Office for Mac Issues

How to Remove a Former Employer's OneNote Account and Cache on Mac

Olivia Miller Oct 9, 2026 870 views

Question details

The user needs to permanently remove an inaccessible work OneNote account and clear its cached notebooks from their Mac.

How to Remove a Former Employer's OneNote Account and Cache on Mac

Product: Microsoft OneNote
Device & OS: macOS (Intel Mac)
Scenario: A former employer's work account is no longer accessible, but its notebooks continue to appear in the application's notebook list.
Observed behavior: The old OneNote notebook remains visible in the list and the application retains the former employer's account credentials, preventing a clean sign-in state.

Before you start

Ensure you have synced or backed up any personal notes you wish to keep before clearing the OneNote cache, as unsynced offline data will be permanently deleted.

Solution 1Recommended

Clear OneNote Cache Files and Remove Keychain Credentials

Manually deleting cached files and removing saved login credentials from your Mac's Keychain is the most effective way to force OneNote to forget the old account.

Simply signing out of OneNote on a Mac does not automatically remove offline notebook caches or saved login tokens. You must manually clear these elements from your macOS system libraries to completely disconnect the former employer's account.

Sign out and quit OneNote

Open OneNote, right-click the old notebook to select 'Close This Notebook' if possible, sign out of the current account via the profile menu, and completely quit the application.

Remove Keychain entries

Open 'Keychain Access' from your Mac's Utilities folder. Search for 'Office' and 'OneNote', then delete any saved passwords, cache credentials, or tokens associated with the old employer account.

Delete cache folders

Open Finder, press 'Cmd + Shift + G', and enter '~/Library/Containers/'. Locate the folder named 'com.microsoft.onenote.mac' (or simply 'Microsoft OneNote') and move it to the Trash.

Restart and sign in

Restart your Mac. Open OneNote and sign in with your current, active personal or work account.

Clear OneNote Cache Files and Remove Keychain Credentials

Reinstallation Note: If the phantom notebooks still appear after following these steps, you may need to drag the OneNote application to the Trash, repeat the cache clearing process, and reinstall OneNote from the Mac App Store.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do old OneNote notebooks still appear after signing out?

OneNote caches notebook data locally on your Mac to allow offline access and faster loading. Signing out does not automatically delete these local cache files, which is why the notebooks still appear in your list.

Will clearing the OneNote cache delete my current notes?

Clearing the cache will remove local offline copies of notebooks. If your notes are fully synced to OneDrive or SharePoint, they are safe and will re-download when you sign back in. Unsynced notes will be permanently lost.

How do I safely uninstall OneNote on Mac if clearing the cache doesn't work?

To completely uninstall OneNote, drag the application from the Applications folder to the Trash. Then, navigate to the '~/Library/Containers/' folder and delete the OneNote container folder before reinstalling from the Mac App Store.

Can I remove a single notebook without clearing the entire cache?

Yes, you can right-click (or Control-click) the notebook name in the OneNote sidebar and select 'Close This Notebook'. However, if the account has already been disabled by the administrator, it may throw an error requiring a full cache clear.

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