Microsoft OneNote 2010 : Upgrading from a Previous Version

OneNote 2003 was the first-ever released version of OneNote. Although it was a noteworthy and capable debut in its time, it is now mostly incompatible with the majority of the features that have been introduced in both OneNote 2007 and OneNote 2010.

If you’re upgrading to OneNote 2010 from OneNote 2003, you are prompted to update all of the files in your My Notebook folder (OneNote 2003 supported only a single notebook), so that you can use all of the features in OneNote 2010 with your old notes. This is highly recommended.

However, after your old notebook files have been updated, OneNote 2003 will no longer be able to read them. This is because the older program can’t possibly understand a file format that was invented some seven years later. Before you choose to let OneNote 2010 update your old notes, first consider whether you will ever need to use them in the older OneNote 2003 program again (for example, if you have a second copy of OneNote 2003 on another computer that you won’t be upgrading). If so, be sure to first create a complete backup of all of your old notebook files.

If you decline to update your OneNote 2003 notebook files as part of the OneNote 2010 upgrade, you can only view them in OneNote 2010 as read-only files, but you cannot edit them.

Upgrading from OneNote 2007

OneNote 2007 has several key features in common with the newer OneNote 2010 (among them, support for multiple notebooks and shared notebooks). Although OneNote 2007 naturally cannot read files in the newer OneNote 2010 format, OneNote 2010 fully supports opening, viewing, editing, and sharing notes in the older OneNote 2007 format. This means you can choose whether you want to keep using your existing notebook files in the older OneNote 2007 format, or whether you want to update them to the newer, more capable OneNote 2010 format.

If you choose to leave your notebook files in the older OneNote 2007 format, you will not be able to use the following OneNote 2010 features in your notebooks:

• Linked Notes

• Notebook Versioning

• Notebook Recycle Bin

• Multilevel Subpages

• Math Equations

To enable all of these features in OneNote 2010, updating your files to the newer format is required. Thankfully, however, you can change formats at any time, if needed, by using the built-in conversion utility in OneNote 2010. This utility lets you convert any notebook from the OneNote 2010 file format to the OneNote 2007 file format—and back again.

The ability to switch formats at will was included to maximize compatibility for shared notebooks in environments in which both OneNote 2007 and OneNote 2010 are in use at the same time. If you upgraded your older notes to the new OneNote 2010 file format and then realize you need to share those notes with people who are still using OneNote 2007, you can downgrade the files and then share the notebook among users of both versions.

The main caveat to downgrading your notes from the OneNote 2010 format to the older OneNote 2007 format is that your notes will lose or ignore the aforementioned newer features that only OneNote 2010 can understand, which means that you will also lose the information they created or provide. For example, if you used the Linked Notes feature and then downgrade those notes to the older OneNote 2007 format, the functionality is unavailable unless you update the file format again. However, simply upgrading to the new format once again will not automatically restore any information that was lost.

Converting a Notebook to the OneNote 2007 Format

Use the blank,  to see how easy it is to change the notebook file to the older OneNote 2007 file format.

1.	Near the top-left corner of the OneNote program window, click the File tab. This opens the Backstage View, where you can manage your notebook files.
2.	Under Notebook Information, find the practice notebook you created (“Using OneNote 2010”) and then click the Settings button for that notebook.
3.	On the menu that appears, click Properties (see Figure 1). Figure 1. The Settings button lets you access the Notebook Properties dialog box. The Notebook Properties dialog box opens (see Figure 2). Here, you can rename the currently selected notebook, change the color of its icon, change its location, and convert its file format. Figure 2. The Notebook Properties dialog box. If the current notebook is in OneNote 2010 format (which the Using OneNote 2010 notebook is), only the Convert to 2007 button is available. Similarly, if the notebook were in the older OneNote 2007 format, only the Convert to 2010 button would be available.
4.	Click the Convert to 2007 button.
5.	When the warning about the affected OneNote 2010 features appears, click OK to acknowledge the message.

When the dialog box closes, the notebook is converted to the older OneNote 2007 format.

You can verify that you’re using a notebook in the OneNote 2007 format by looking at the title bar in the top center of the OneNote 2010 program window. If the words “Compatibility Mode” appear after the page title (see Figure 3), it means you’re working in the older format.

Converting a Notebook to the OneNote 2010 Format

Now convert your practice notebook back to its original (newer) format so you can use all of the features in OneNote 2010 during the upcoming practice sessions.

The steps are nearly the same as before:

When the dialog box closes, the notebook is converted to the newer OneNote 2010 format and the “Compatibility Mode” warning on the OneNote title bar will disappear.

Additional File Conversion Considerations

If you open a notebook that contains individual sections which are stored in the older OneNote 2007 format, an Information Bar appears at the top of every page in that section to warn you of the possible incompatibility. Click the Information Bar to convert that particular section (or the entire notebook the section is stored in) to the newer OneNote 2010 format.

If you should attempt to move any page or section from a notebook in one format to a different notebook in another format, OneNote 2010 will display a warning before attempting to convert your notes.

As with all important computer files, it’s a good idea to create a complete set of backups that you’ll store on a different hard drive for safekeeping before you experiment with notebook conversions (especially if you’re upgrading from OneNote 2003).