How to move from OneNote 2016 to OneNote Windows 10

Microsoft have stated that Windows 10 OneNote, the UWP version that installs from the store, is going to be the only one receiving new features. And OneNote 2016, the desktop client, is going to stay as-is.

If, like me, you have a number of OneNote 2016 Notebooks, you may be stumped as to how to transfer these for use in (UWP) OneNote. Here’s how.

• Open OneNote 2016 (should also work with 2013, 2010)
• Right-click the Notebook you’d like to move over, choose to “Share This Notebook”, choose “OneDrive” (in my case “OneDrive – Personal as this is not a corporate account), give it a “Notebook Name” and tell OneNote 2016 to “Move Notebook” to your OneDrive folder. Be sure to be signed in with the same account you’ll be using in OneNote. You’ll get a notice that your Notebook is now syncing to the new location. It should automatically be shared with your MS account as the “owner”, which suffices. Use the back arrow to leave this screen.
• Right-click the Notebook again and choose “Notebook Sync Status…”, wait until the Notebook is fully synchronized.
• Go to www.onenote.com and open the newly shared Notebook by clicking on its name.
• At this point, back in OneNote, you can choose “More Notebooks…” and your Notebook will show up. Open it.

Without the step of opening the Notebook in the online version of OneNote, this did not work for me. It’d be shared but never show up in OneNote UWP.

Also, “export” does nothing for you here: OneNote UWP as of July 2018 cannot open files, neither .onepgk nor .mht.