OneDrive won't let me load it to so can delete the items within it.

Question

I can not load the drive to be able to delete items. Screenshot 2026-04-30 at 3.09.53 PM.png

Answer 1

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

To help narrow down the issue:

1. Are you opening OneDrive from a browser or the OneDrive app?
2. Are you signed in with a personal Microsoft account or a work/school account?
3. Does the same error show on a different browser (Edge/Chrome) or device?

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In the meantime, if you haven’t already already:

• Sign out of OneDrive, then sign back in
• Open OneDrive in InPrivate/Incognito mode
• Try a different browser
• Check if you can access it here: https://outlook.live.com/mail

If it works in another browser or Incognito, it could be cache or extensions blocking it.

Also, that “Access is denied (0x80070005)” can happen if:

• You don’t have permission to the files/folder
• The account session is stuck or corrupted

If this is a work/school account, your admin might need to check permissions.

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Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Regards,

John J.D.

Answer 2

On macOS, items in OneDrive can be deleted either from Finder (synced OneDrive folder) or from the OneDrive website. If the OneDrive client is not loading properly, use these approaches to delete content and free space:

1. Delete OneDrive files using Finder on Mac
   1. Open a Mac Finder window.
   2. In the sidebar, select the OneDrive folder (work/school or personal, depending on the account in use).
   3. Navigate to the folder or files that need to be removed.
   4. Select the item(s), right‑click, and choose Move to Trash (or drag them to the Trash).
   5. Empty the Mac Trash to permanently remove them from the local disk.
2. Delete files directly in OneDrive on the web
   1. Go to the OneDrive website and sign in with the same account used in the Mac app.
   2. Browse to the folder that is full or causing issues.
   3. Select the files or folders to remove by clicking the circle check box next to each item.
   4. On the top bar, select Delete (or right‑click and select Delete).
   5. If the goal is to free storage, also open the Recycle bin in OneDrive on the web and empty it; there can be a short delay before freed space is reflected in the storage quota.
3. If a folder cannot be deleted
   • For personal OneDrive, the folder does not need to be empty before deletion.
   • For work or school OneDrive, if an admin has enabled retention, the folder must be emptied first: delete or move all files inside, then delete the folder.
4. If the Delete option is missing
   • If the Delete icon does not appear in the web UI or context menu, the account may not have permission to delete that item. In that case, contact the OneDrive or Microsoft 365 administrator to adjust permissions or delete the items.

After deleting from Finder or the web, allow some time for OneDrive to sync and for storage usage to update.

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References:

• Delete files or folders in OneDrive
• Unable to delete items in SharePoint and OneDrive