How to fix my OneNote issue as my system is running out of application memory on Mac?

Jun Teh (student) 0 Reputation points
2024-01-15T15:21:33.65+00:00

Screenshot 2024-01-15 at 3.18.20 PM

Hi, I hope you all are doing fine. I've been having this issue for months now and I have given up trying so many ways in letting my OneNote work properly. For some reason, after adding my lecture files into my OneNote section, I could no longer use my OneNote because the 'system has run out of application memory'. I don't understand this and would like some help here! Whenever I just open the OneNote, the amount of storage used increases drastically within a minute. I took a screenshot of the situation. I really hope someone can help me out on this! Thanks! :(

Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365
Formerly Office 365, is a line of subscription services offered by Microsoft which adds to and includes the Microsoft Office product line.
3,793 questions
OneNote Management
OneNote Management
OneNote: A family of Microsoft products that enable users to capture, organize, and reuse notes electronically.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
171 questions
0 comments

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Jiajing Hua-MFST 4,675 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2024-01-16T02:17:21.1066667+00:00

    Hi

    Are your notebooks saved/synced to cloud, such as OneDrive?

    • If yes, are your lecture files PDF files and inserted as File Printouts?
      • I suggest you go to OneNote online, check whether you may open the notebooks and remove these PDF Printouts. Then go back to OneNote for Mac, open it for a check.
      • If your lecture files are not synced to OneNote online or the issue still persists after removing these files, under the case that your notebooks are synced to the cloud, you may refer to Magnus_Denmark's reply in "Microsoft OneNote overuse of Memory maybe the cause of a sync issue?".
      • Open OneNote and (quickly before memory usage is too high) sign out your account in the lower left corner. The function of this is to stop the sync. This will probably ask you to close your notebooks afterwards, try and force quit OneNote from the dock.
      • Open OneNote again and make sure that you are signed out. You should see that it says there is an issue with sync (because you are not signed in). Open Activity Monitor (Applications -> Utilites) on your Mac and confirm that the memory leak has stopped.
      • Right click on the notebooks in the menu on the left and close them. This will remove them from your Mac locally. It might take a while depending on how many notebooks you have and how much they contain. Beware that any notes that are not synced to the cloud will be lost.
      • When OneNote is completely empty and there are no notebooks in it, quit the app from the dock.
      • Clear OneNote] cache: When Finder is active, press Command+Shift+G and enter "~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.onenote.mac/Data/Library/ " move the "Caches" folder from there to the trash.
      • Open OneNote again and sign in with your account.
      • Open your notebooks from the cloud and sync them.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.