How to Delete a Notebook from OneNote (And What You Should Know First)

OneNote makes it easy to create notebooks — sometimes a little too easy. Over time, you might accumulate notebooks for old projects, past jobs, or experiments you never revisited. Deleting them sounds straightforward, but the process is less obvious than you'd expect, and the consequences vary depending on how your notebooks are stored. Here's what you actually need to know.

Why Deleting a OneNote Notebook Isn't One Click

Unlike deleting a single note or section, removing an entire notebook in OneNote doesn't follow a simple right-click-and-delete pattern — especially in the desktop app. That's partly by design. Notebooks can be stored in multiple places: OneDrive (cloud), SharePoint (for work or school accounts), or locally on your device. The deletion method depends entirely on where the notebook lives.

Getting this wrong means you might close a notebook without deleting it, or delete it in one place while it still exists in another.

Step 1: Know Where Your Notebook Is Stored

Before you delete anything, identify the notebook's storage location.

• OneDrive notebooks are the most common. If you signed into OneNote with a Microsoft account, your notebooks likely sync to OneDrive automatically.
• SharePoint/work notebooks are tied to Microsoft 365 organizational accounts and may have permissions or admin restrictions.
• Local notebooks are stored directly on your hard drive, with no cloud backup.

To check: open OneNote, right-click the notebook name in the left panel (desktop app), and select Notebook Properties. The file path or URL shown there tells you exactly where it's stored.

How to Delete a OneNote Notebook on Windows (Desktop App)

The OneNote desktop app doesn't let you delete notebooks from within the app itself. You can close a notebook (removing it from your sidebar), but that doesn't delete the data.

To fully delete a notebook stored on OneDrive:

1. Close the notebook in OneNote first — right-click the notebook name → Close This Notebook
2. Go to OneDrive via a browser (onedrive.live.com or your Microsoft 365 portal)
3. Locate the OneNote folder — notebooks appear as folders with .onetoc2 files inside
4. Right-click the notebook folder → Delete
5. Empty the OneDrive Recycle Bin if you want it permanently removed

For a locally stored notebook, close it in OneNote first, then navigate to the file path shown in Notebook Properties and delete the folder directly in File Explorer.

How to Delete a OneNote Notebook on Mac

The process on Mac mirrors Windows closely:

1. Right-click the notebook → Close This Notebook
2. If cloud-stored, go to OneDrive or SharePoint in a browser and delete the notebook folder there
3. If local, find the file path via Notebook Properties and delete it through Finder

OneNote for Mac also does not include a built-in "delete notebook" option from within the app.

How to Delete a Notebook in OneNote for Web

The OneNote web app (accessible via Microsoft 365 online) has a slightly different approach:

1. Open OneNote for the web
2. Click the notebook switcher or hamburger menu to see your notebooks
3. Right-click a notebook → you may see a Delete option depending on your account type and permissions
4. Confirm deletion — this removes it from OneDrive and the recycle bin process applies here too

The web app has made this slightly more accessible than the desktop version, though the option's visibility can vary by account type.

How to Delete a OneNote Notebook on iPhone or Android 📱

Mobile apps are the most limited. On both iOS and Android versions of OneNote:

• You cannot delete a notebook directly from the app
• You can close or remove it from your list, but the data remains in OneDrive or wherever it's synced
• To fully delete, you'll need to use a browser on any device to access OneDrive and remove it from there

This is a deliberate limitation — Microsoft routes deletion through the storage source rather than the app itself.

What Happens to Shared Notebooks?

If the notebook was shared with other people, deleting it affects everyone who had access. They'll lose access immediately once the notebook is removed from OneDrive or SharePoint. If you're not the owner — for example, a colleague shared it with you — you can only close it on your end, not delete it for everyone.

SharePoint-hosted notebooks may require specific permissions to delete, and in organizational settings, IT administrators may restrict deletion entirely.

Closing vs. Deleting: A Key Distinction

Many users mistake closing a notebook for deleting it. The notebook remains fully intact in storage — it just stops appearing in OneNote until someone reopens it.

Factors That Affect the Process 🗂️

A few variables determine exactly how this plays out for you:

• Account type (personal Microsoft account vs. work/school Microsoft 365) affects where notebooks are stored and what permissions you have
• OneNote version (classic desktop app, OneNote for Windows 10/11, web app, mobile) changes the available menu options
• Whether the notebook is shared determines whether deletion is yours to make
• Sync status — if a notebook hasn't fully synced before deletion, some content could be lost in unexpected ways

A notebook tied to an active work account, shared across a team, and stored on SharePoint is a very different situation than a personal notebook sitting in your OneDrive that no one else touches. The steps are technically similar, but the stakes and permissions around each are meaningfully different — and that's where your specific setup becomes the deciding factor.