Cannot remove deleted OneNote notebook from "More Notebooks" and "Recent" list — "Remove from list" option is disabled.

Maarif khan 0 Reputation points
2026-05-02T15:45:42.39+00:00

I am a user on a personal Microsoft account using an Android tablet, and I have a "ghost" OneNote notebook stuck in my "More Notebooks" and "Recent" lists that I cannot delete. Although the notebook file was deleted from OneDrive and the recycle bins were emptied, the link still appears everywhere; however, when I try to open it, I receive an "Item not available" error. I have already tried clearing the app cache and data, uninstalling and reinstalling OneNote, and changing my default notebook, but the "Remove from list" option remains missing or disabled on both the app and the web. Please help me force a server-side refresh of my Most Recently Used (MRU) index or activity history to purge this broken reference from my account. Is there is any way

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Android

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  1. AI answer

    2026-05-02T15:45:59.1+00:00

    There is no supported way in the documentation to force a server‑side refresh of the OneNote MRU or activity history for a personal Microsoft account, and no documented method to remove a “ghost” notebook entry beyond:

    1. Deleting or restoring the actual notebook file in OneDrive, and
    2. Closing the notebook in the OneNote client so it no longer appears in the active list.

    For personal OneNote notebooks stored on OneDrive, the documented options are:

    • Delete the notebook file from OneDrive if it is no longer needed:
      1. Go to OneDrive and navigate to the Notebooks or OneNote Notebooks folder.
      2. Select the notebook and choose Delete.
      3. The notebook goes to the OneDrive Recycle bin, where it can be restored or permanently deleted later.
    • If the notebook still appears in OneNote after deletion, close it from the desktop client so it no longer shows in the list of notebooks:
      1. Open OneNote desktop and go to the list of notebooks.
      2. Right‑click the notebook name and select Close this Notebook.

    On mobile (Android/iOS), the documented action is only to close notebooks so they are not active:

    • In OneNote for Android, open the Notebooks list, tap and hold the notebook name, then tap Close This Notebook.

    These steps control which notebooks appear as open/active in the client. The documentation does not describe any additional server‑side control over the MRU or “Recent” list beyond these actions, nor any way to manually purge a broken reference when the notebook has already been deleted and the recycle bin emptied.

    If the ghost entry persists after:

    • Deleting the notebook in OneDrive,
    • Emptying the OneDrive recycle bin,
    • Closing the notebook in all OneNote clients (desktop, web, and mobile), then the remaining behavior is not covered by the available documentation and would require escalation through Microsoft support for further investigation on the service side.

    References:

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  2. Xavier-D 12,515 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-04T07:13:13.7166667+00:00

    Hello Maarif khan

    I understand how frustrating this is, especially since you’re trying to remove the notebook from both your main OneNote list and the More Notebooks list as well

    Was Q&A assist answer able to solve your issue?

    If the notebook is still appearing after trying out all of the troubleshooting methods, I would like to add a way to contact Microsoft Support in case you require further assistance.

    1. Open a website link - Contact - Microsoft Support 
    2. In the box below "We're here to help", type Microsoft 365, click "Get Help", and then click "Contact Support" below. 
    3. In this section, you will need to sign in to your Microsoft account. 
    4. Select "Microsoft 365 and Office" under Products & Services, select "Technical Support" as the category, and click to confirm 
    5. You can select " Chat with a support agent in your web browser " to access the chat window. 

    Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators and contributors, including external Microsoft employees, are not allowed to directly interfere with Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited solely to providing technical guidance on reported incidents, requests, or ideas. 

    I hope this can help you get to the support you need, have a nice day.

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  3. Nazar VORONA 0 Reputation points
    2026-08-31T19:31:30.7533333+00:00

    I troubleshot this with the help of ChatGPT, testing the behavior step by step across OneDrive, OneNote 2021, OneNote Web, and OneNote for Android. I’m posting the confirmed result here in case it helps others.

    I had several deleted “ghost” notebooks still appearing under More Notebooks in OneNote for Android. The notebooks no longer existed in OneDrive, and trying to open them produced the “may have been moved or deleted” error.

    Clearing/refreshing the Android list did not help. Even completely uninstalling and reinstalling OneNote did not remove the entries - they came back after signing in.

    What finally worked:

    1. Open OneNote desktop (Office/OneNote 2021) on Windows.
    2. Go to File → Open.
    3. The old/deleted notebooks were still listed there.
    4. Right-click each obsolete notebook and choose Remove from List.
    5. After removing them there, they also disappeared from More Notebooks in OneNote for Android.

    This suggests that the Android “More Notebooks” list is not purely a local cache. Reinstalling the Android app does not necessarily clear it; removing the stale entries from the desktop OneNote list can also clean up the Android list.

    Tested with a personal Microsoft account, OneDrive, OneNote 2021 for Windows, OneNote Web and OneNote for Android in August 2026.

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