How to Import a OneNote Notebook on Mac (2026 Fix)

So for all my Apple users, this video is going to be very helpful. Over the last year, Microsoft has made a lot of updates to how their whole cloud storage system works. Unfortunately, one of those recent updates means the importer feature on the web currently does not work for Mac users.

Historically, if you were a Mac user with a business account, you were not able to use this feature at all. You were restricted to using a Windows system to import all your OneNote notebooks. In this video, I am going to show everyone who is struggling right now with importing their planner and their notebooks into OneNote how to fix it. It is actually pretty easy, it does not take a lot of time, and it can be done directly from your Mac. No jumping into other browsers, no manipulating files. It is really just a cut-and-paste job. It takes a little time and it might feel a little inconvenient, but it gives you the chance to know exactly what file you are putting in. One exciting bonus: it lets you rename the file when you import it.

First, open OneNote. Once the app is open, create a new notebook. Choose any color, and name it whatever you would like. For a lot of people who want their name in their planner, this is your chance to do that, and it will not mess with any of the hyperlink features. So it is kind of a win-win. Just make sure you can recognize the name, then create the notebook. That is the first step, and it is probably the most important step of the whole process.

Once the notebook is created, right click and create new group sections. This part is critical. If you want hyperlinks to work, you have to write them out exactly: 2027 Quarter 1, 2027 Quarter 2, and so on. If you are using 2026 or 2028, just replace the year. The numbering stays the same. Create all four, then drag each one out so they each have their own space.

From here, go to Preferences, open Backup, and where it says Backup Folder, open that. This reveals where your backup files live. You will see all the folders for the notebooks you already have. Create a new folder. You can name it the same as your notebook, but I would recommend adding an underscore or something similar, because it makes the next step easier by putting it at the top of the folder list. If you have used OneNote a long time like I have, you have tons of notebooks, so this helps you find it. It does not affect how the notebook appears in OneNote, it only helps you locate the backup files.

Next, open your downloaded file. Double click the zip folder to expand it, and you will see all the files you downloaded from your account. If you have questions about which files you have, check out the page and the link to the files. Take the files for the notebook you want, select them all, and hit copy. Jump over to the folder you made, right click, and paste. All the files should copy over. The key is making sure you have that .one file plus the folders that match the same structure as the notebook.

Now go back to OneNote, close the dialog box, switch to your notebooks, and choose the one you just created. Go to File, then Open Backups. Click Backups, then find the folder you created. If you used an underscore it will be at the top of the list. In my case I used 2027, so it is at the bottom. You will see all those files now look like notebook files. Click the very first OneNote file in there, select it, and hit Open. It will create an open section that appears inside OneNote. It is read only and it is not in your notebook yet, so right click, hit Copy Section To, scroll down, and find the notebook you created.

It is important to note that all of the individual OneNote pages outside of the folders get placed in the top level of the notebook. You can also delete the original file that was there. It is not needed anymore.

At this point the rhythm is simple. Take each file, open the folder, have the section open, then copy that section over to your notebook. Yes, it seems tedious, but doing this video it only took me about ten minutes to go through the entire year, which was encouraging. You just repeat the process: pick a section, pick a month, drop it in. You can do all the single pages first and build top down, or go quarter by quarter and drop in each month.

What is really cool is that all those hyperlinks are going to work, as long as you named all those group sections the way we set up earlier. That was encouraging for me, because I knew everything was going to stay intact and work the way you would expect.

As you get through the whole year, copying December over, you will also have a long list of open sections on this part of your notebook. Right click each one and close it. That cleans things up and avoids confusion later when you are using your new notebook.

It is also important to audit the entire notebook. Go through and make sure all the daily pages are there, everything is syncing across your sections, then get into each quarter and make sure they are in order. If you find duplicates, right click and delete that section, it will not hurt anything. If you are missing a section, go back to the backup, find that section, right click, copy it over, and put it back in that section folder. Then close that one, go back to your 2027 planner, and move it where it needs to be, chronologically in order. And yes, all those hyperlinks are working just as expected. You will notice the entire notebook is there, and it is syncing.

This is so important to know, because as you let it sync, you will be able to start opening it on other devices. I would encourage you to give it a little time before you do, so everything syncs to the cloud correctly. Once it is done syncing on the computer you did this on, you can open it on other devices. To do that, hit the back button, click More Notebooks, and you will see that planner folder you made in the recent documents. Click it, it opens the link, and all your files start syncing over. That is how you install your OneNote notebook in the world we currently live in.

Maybe this is what the future holds. Maybe Apple is working on a better option than the importer feature. Either way, this is a way to feel confident about installing your digital planner on your Apple device, and for those with business accounts, it is a new frontier and a new chance to use the Key2Success planner on your Apple device across your business account.

I hope this was helpful. One thing we try to do here at Key2Success with all our programming is not just help you be productive and learn the tech, but also give you real support. A lot of people go out on Etsy and try to find these items, but there is no team behind it. I am a real person, with a real team behind me, and we are here to support you through this planning journey. If you learned something, or you know a colleague who needs this, go ahead and like and share. And if you could, subscribe to our channel for the latest. I am Branden Bodendorfer, creator and founder of the Key2Success Planner. I will see you in the next one.