OneNote Syncing Error on Mac

Question

I use OneNote on my Macbook regularly. I went to use it yesterday (May 19th) and was met with error code: 0xE000006C cig68. It says "Sync error: please refresh this notebook to continue syncing. refresh now." whenever I hit refresh now I'm just met with the same error "we couldn't open this section".

I have tried logging in from the web app and on my phone and dont' receive the error. It's just the mac app. The content from my app did not sync so I cannot access some of my work.

I have lost a lot of work and I'm quite frustrated.

So far I have tried:

Closing out of the app

Signing out and signing back in

Using different wifi networks

Appreciate the help.

Answer 1

I have the same issue...on the web version and other devices, onenote app works normal...on MacBookPro (older one with os 10.15) the sync stopped working a few weeks ago...i can not update onenote from the app store, because my os is outdated..

I tried all the mentioned steps, but onenote doesn't work...

When reinstalling the Onenote app (olderversion that works for my mac OS version), it is empty...opening the notebook works, but it can not open a section...

Reintstalling, deleting caches...nothing works...strange fact is, when i make a new section on other devices, it shows in my onenote app on macbook...but nothing more....if i delete this section on the onenote app on macbook, it deletes alson on my other devices... hard to understand this...but it can not show contents of section...unable to open

Answer 2

I have exactly the same problem. About 5 days ago my mac OneNote suddenly lost the ability to open notebooks - it can see the notebook titles, but can't open the pages within them.

Based on your reply (thanks Born Blessed) I decided to check whether it's a OneDrive synch problem instead.

Using Spotlight search I attempted to start (or restart) OneDrive and got an error message "You can't use this version of the application "OneDrive.app" with this version of macOS. The application requires macOS 13.0 or later". (I have a 10 year old Mac running 10.15.7 Catalina, the latest my machine will support).

So it appears that the version of OneDrive installed on my machine won't run on my machine. Almost as if Microsoft updated the app to a newer version, that won't run. I am going to try downloading an older version of OneDrive

Answer 3

the date you mentioned about May 9th, was in my case the same issue...afterwards no more syncing.

Answer 4

I have the same problem. I'm on a MacBook Pro from 2012 and i'm running macOS Catalina 10.15.7, the highest it can run. May 9th, 2025 was the last day that OneNote did a backup of notebooks (which i had set to weekly, i believe). I believe it was a couple of days later that i noticed that i was getting a Sync Error and NOTHING was resolving it. I even uninstalled OneNote at one point. When i went to reinstall, that's when i realized the latest version did not work and then i went down a rabbit hole looking for a version of OneNote that was compatible. 

Note: I run OneNote on my iPhone, my iPad, and my MacMini, and none of those were having issues. I could and still can even open OneNote on the web without issue. It's only on the MacBook Pro running macOS Catalina that has the sync error.

That said, i didn't have time to troubleshoot more until today (May 28th, 2025), when i finally identified the older versions that would install without issue. I was able to install version 16.66.1 (22101101), which i got from this website. However, i still get the Sync Error (0xE000006C cig68). I tried closing and opening the notebook, signing out and then back in. I even tried suggestions from this microsoft community website to no avail.

This particular onenote website says that version 16.77 addresses the issue, but 16.77 is not compatible with macOS Catalina (10.15). The weird thing is that it says the release date was 2022.10.12, but that is strange because that is the release date for version 16.66.1 (22101101), the version that is still installable on MacOS Catalina (which i mentioned before that i have installed).

It also might be useful to note that i had previously uninstalled OneDrive as well, and when i went to try to reinstall, it took me a while to find a version that still functioned for macOS Catalina, but i eventually found one, version 23.081.0416.0001 (Standalone). I had already installed this version and it was functioning and syncing appropriately before i even attempted to install and troubleshoot with OneNote. If OneNote relies on OneDrive for anything, i don't know what could be going wrong. I have plenty of drive space on OneNote if that's a concern. 

I'm at my wits end, and i would love to know how to fix this. It looks like this happened all of a sudden to others like me (as seen from this thread). Microsoft must have done something to stop these old versions from syncing properly. Someone from Microsoft, please help.

Answer 5

Hello tonya facey**,**

Thanks for posting in the Microsoft community.

I understand that you're experiencing an error (0xE000006C cig68) in OneNote on your Mac, preventing the app from syncing your notebooks. You mentioned that you are able to access the content on the web and your mobile device but are facing issues on the Mac app.

To better assist you, could you please clarify a few things?

• Are all notebooks affected, or is it just a specific one?
• Have you noticed any changes or updates to your Mac or OneNote app recently?
• Have you tried using OneNote on a different device or browser to confirm if the issue is limited to the Mac app?

Here are a few troubleshooting steps that could help resolve the issue:

1. Ensure OneNote and macOS are up-to-date.
   • Update both OneNote from the Mac App Store and macOS to the latest versions to ensure compatibility.
2. Check OneDrive sync status.
   • Open the OneDrive app and confirm that it is syncing correctly. If there are any issues with OneDrive, they may affect OneNote sync as well.
3. Clear OneNote cache.
   • Try clearing the cache by navigating to the Library folder (using Finder) and removing the cached files. Reopen OneNote and see if the issue persists.
4. Reinstall OneNote.
   • If the above steps don't work, try reinstalling the OneNote app. Sign out, delete the app, and then reinstall it from the Mac App Store.
5. Check for conflicting third-party apps.
   • Disable any VPNs or firewalls temporarily to see if they are causing the issue.
6. Test the notebook on a new user account.
   • Create a new user profile on your Mac and log in to OneNote there to see if the issue is specific to your current user account.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, feel free to reach out to me I would be glad to help out further.

Best wishes,
Born-Blessed | Microsoft Community Support