Switching machines or moving away from OneDrive doesn't mean you have to lose your Sticky Notes or OneNote data. Both can be backed up locally, but the process isn't obvious. Here's how to save everything without depending on cloud sync.

Sticky Notes

Modern Windows Sticky Notes syncs to your Microsoft account (the notes show up in Outlook.com under Notes). But if you want a local backup or you're signed out, the data lives in a SQLite database on your machine.

Find the database:

The file is called plum.sqlite and it's located at:

%LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\

Press Win + R, paste the path above, and press Enter to open the folder.

Back it up:

1. Close Sticky Notes completely (check Task Manager and end the process if it's still running in the background)
2. Copy plum.sqlite to a safe location (external drive, USB, another folder)
3. That's your backup. Copy the entire LocalState folder if you want to be thorough

Restore on another machine:

1. Install Sticky Notes on the new machine (it comes pre-installed on Windows 10 and 11)
2. Open Sticky Notes once, then close it completely
3. Navigate to the same LocalState path on the new machine
4. Replace plum.sqlite with your backup copy
5. Open Sticky Notes — your notes should appear

If you're signed into a Microsoft account and cloud sync is enabled, the cloud copy can overwrite your local database. To prevent this, keep Sticky Notes signed out before restoring.

Export notes as text:

Sticky Notes has no built-in export feature. Your options:

• Copy and paste manually — open each note and copy the text. Tedious but works for a small number of notes
• Read the SQLite database — open plum.sqlite with a free SQLite browser (like DB Browser for SQLite). Your notes are in the Note table, in the Text column. You can export the entire table to CSV
• Third-party tools — apps like Notezilla or various GitHub scripts can parse and export from the Sticky Notes database

OneNote

OneNote export depends heavily on which version you're using. There are two Windows versions with very different capabilities.

Which version do you have?

• OneNote (desktop app) — the full-featured version included with Microsoft 365/Office. Has a ribbon toolbar and a File tab with export options. This is the one you want for backups
• OneNote for Windows 10 (UWP app) — the simplified Store app. No File > Export menu, no .onepkg support, and very limited backup options. Microsoft has deprecated this version

If you only have the UWP version, install the desktop OneNote from Microsoft 365 or the free standalone download. Open the same notebooks there to access export features.

Export a full notebook:

1. Open the notebook in OneNote (desktop)
2. Go to File > Export
3. Under Export Current, select Notebook
4. Choose OneNote Package (*.onepkg) as the format
5. Click Export and choose where to save it

The .onepkg file contains the entire notebook structure — sections, section groups, and pages — in one portable file. This is the best format for full backups.

Export individual pages or sections:

1. Go to File > Export
2. Under Export Current, select Page or Section
3. Choose a format:
   • .one — OneNote's native section format, good for moving between OneNote installations
   • PDF — universal, but flat (no editable structure)
   • Word Document (.docx) — editable text, but loses some OneNote formatting

Set up automatic local backups:

OneNote (desktop) can back up your notebooks automatically to a local folder:

1. Go to File > Options > Save & Backup
2. Under Backup, note the Backup Folder path (usually something like C:\Users\YourName\Documents\OneNote Notebooks\Backup)
3. Change this to any local or external drive path you prefer
4. Set the backup frequency and number of copies to keep
5. Click OK

These automatic backups save individual .one section files. They're useful for recovering from accidental deletions or corruption, but for a complete portable backup, use the .onepkg export described above.

Default backup location:

Even without changing settings, OneNote stores automatic backups at:

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\OneNote\

Inside you'll find version-specific folders with cached notebooks and backup sections.

Restoring a .onepkg backup:

Double-click the .onepkg file on any machine with OneNote installed. You'll be prompted to choose a location for the restored notebook. It creates a fully functional notebook with all your sections and pages intact.

Importing into other apps:

• Evernote — Evernote has a built-in OneNote importer that pulls notebooks directly from your account
• Notion — supports importing from Evernote (so OneNote to Evernote to Notion is a common path), or you can import exported HTML/PDF files
• Other note apps — export as PDF or Word from OneNote, then import those files

short

1. Sticky Notes: close the app, copy plum.sqlite from %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\
2. OneNote: open the desktop app, go to File > Export > Notebook > OneNote Package (.onepkg)
3. Automatic backups: File > Options > Save & Backup to set a local backup folder