How to delete notebooks in OneNote that 'don't exist' but still show up

Lynne Gillam 25 Reputation points
2025-07-24T02:47:46.66+00:00

I have two notebooks in OneNote that I have tried to delete. I can't do anything with them. They are old and I no longer need them. However, I don't get a 'delete' option from the three dots and when I click on them I get 'Item does not exist It may have been deleted by another user'. These are personal notebooks and have not been shared with anyone else. Grateful if you could advise how to delete please.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | MacOS
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  1. Thomas4-N 1,015 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-07-24T14:25:55.8433333+00:00

    Hi Lynne Gillam,

    Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

    Based on the message you're seeing — “Item does not exist. It may have been deleted by another user” — the most likely explanation is that these notebooks were already deleted or moved outside of OneNote (for example, from OneDrive), but OneNote still shows them due to cached links.

    To remove them from the list in OneNote for Mac, try clearing the local cache:

    1. Quit OneNote completely. 2. Open Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G, and go to:

    ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.onenote.mac/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft User Data/OneNote/
    

    3. Look for folders related to the notebooks that are stuck and delete them.

    4. Restart OneNote.

    This should remove the ghost entries from your notebook list.

    Let me know if it works or if you're still seeing them.

    Best regards,

    Thomas

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