How to delete OneNote Notebook?

Question

How to delete OneNote Notebook?

Andy N Prokhorov 0

All I could find on the interned was "go to such and such folder and delete the notebok file." Well, maybe that was so at some point, but not today.

So, the notebook I want to delete in--presumably--on OneDrive. Presumably, because I don't see you there.

What I see is the OneNote Notebooks subfolder in the Documents folder on OneDrive. And it is empty.

I also see in the same Documents folder several files named <notebook-name>.url corresponding to all of my notebooks. But those files are just web links (168 bytes size) to those notebuks, not the noutbooks themselves.

The links look like that:

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX%21NNNNN&id=documents&end=()&end

onenote:https://d.docs.live.net/YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY/Documents/My%20Notebook/

So, I take it, they run the view.aspx located on the onedrive.live.com domain that accesses the actial notebook file(s) located on the d.docs.live.net domain.

Technically, I can delete a link file, and maybe it would remove the corresponding notebook from my notebook list. But I seriously doubt that action would actually destroy the corresponding notebook located somewhere else.

So, how can I delete a notebook itself, not just a link to it?

Thank you.

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Answer 1

To delete the actual OneNote notebook (not just the .url link), the notebook must be deleted from its storage location (OneDrive or local disk), and then closed in OneNote so it disappears from the list.

Use the method that matches where the notebook is stored.

Delete a notebook stored on OneDrive

Most consumer OneNote notebooks are stored in OneDrive under the OneNote/Notebooks area, even if only .url files are visible in the Documents folder.

Steps:

Open OneDrive in a browser (for example via https://onedrive.live.com/).
Navigate to the Notebooks or OneNote Notebooks folder (not just the .url files in Documents).
Locate the notebook you want to delete.
Select the notebook and choose Delete.
- In some OneDrive views this is under Manage > Delete.
Open the OneNote desktop app, go to the notebook list, right‑click the same notebook, and select Close this Notebook so OneNote stops trying to sync a notebook that no longer exists.

Notes:

Deleting a notebook from OneDrive is permanent once it is removed from the OneDrive Recycle Bin.
If you only delete the .url file, that removes the shortcut but does not delete the notebook itself.

Delete a OneNote 2016/OneNote for Windows notebook from OneDrive (classic flow)

If using OneNote 2016/2021/OneNote for Microsoft 365 and the notebook is on OneDrive:

Open OneDrive in a browser.
Find the notebook in the list of documents.
Hover over it, check the box, then choose Manage > Delete.
Return to OneNote, click the notebook name, right‑click it, and choose Close This Notebook.
Delete a notebook stored on the local computer

If the notebook is not in OneDrive and is stored locally:

In File Explorer, open the Documents folder.
Double‑click OneNote Notebooks.
Right‑click the notebook folder you want to delete and select Delete.
If the notebook still appears in OneNote after deletion

If the notebook still shows up in the OneNote notebook list after deleting it from OneDrive or disk:

Open the OneNote desktop app.
Go to the notebook list.
Right‑click the deleted notebook and select Close this Notebook.

This removes it from the list and prevents sync errors.

References: