OneNote is missing after installing Office 2019 or Microsoft 365

Note: Our product names for OneNote on Windows have recently changed. Throughout this article, “OneNote” now refers to the desktop version (previously called ”OneNote 2016”), and “OneNote for Windows 10” refers to the Microsoft Store app that’s available only on Windows 10.

Issue

After previously installing Office 2019 on a PC running any edition of Windows 10, OneNote appears to be missing from the list of installed desktop applications.

Background

OneNote was previously excluded from Office 2019 installations. As of March 2020, the OneNote desktop app is once again installed alongside the Word, PowerPoint, and Excel desktop apps.

Resolution

If you need to install or reinstall the OneNote desktop app (formerly called “OneNote 2016”), do the following:

Download OneNote.
When finished downloading, double-click the downloaded file to begin Setup.

The installer will automatically detect if you’re currently running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Microsoft 365 or Office 2019 and match your OneNote installation to the correct version.

Note: If you use Microsoft 365 or Office 2019 at your work or school and your software is controlled by an IT administrator, you may need to ask them to make OneNote available to you.

After you’ve finished installing OneNote, it should be automatically associated (or re-associated) with your currently activated Microsoft 365 or Office 2019 license.

Note: If you installed OneNote before you install and activate Microsoft 365 or Office 2019, then the end-user license that appears in OneNote will display as “Home and Student.” As soon as you’ve activated your edition of Microsoft 365 or Office 2019 and then restart OneNote, your license will be applied to OneNote, even though the default license for it may still be displayed as “Home and Student.” As long as your edition of Microsoft 365 or Office 2019 is properly activated, OneNote will have all of the capabilities that require a license.