Sync the OneNote notebooks on your Mac or PC with your iPad or iPhone

You can use Microsoft OneNote on your iPad or iPhone to keep in sync with any notebooks that you've created with OneNote 2016 on your Mac or PC, even if you use different cloud-based accounts for these two versions of OneNote.

Open Mac or PC notebooks (same OneDrive account)

Because OneNote 2016 for Mac or PC requires notebooks to be saved to a cloud-based OneDrive account, the notebooks you've created and used with that account are already accessible on your iPad or iPhone, provided you've logged in with the same OneDrive account as the one you're using on your Mac or PC.

To open additional notebooks on the same OneDrive account, do the following:

1. In Microsoft OneNote on your iPad or iPhone, tap More Notebooks at the bottom of your notebooks list.

2. Tap any additional notebook(s) that you want to open, and then navigate to its sections or pages.

Note: You can use the preceding step to open any notebooks on your iPad or iPhone that were created with OneNote for Windows. However, notebooks originally created in versions earlier than OneNote 2010 for Windows will not sync with OneNote on your iPad or iPhone. To sync such notebooks across your devices, you must first upgrade your Windows PC to OneNote 2016, update your notebooks to the newer notebook format, and then move your local notebooks to OneDrive.

Open Mac or PC notebooks (different OneDrive accounts)

If you're currently using a different OneDrive account on your iPad or iPhone than the one you use on your Mac or PC, you can sign into your Mac or PC notebooks by doing the following:

Step 1: Add your Mac or PC's OneDrive account to your iPad or iPhone

1. In Microsoft OneNote on your iPad or iPhone, tap the gear icon in the upper left corner.

2. In the Settings menu under Account, tap the currently selected account. (If you're currently signed out of all accounts, tap Sign In.)

3. Under Connected Services, tap + Add a Service.

4. Under Connect a Cloud Service, tap OneDrive.

5. Enter the email address of the OneDrive account that you use for the OneNote notebooks on your Mac or PC, and then tap Next.

6. On the next screen, enter the password of the OneDrive account that you use for the OneNote notebooks on your Mac or PC, and then tap Sign in.

Now that you've authenticated your access to the OneDrive account that you use on your Mac or PC, you can open the notebooks on it.

Step 2: Open notebooks from your Mac or PC on your iPad or iPhone

1. In Microsoft OneNote on your iPad or iPhone, tap More Notebooks at the bottom of your notebooks list.

2. Tap any additional notebook(s) that you want to open, and then navigate to its sections or pages.

Note: You can use the preceding step to open any notebooks on your iPad or iPhone that were created with OneNote for Windows. However, notebooks originally created in versions earlier than OneNote 2010 for Windows will not sync with OneNote on your iPad or iPhone. To sync such notebooks across your devices, you must first upgrade your Windows PC to OneNote 2016, update your notebooks to the newer notebook format, and then move your local notebooks to OneDrive.