onenote has been lagging and freezing so much. i have microsoft surface pro 11th edition

Question

onenote has been lagging and freezing so much. i have microsoft surface pro 11th edition

Luke 0

it's really annoying whenever i try to take notes and have to wait as the screen turns pale and it says onenote isn't responding. i have microsoft surface pro 11th edition. why can't it work like normal. this isn't normal. it's annoying

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Answer 1

Jiajing Hua-MFST 15,875 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @Luke

Are you using OneNote, which is part of Office suite, not OneNote for Windows 10.

(If you need to distinguish between the two, please refer to: What's the difference between the OneNote versions?.)

Do you use a pen to write notes?

Besides, does this issue occur with all Notebooks?

I suggest you change the power mode for your machine, select Start > Settings > System > Power & battery > Power mode, turn off Battery Saver.

In OneNote, click File > Options > Add-ins > Manage COM Add-ins, click Go, clear the check boxes for any enabled COM add-ins, select OK.

If it does not work, please perform an Online Repair for your Office, go to Control Panel > Programs, right-click on Office applications’ icon, click Change > Online Repair.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Luke 0 Reputation points

2025-03-04T13:32:05.3633333+00:00

i use the onenote app that was already installed in my surface pro device. i do use battery saver and a universal pen to write my notes. other microsoft-compatible pens aren't as accurate as they may lag when i write and the tapping noise is not nice. the freezing and waiting happens whenever i use the app - no matter which notebook i open. why would i need to care whether i use the office suite or windows 10 onenote?
Jiajing Hua-MFST 15,875 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-05T09:07:31.1166667+00:00
Hi @Luke

Thanks for your back and sharing.

Why we distinguish these two OneNote products, because their interfaces and options are different. Thanks for your understanding. Besides Q&A forum only supports OneNote of Office currently.

If you use Pen write notes, could you please check whether this issue occur with entering via keyboard?

Then I suggest you clear OneNote cache.

Please make sure your notebooks are all already synced successfully first. Otherwise, before doing following steps, for notebooks that aren't fully synced across all your devices, make sure you copy and back up any un-synced recent notes on the originating PC or device.)

Close OneNote, go to File > Options > Save & Backup, scroll down, check the "Cach File Location".

Then locate to the path that you find (If you cannot find "Appdata" folder, please go to File Explorer > View in Show/hide group > check the box of "Hidden Items"), open "16.0" folder, open "cache" folder, and empty this folder.

You may also perform an Online Repair for your Office in Control Panel. Please search and open Control Panel > Programs/ Uninstall a program > Find the Office, right click on it > Select Change > Online Repair.
Luke 0 Reputation points

2025-03-05T13:32:54.2366667+00:00

here's everything i did: turn off battery saver, did the long repair, turned on best performance for both plugged in and not plugged in, clear the cache, uninstalled a few unnecessary apps, closed all my other notebooks, deleted all my photos and unnecessary files, turned on sync manually. I then had a thought that maybe the lagging was cuz it was trying to sync after every change when i still had it in auto sync. And it still doesn't respond sometimes.

what else can i do. it didn't happen when i first bought this device, which was like only 5 months ago.

but it still lags, doesn't respond/freezes. i think it's that my notebook is too large as i use it for school and add to it daily. i do include pictures in those onenote sections.

the website onenote is worse as it lags and freezes.
Jiajing Hua-MFST 15,875 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-06T09:33:55.1166667+00:00

Hi @Anonymous

Thanks for your response.

If the notebooks are too large, is it possible that you split them up?

You can select out a large existing notebook, categorize its sections, then create multiple new notebooks under this category.

Select the section, right click on the section name, select "Move or Copy", select the corresponding notebook name and select "Copy". (Please do not use "Move" first, just in case.)

After the copying is complete, you can temporarily close the larger notebook and observe the issue in the other copied notebooks.
Luke 0 Reputation points

2025-03-10T02:39:06.3533333+00:00

Got it! Another question for you is can I insert a USB to store files/photos on this device?
Jiajing Hua-MFST 15,875 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-10T09:45:57.07+00:00

Hi,

If the notebook is large and contains many inserted pictures, files, the heavy data load placed on your device and cloud storage, which may cause slow processing times.

So, I suggest you split your larger notes.

Or you may reduce PDFs and file printouts, add a hyperlink to the file, insert the file as an attachment instead.

Additionally, click File > Options > Sync, uncheck "Download all files and images".

If possible, you may also use OneNote for Windows 10 for check.
Luke 0 Reputation points

2025-03-11T17:19:33.6266667+00:00

Thank you, Ms. Jiajing! I've been using whiteboard instead.
Jiajing Hua-MFST 15,875 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-12T06:49:49.4266667+00:00

Hi @Luke
You are welcome.

If you have other issues about using Office apps later, welcome to post on Q&A and discuss with us.

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onenote has been lagging and freezing so much. i have microsoft surface pro 11th edition

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