You cannot open a OneNote 2007 file in OneNote 2003

When you try to open a Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 file in Microsoft Office OneNote 2003, the file does not open. Additionally, you receive the following error message:

OneNote 2007 uses a new file format that is incompatible with OneNote 2003. OneNote 2007 does not have an option to save files in the OneNote 2003 file format.

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Copy and paste notes from OneNote 2007 to OneNote 2003

Copy the pages or the sections that you want from OneNote 2007. Then, paste the pages or the sections to OneNote 2003.

Method 2: Save the OneNote 2007 file as a single file Web page (*.mht)

To do this, follow these steps:

1. In OneNote 2007, select the pages or the sections that you want to transfer to OneNote 2003.
2. On the File menu, click Save As.
3. In the Save As Type list, click Single File Web Page (Publish a copy)(*.mht), and then click the appropriate option in the Page Range section.
4. Specify a file name and location. Alternatively, accept the default file name and location. Then, click Save.
5. Copy or move the .mht file to the computer that is running OneNote 2003.
6. On the computer that is running OneNote 2003, open the .mht file in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Then, copy and paste the information to a OneNote 2003 notebook.

Method 3: Send notes in an e-mail message

You can send copies of selected pages in an e-mail message. When you do this, the selected notes are copied into the body of the HTML message. The other pages of the section will not be viewable. Additionally, a .one file is attached to the e-mail message. This file attachment can be removed from the e-mail message as appropriate for your situation.

To send notes in an e-mail message, follow these steps:

1. In OneNote 2007, select the pages that you want to transfer to OneNote 2003.
2. On the File menu, click E-mail.
3. Delete the .one attachment file.
4. Type the recipient information and the subject information in the new e-mail message, and then click Send a copy.
5. On the computer that is running OneNote 2003, open the e-mail message that you sent in step 4. Then, copy and paste the message body to a OneNote 2003 notebook.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

OneNote 2003 files are read-only files in OneNote 2007 until the files are upgraded.

When you start OneNote 2007 for the first time, you have the option to upgrade your notes. After the initial migration, OneNote 2003 files are opened as read-only in OneNote 2007. Use the InfoBar to upgrade your OneNote 2003 files to the OneNote 2007 file format. The InfoBar is the yellow status bar at the top of the page. The InfoBar displays the following message:OneNote 2007 does not support backward compatibility with OneNote 2003. Therefore, after you upgrade your OneNote 2003 notes to the OneNote 2007 file format, you can no longer open those notes in OneNote 2003.

Shared sessions and shared notebooks

If you work with shared notebooks, make sure that everyone uses the same version of OneNote before the notes are upgraded to the new file format.