SharePoint Document Issues

How to Fix SharePoint Folders Appearing as OneNote Files After Migration

Kushani Nimanthika Oct 9, 2026 869 views

Question details

Users migrating files to SharePoint find that folders containing OneNote files alongside other documents are incorrectly displayed as a single OneNote notebook.

How to Fix SharePoint Folders Appearing as OneNote Files After Migration

Product: SharePoint Online
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Migrating folders containing mixed file types (including .one, .onetoc2, and PowerPoint files) to SharePoint Online using migration tools.
Observed behavior: The entire migrated folder appears as a single OneNote notebook, making standard documents like PowerPoint presentations invisible or inaccessible in the destination library.

Before you start

Before making any changes, review your migration logs to identify exactly which source folders contained .one and .onetoc2 files alongside your standard documents.

Solution 1Recommended

Locate Missing Documents and Remigrate the Affected Folder

Search for the hidden documents in the destination library and separate them for a clean remigration to resolve the display issue.

SharePoint Online automatically interprets any folder containing .one and .onetoc2 files as a OneNote notebook structure. This is expected behavior by SharePoint and migration tools like ShareGate, but it can unexpectedly hide other file types stored in the exact same directory.

Search the destination library

Open your SharePoint Online destination library and use the search bar to look for the exact names of the missing PowerPoint or non-OneNote documents.

Review migration mappings

Check your migration tool's log files to verify the final file paths and mappings of the missing items to see where they were placed.

Separate the files locally

On your source drive, create a new folder and move all the non-OneNote files (like PowerPoint presentations and PDFs) into this new directory, keeping the .one and .onetoc2 files in their original folder.

Remigrate the files

Set up a new migration job to remigrate the newly created folder containing only your standard documents to the SharePoint destination.

Locate Missing Documents and Remigrate the Affected Folder

Expected SharePoint Behavior: This is not a general conversion error where every folder becomes a OneNote file. It only occurs when SharePoint recognizes OneNote notebook content (.one and .onetoc2 files) within a specific folder.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my folder turn into a OneNote file after migrating to SharePoint?

SharePoint Online recognizes .one files as OneNote sections and .onetoc2 files as table-of-contents files. When it detects these specific files inside a folder, it assumes the entire parent folder is a OneNote notebook and displays it as such.

Are my PowerPoint files deleted during this migration?

No, your standard files are typically not deleted. They are usually migrated but may be hidden within the OneNote notebook structure or mapped differently. You can verify this by searching the destination library and checking your migration logs.

Does this issue happen with all SharePoint migration tools?

Yes. Whether you use the official SharePoint Migration Tool, ShareGate, or another service, this behavior will occur. It is determined by SharePoint Online's default handling of OneNote structural files, not by the migration tool itself.

Document & File Issues