One Note Appears to stop me from printing

Question

One Note Appears to stop me from printing

RONALD FREEMAN 0

I am unable to print anything. When I go to print I receive a message that One Note is cleaning from the last time it was used. I have restarted the computer but it doesn't make any difference.

[Tag moved from: Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Other]

tom 0 Reputation points

2026-08-14T23:48:03.28+00:00

WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE TO SEND ME AN EMAIL OF ALL THE STEPS YOU PROVIDED TO FIX THIS ONE NOTE/ PRINTING ISSUE?
Norah-L 10,490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-17T06:35:05.6466667+00:00

Hi tom,

Thank you for reaching out. As this is a public user-to-user support forum, moderators and contributors cannot send emails directly. The troubleshooting steps need to be shared here in the thread.

If any of the steps are unclear, please let me know and I'll do our best to explain them further.

Thank you so much for your patience!

Best regards.

2 answers

Your answer

tom 0 Reputation points

2026-08-14T23:48:03.28+00:00

WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE TO SEND ME AN EMAIL OF ALL THE STEPS YOU PROVIDED TO FIX THIS ONE NOTE/ PRINTING ISSUE?
Norah-L 10,490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-17T06:35:05.6466667+00:00

Hi tom,

Thank you for reaching out. As this is a public user-to-user support forum, moderators and contributors cannot send emails directly. The troubleshooting steps need to be shared here in the thread.

If any of the steps are unclear, please let me know and I'll do our best to explain them further.

Thank you so much for your patience!

Best regards.

Answer 1

Norah-L 10,490 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Good day RONALD FREEMAN!

From what you described, I understand the OneNote print component gets stuck in a “cleaning up from the last time it was used” state, which is preventing printing from working normally.

This behavior might be related to a stuck OneNote background process or corrupted cache files, which can block printing across the system.

To address this, please try the following steps:

First, completely close OneNote by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc, opening Task Manager, and ending all OneNote‑related processes (OneNote.exe / Microsoft OneNote).

Next, clear the OneNote cache (this does not delete your notebooks):

Press Win + R, type %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneNote
Open the folder matching your version (for example, 16.0)
Delete the Cache folder or rename it to cache_old as a backup

After that, restart the computer and try printing again.

If the issue continues, you can also try repairing OneNote:

Open Control Panel (you can search for it from the Start menu)
Select Programs or Programs and Features
Locate Microsoft OneNote in the list > Choose Change or Repair
Follow the on‑screen instructions to complete the Online Repair

Hope this helps. Please let me know how it goes on your device!

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.

Norah-L 10,490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-20T08:13:51.0633333+00:00

Hello RONALD FREEMAN!

May I know whether your issue has been solved or not?

If not, please share your updates here. We can work together to figure it out.
RONALD FREEMAN 0 Reputation points

2026-04-20T10:13:28.9833333+00:00

The problem has been resolved. Thank you.
Norah-L 10,490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-20T23:38:22.89+00:00

Hi RONALD FREEMAN!

I’m glad to hear that! If you’re able to share which method worked for you, it could really help other users who might run into the same issue.

Warm regards.

Answer 2

Follow these steps to restore normal printing when OneNote appears to block printing:

Confirm the printer selection in the app being used
- In Word, Excel, or other apps, go to File > Print.
- Make sure the actual physical printer is selected, not Microsoft Print to PDF, XPS Document Writer, or a OneNote virtual printer such as OneNote (Desktop).
- If a virtual printer is selected, change it to the physical printer and try printing again.
Test printing from another app
- Open Notepad or Paint.
- Type or create a simple test file and try to print it.
- If printing works from these apps, the issue is likely specific to the original app or its print settings.
Print a Windows test page
- Select Start > Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
- Select the printer, then choose Printer properties.
- On the General tab, select Print Test Page.
- If the test page does not print, resolve the printer/driver issue before trying again from OneNote or Office apps.
Restart the Print Spooler service
- Press Windows key + R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
- Scroll to Print Spooler, right-click it, and select Restart.
- After it restarts, try printing again from the app.
Update or reinstall printer drivers
- Select Start > Device Manager.
- Expand Printers.
- Right-click the printer and select Update driver.
- If no update is found, select Uninstall device, then restart the PC so Windows can reinstall the driver automatically.
Try printing directly from OneNote (to verify behavior)
- In OneNote for Windows 10, open any page.
- Select Settings and More (top right) > Print.
- Under Printer, choose the physical printer.
- Under Pages, choose Current Page (or another scope), then select Print.
- If the printer does not appear, go to Start > Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners and confirm the printer is installed or use + Add a printer or scanner.

If OneNote virtual printers (for example, OneNote (Desktop) or OneNote (Desktop) – Protected) are involved and causing confusion in the printer list, reinstalling the OneNote app can restore them correctly, but printing to paper should always use the physical printer, not the OneNote virtual printers.

References: