There are a few things you'll want to keep in mind when using passwords to protect sections in your notebooks.
Important: Only notebook sections can be protected with passwords. You cannot protect individual pages or entire notebooks with a password.
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Passwords can be applied to any number of individual notebook sections, but not to entire notebooks at once.
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Passwords are case-sensitive. Make sure that the Caps Lock key is off before you enter a password.
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OneNote uses 128-bit AES encryption to secure password-protected notebook sections. Take care when applying or changing passwords. Write down your passwords and keep them in a safe place if you think you may not be able to remember them.
Note: If you forget your password, no one will be able to unlock your notes for you — not even Microsoft Technical Support.
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Notes on pages in password-protected sections are not included in notebook searches. To include notes within any protected section in a search, first unlock that section.
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To keep your notes secure, OneNote automatically locks password-protected sections after a few minutes of inactivity.
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Although password protection improves the security of your personal information by making it harder for other people to read your notes without your permission, it is not a foolproof safeguard. Someone with physical access to your iPad or iPhone might still be able to figure out how to access your information. For this reason, we recommend that you avoid keeping extremely sensitive personal information in OneNote (for example, Social Security numbers or access codes to financial accounts).
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If you’re using OneNote on a compatible iPad or iPhone, you can use Apple’s Touch ID security to unlock password-protected notebook sections with your fingerprint. However, before enabling Touch ID for password-protected sections in OneNote, be aware that anyone who has been granted Touch ID access to your iPad or iPhone will be able to unlock your notes without a separate password. To delete any section passwords saved by Touch ID, tap Settings on your iPad or iPhone, scroll down and tap OneNote in the list of apps, tap Reset OneNote, and then tap Delete Login Credentials. Quit and restart OneNote for the changes to take effect.
Learn how to protect notes with a password in Microsoft OneNote.
