what I did - copied the OneNoteOfflineCache.onecache file to another location, renamed the extension from .onecache to .one and ran forcerepair. Details of doing forcerepair can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825779. After that open the file and you may be able to find the info among a long list of pages - the resulting pages are not chronologically ordered. 

Try to rename the extension from .onecache to the extension of your text document. I mean, if your document were a Word one, try to rename the cache files from .onecache to .docx. It worked for me when I was looking for a lost Power Point presentation.