Versions, export, and trash

Every note keeps its history, exports cleanly, and survives deletion — here is how to use all three.

Review version history

1. Open the note’s More (…) menu and choose Version history.
2. The Version History panel lists versions newest first, with rapid consecutive saves collapsed into edit sessions so the list stays scannable.
3. Select a version to view it; Compare shows it against the previous version.

Each file keeps up to 500 versions (Files and limits).

Revert to an earlier version

1. In Version History, select the version you want back.
2. Choose Revert and confirm.

Reverting replaces the current content with the selected version — and your pre-revert content is auto-saved as a new version, so nothing is lost.

Orbit’s Revert restores the note text and keeps the current comments. For notes with comments stored in the markdown file, restoring the entire file through Microsoft 365 also restores the comments from that file version.

Caution

If other people are actively editing, coordinate before reverting — the revert applies to the shared note for everyone.

Export a note

1. Open the note’s More (…) menu and choose Export.
2. Pick a format in the Export note dialog:
   • Markdown — the note’s source file, portable anywhere.
   • PDF — a print-ready document.
   • Word — a .doc file for Microsoft Word.

Non-note files offer Download original file instead. Inside Microsoft Teams, exports open in your system browser to complete the download — see Teams.

For notes with comments stored in markdown, Markdown exports and version downloads include those saved comments. The editor and version comparison show the note text without the comment data appended to it.

Delete and restore notes

Deleting a note moves it to Recently Deleted and removes it from Orbit links. To bring it back:

1. Open Recently Deleted from the sidebar (or press Cmd+Shift+D / Ctrl+Shift+D).
2. Select the note and choose Restore.

Deleted documents stay in Recently Deleted until you restore them or remove them with Delete permanently, which moves the item to your OneDrive or SharePoint recycle bin. Orbit can no longer restore it after that; your organization’s recycle-bin retention applies.

Note

A just-deleted note shows “Waiting for SharePoint recycle bin indexing before restore actions become available.” for a short time — the restore buttons appear once Microsoft 365 finishes indexing it.

FAQ

Who can revert or restore? Anyone with write access to the workspace. Readers can view history but not change anything.

A file changed or vanished outside Orbit — now what? Notes are files in your OneDrive or SharePoint library, so your organization’s normal Microsoft 365 recovery applies. See Where your notes live.

Up next: Raw markdown — the power-user escape hatch to a note’s source.