Delete old OneNote notebook files

Question

I have moved my OneNote Notebooks to the cloud, and the NoteBook files are no longer stored in any of my OneDrive folders. Some older versions of my Notebooks still show up in the closed notebook list and can be opened. How do I delete them?

Answer 1

Those old entries are just local notebook folders or shortcuts that OneNote still knows about. After moving the notebooks to OneDrive, the local copies are no longer connected and should be deleted/closed.

Do the following on the Windows desktop version of OneNote:

1. Delete the old local notebook folders (if they still exist):
   1. Open File Explorer and go to the Documents folder.
   2. Double‑click OneNote Notebooks.
   3. Right‑click the notebook folder(s) you no longer need and select Delete.
   4. Optionally, right‑click the Recycle Bin on the desktop and choose Empty Recycle Bin to remove them permanently.
2. Close the deleted notebooks in OneNote so they no longer appear in the list:
   1. In OneNote, open the notebook list.
   2. Right‑click each old notebook that was deleted and select Close This Notebook.

After this, OneNote will stop trying to sync those old notebooks and they will disappear from the closed‑notebook list.

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References:

• Delete OneNote notebook from your Windows computer
• Sync a notebook in OneNote
• Delete a OneNote 2016 for Windows notebook from OneDrive