How to Move OneNote to Another Note App

Quick Answer

To move OneNote to another app, convert your notebooks to the file that app imports, Markdown, HTML or Word, then bring those files in. The Univik ONE Converter writes every one of those formats straight from your .one files, with no OneNote running.

You are leaving OneNote. The notes have to land somewhere that reads them, and each app on your shortlist wants a particular file.

This page is the map. Pick the app, find the format it reads, convert your notebooks to that format and bring them in.

Pick the Format Your New App Reads

The whole move turns on one thing, the format your new app can import. Get that right and the rest falls into place. Three families cover almost every destination.

Markdown

The plain text apps, Obsidian, Logseq and Joplin, all read .md files.

HTML

Notion and the web based tools pull in HTML pages cleanly.

Word

Google Docs and document editors open a DOCX and keep the layout.

OneNote writes none of these past a short export list, so a converter fills the gap and produces the file the app on the other side is waiting for.

Which Format for Which App

Here is where the common destinations land, and the guide that makes each file.

Destination app	Reads best as	Make it with
Obsidian	Markdown	OneNote to Markdown
Logseq	Markdown	OneNote to Markdown
Joplin	Markdown	OneNote to Markdown
Notion	HTML	OneNote to HTML
Google Docs	Word	OneNote to Word

A few take more than one route. Notion's import list also accepts DOCX and Markdown, and Joplin reads HTML as well as Markdown. Where an app offers a choice, go with the format it treats as first class.

Why Convert Before You Import

OneNote keeps the notes locked inside a .one file that only OneNote opens. Its export menu offers a PDF, a Word document and a web page, and the Windows 10 version has none at all. So the notes have to be lifted out before any new app can read them.

Worth knowing

A converter reads the .one on its own and writes a clean file in the format you need, so the notes come out as something the new app can open rather than staying trapped.

How each format turns out is spelled out on the matching guide, the Markdown, HTML and Word walkthroughs, and every output choice sits on the OneNote converter page.

Move a Whole Notebook at Once

Migrating a page at a time falls apart past a notebook or two. The Univik ONE Converter takes a pile of .one and .onepkg files, turns each section into the format you picked and runs them all in a single pass.

Load the notebookAdd the .one or .onepkg files, or a whole folder.
Choose the target formatSet the output to what your app reads.
Convert the batchEvery section is written in that format.
Import into your appBring the files into the new home.

People do not leave OneNote for a format, they leave for an app. The question that trips them up is which file that app wants, and the answer is nearly always Markdown, HTML or Word. We built the converter to write all three from the same notebook, so the choice is yours and the export is one click.

NR

Nick Rogers

Founder, Univik

Building Windows tools since 2013

Write your notebooks in whatever format the new app reads

Hand the ONE Converter your notebooks and it writes them out as Markdown, HTML or Word, a file per section, the whole set done in one pass, and OneNote never has to run.

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Keep a OneNote Archive Copy Too

A move and an archive are not the same job. Once the notes live in the new app, keep a frozen copy of the originals as PDF, so a page you barely touch stays readable years from now with nothing to install. The OneNote to PDF guide covers that side, and if you only want to look at a .one before deciding, the Online OneNote Viewer opens it in a browser for free.

When an App Brings Its Own Importer

Some apps offer a built in importer that reaches into OneNote for you. There is a catch worth checking first.

A built in importer

Tied to the app's account and ownership rules, so shared, work and school notebooks get blocked.

Convert then import

Works from a .one on disk, offline, whatever state the notebook is in.

Obsidian's plugin can read exported files as well as a synced account, yet it still only takes notebooks you personally own. Where an importer stops, a shared notebook, a work or school one or a format the app will not read, the converter produces the file it will accept. The Obsidian Importer and Notion's importer are the two people ask about most.

Check the Move Before You Delete Anything

Do not delete the OneNote originals until the import checks out. Open a handful of the migrated notes and look for the parts that matter, the headings, the tables, the pictures and any links. If something dropped, you still hold the .one to convert again in a different format. Joplin's import notes are a good example of how much the exact format changes what lands, so it pays to test a few before you commit the whole library.

What a Move Cannot Carry

Portable files hold text and pictures well and leave the rest behind.

At a glance

Handwriting and drawn ink arrive as flat pictures, not editable strokes.

Audio and video clips do not travel into a text based file.

Links between OneNote pages break, since the new app cannot follow them.

Password protected sections stay shut until you unlock them in OneNote, so open those before you convert. Everything else, the written body of the notes and the images beside it, comes across ready for the new app.

OneNote Migration Questions

Convert your notebooks to the file the new app imports, which is Markdown for plain text apps, HTML for web tools or Word for document editors, then bring those files in. A converter reads the .one file directly, so OneNote itself does not have to run.

Check what the app imports first. Obsidian, Logseq and Joplin want Markdown. Notion and most web tools take HTML. Google Docs and Word based editors read DOCX. Pick the one your app treats as first class.

Yes. Point a converter at a batch of .one and .onepkg files and it renders each section in the format you chose, so a whole notebook or a shelf of them moves in a single run.

No. A converter reads the .one directly and writes the target format, with no OneNote on the PC. That matters for notes trapped in OneNote's locked down Windows 10 app or sitting in an old backup.

Yes. Pictures come across as linked files beside the text and tables convert to the target format's own tables. Handwriting, audio and video are the parts that do not travel.

Keep them until the import checks out. Open a few migrated notes and confirm the headings, tables and images landed. A PDF of the originals makes a frozen archive you can hold onto once you are sure.

Leena Taylor Paul

Written and maintained by Leena Taylor Paul and the Univik team, developers of Windows data conversion and recovery software since 2013. Moving off OneNote comes down to one question, the format the new app reads, so this guide maps each destination to the file it wants and points you at the converter that writes it. Last verified August 2026. Weighing up a note app move? Contact our support team.