Onenote Copilot not working when working previously.

I seem to have a related issue, but the suggested steps have not resolved it.

What I have checked so far as well:

• OneNote About shows the correct account.
• The same account shows an active Microsoft 365 subscription and Microsoft Copilot Pro.
• I refreshed the licence successfully.
• OneNote then re-synced the notebooks.
• Microsoft AutoUpdate says the apps are up to date.
• Connected Experiences / privacy settings are enabled.
• I created a brand-new notebook under the same account and the Copilot button still stayed greyed out.
• Copilot works in Word under the same account.

In my case, Copilot works normally in Word with the same Microsoft account. In OneNote for Mac, the Copilot icon is visible but greyed out and clicking it does nothing. In OneNote Web, Copilot is not visible at all.

So this does not look like a normal licence, sync, notebook ownership, or privacy setting issue. Is there a known OneNote-specific Copilot activation or entitlement issue where Word works but OneNote for Mac and OneNote Web do not?

Looking forward to a response.

Hi @Matthew Marquez,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for contacting us. I would like to provide you with the following information:

Since your account is tagged as education, I will base my guidance on Microsoft Education accounts. In this case, I recommend clearing the OneNote cache. Before doing so, make sure to sync your data to avoid losing information.

Steps to perform:

1. Ensure data is synced before clearing the cache

• Open OneNote and check that all notebooks are synced with OneDrive.
• If there are unsynced changes, wait until syncing is complete to avoid data loss.

2. Exit OneNote completely

• Close OneNote .

3. Open the cache folder

• On Finder, select Go > Go to Folder…
• Enter the path:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.onenote.mac/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft User Data/OneNote/

In this folder, you will see cache files (usually with the .bin extension).

4. Delete the cache

• Delete the entire Microsoft OneNote folder or the .bin files in the Cache folder.
• Then Empty Trash to free up space.

5. Restart OneNote

• Reopen OneNote. Your notebooks will reload from OneDrive and create a new cache.

Important Notes:

• Unsynced data loss: Any changes not synced will be lost after clearing the cache.
• Do not delete the Backup folder unless certain: The Backup folder may contain local copies; only delete it if you have confirmed your data is safe on OneDrive.

Since you are using an education account, it is managed by your school’s administrator (possibly the IT department). If clearing the cache does not resolve the issue, you may contact your IT department to check if any policies are applied to accounts in the tenant.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to your response.

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