Microsoft offers new and advanced updates regularly on Office 365, sometimes the auto-update feature does not work on Mac. This will force you to uninstall the older version of Office and reinstall the newer one. Here are some of the reasons that would prompt you to Uninstall MS Office on Mac. If its a Mac, please check the OSX version as follows, Click the apple sign at the top left of your screen, then click about this mac. And then where it says version, send that to me as a reply. Ensure to uninstall Office 365 preview installed on the system before installing Office 365 full version.
-->We recommend that you uninstall any previous versions of Office before installing Microsoft 365 Apps. To help you uninstall versions of Office that use Windows Installer (MSI) as the installation technology, you can use the Office Deployment Tool and specify the RemoveMSI element in your configuration.xml file.
Traditional Office desktop apps (for Windows or Mac) that are regularly updated so you always have the latest version. Each Office 365 subscription allows you to install those desktop programs on. So, there are a lot of people who want to completely uninstall Office 2016 Mac. How to Uninstall Microsoft Office 2016 on Mac. Microsoft Office is an amazing tool but it doesn't work as smooth on Mac as it does on Windows. For such reasons, people try to remove it from their MacBook. Uninstall Office 2016 This script lets you uninstall or remove so manually Office 2016. Office, Excel, Access, Office 365, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word.
There are several ways that you can use the RemoveMSI element when installing Microsoft 365 Apps.
- Uninstall all Office products on the computer.
- Identify any existing language resources, like language packs, and install the same languages.
- Keep some Office products and uninstall all other Office products on the computer.
RemoveMSI can be used to uninstall 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016 versions of Office, Visio, or Project that were installed using Windows Installer (MSI).
Note
RemoveMSI doesn’t uninstall prior versions of Office, including Visio and Project, that use Click-to-Run as the installation technology. You can uninstall those versions of Office through Control Panel or by running the Office Deployment Tool and using the Remove element in your configuration.xml file.
Requirements for using RemoveMSI
The following are requirements for using the RemoveMSI element in your configuration.xml file:
- You must be using at least version 16.0.12827.20268 (setup.exe version 16.0.12827.20258) of the Office Deployment Tool, which you can download from Microsoft Download Center. We recommend that you always download and use the most current version of the Office Deployment Tool. To check the version of the Office Deployment Tool, right-click on setup.exe, choose Properties, and then choose Details.
- You must be installing at least Version 1803 of Microsoft 365 Apps. Version 1803 or later is available in Current Channel, Monthly Enterprise Channel, Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview), and Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel.
- You must be installing Microsoft 365 Apps on a computer running at least Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or above.
Note
Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020. For more information, see Windows 7 end of support and Microsoft 365 Apps.
Uninstall all Office products
To uninstall all versions of Office, including Visio and Project, that are already installed on the computer, add <RemoveMSI /> to your configuration.xml file. Language resources – for example, language packs, language interface packs, or proofing tools – will also be removed.
Here’s an example of a configuration.xml file that installs the 64-bit Current Channel version of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise in English from the Office Content Delivery Network (CDN) on the internet and uninstalls any Windows Installer (MSI) versions of Office on the computer.
Install the same language resources
If there are language resources – for example, language packs, language interface packs, or proofing tools – already installed on the computer, you can get Click-to-Run versions of the same language resources installed when you install Microsoft 365 Apps. To install the same language resources, add <Language /> to your configuration.xml file.
Here’s an example of a configuration.xml file that installs the 64-bit Monthly Enterprise Channel version of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise in English, along with any existing languages on the computer, from the Office Content Delivery Network (CDN) on the internet and uninstalls any Windows Installer (MSI) versions of Office on the computer.
The following are some additional details about using MatchPreviousMSI in your configuration.xml file.
- You must include the RemoveMSI element.
- You must specify at least one language ID. For example, en-us.
- The setting isn’t product specific. For example, if Office Professional Plus 2013 in French and Visio Standard 2013 in German are installed, you will get both French and German, along with any other language IDs you have specified, when you install Microsoft 365 Apps.
Important
If you’re installing Microsoft 365 Apps from a location on your local network, such as a shared folder, make sure you’ve downloaded all the possible language files to that folder. If any of the languages needed to install aren't available in that folder, the installation will continue but without those languages being installed. To avoid this situation, we recommend that you include AllowCdnFallback='True' in your configuration.xml file. This will use the Office Content Delivery Network (CDN) on the internet as a backup source from which to install the language files.
Keep some Office products and uninstall all other Office products
We recommend that you uninstall any previous versions of Office, including Visio and Project, before installing the newer version. But, in a few cases, such as for application compatibility testing, you might need to keep a previous version installed for a limited time while you transition to the new version.
To keep a particular Office product, you add an IgnoreProduct line to your configuration.xml file and you specify its product ID.
The following are examples of supported IDs for Project and Visio:
- PrjStd
- PrjPro
- VisStd
- VisPro
- PrjStdR
- PrjProR
- VisStdR
- VisProR
Note
The product ID is the Setup ID that is found in the Setup.xml file in the {product}.WW folder of the installation files for your previous version of Office. For example, the Setup.xml file for Office Professional Plus 2010 is found in the ProPlus.WW folder.
The ID isn't version specific. All versions found on the computer will be kept. For example, if you specify VisPro, both Visio Professional 2016 and Visio Professional 2013 will be kept. Language resources for those versions are also kept. For example, language packs, language interface packs, or proofing tools.
Only full product removals are supported. For example, if you have Office Professional Plus 2013 installed, you can't uninstall everything except Excel. You either must keep or uninstall the entire product. You can only keep a previous installation of Excel if it was installed as a standalone product, not installed as part of an Office suite, like Office Professional Plus.
Here’s an example of a configuration.xml file that installs the 64-bit Monthly Enterprise Channel version of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise in English from the Office Content Delivery Network (CDN) on the internet and uninstalls any Windows Installer (MSI) versions of Office, except for Visio Professional, on the computer.
Other products that can be removed
Installations of the following products will also be removed by using the RemoveMSI element unless you use IgnoreProduct:
- SharePoint Designer. The product ID is SharePointDesigner.
- InfoPath. The product ID is either InfoPath (for volume licensed versions) or InfoPathR (for retail versions).
- Lync 2013 or later. Note that Lync 2010 can't be removed by using the RemoveMSI element.
- Office products that were installed separately and not as part of an Office suite. For example, a standalone installation of Access.
- Access 2010 Runtime or later. The product ID is AccessRT.
- Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable or later. The product ID is AceRedist.
Note
Access Database Engine is most commonly included as part of other applications which are interacting with Access data sources, and uninstalling Access Database Engine could impact functionality of these applications. Before removing Access Database Engine, ensure that any applications which require this component are removed or no longer needed.
Additional information about using RemoveMSI
The following are some additional details about using the RemoveMSI element in your configuration.xml file.
- You can also use these settings if you’re installing any of the following products:
- The subscription version of the Project desktop app that comes with Project Plan 3 or Project Plan 5.
- The subscription version of the Visio desktop app that comes with Visio Plan 2.
- Microsoft 365 Apps for business (previously named Office 365 Business), which is the version of Office that comes with some Microsoft 365 business plans, such as Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
- A volume licensed version of Office 2019, such as Office Professional Plus 2019.
- User settings, preferences, and documents are retained, even if you’re uninstalling all Office products.
- You can use the RemoveMSI element in conjunction with the MSICondition attribute. That attribute allows you to control the installation of an Office product based on whether a particular MSI-based product is already installed on the device. For example, only install Project Online Desktop Client if Project Professional is already installed on the device. For more information, see MSICondition attribute.
- Some previous versions of Office, Visio, and Project must be uninstalled before installing Microsoft 365 Apps. For example, Office Professional Plus 2016. If they aren’t uninstalled beforehand, the installation of Microsoft 365 Apps will fail. For more information, see Supported scenarios for installing different versions of Office, Visio, and Project on the same computer.
- A reboot is required to finish uninstalling the Windows Installer (MSI) versions of Office, but the reboot isn’t enforced. You can reboot after the Microsoft 365 Apps installation is finished.
- Removing a product might fail if the product is open on the user's device and the Level attribute for the Display element in your configuration.xml file is set to None. If you set the Level attribute to Full, the user will be prompted to close the program so the removal can continue. You can use the FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN property, but that could result in data loss.
- If you're using RemoveMSI on a Windows 7 SP1 computer, pinned shortcuts that the user created might sometimes remain even though the previous version of Office and all of its other shortcuts have been removed. To remove the pinned shortcut, simply click on it and you'll be prompted to remove it. Or, sign in as the user who created the pinned shortcut, and then run the Office Deployment Tool to upgrade to Microsoft 365 Apps.
Related articles
It is not uncommon that one day you find a software application just stops working. The most basic way to attempt to solve the problem is by reinstalling the program. Hopefully, the setup will replace any corrupted files or settings that prevent the program from working properly. Sometimes a reinstall won’t work because the setup installer requires you to uninstall the program first before you can perform a new installation.
All is good if you can uninstall and reinstall, but there are times when you cannot repair or uninstall the program, then you’re stuck with installed software that doesn’t run. Depending on the installation process, some easy ones can be removed by manually deleting the program’s folder, shortcut and the obvious registry entries. However, some uninstalls can be far more tricky.
A bigger and more sophisticated application like Microsoft Office has thousands of registry entries and files scattered across the system. It must be properly uninstalled or else it can affect system stability and prevent reinstallation later on. Being such a large piece of software, a partially working or non working install of Office could also have an effect on other software that is relying on Office tools or components to function.
If you need to completely uninstall a version of Microsoft Office such as 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and even 365, here we have a few methods to do it.
Important Note: No matter which method you use to uninstall Microsoft Office from your computer, it is always advisable to create a full backup image first so that it is possible to restore back the changes when things go wrong.
Uninstall Microsoft Office from Control Panel or Settings
Of course, the first method that you should always use to uninstall software such as Microsoft Office is from the official uninstaller. This will be found in Programs and Features in the Control Panel or Apps in Windows 10 Settings.
Select the version of Microsoft Office from the list and click the Uninstall button. You will be asked to confirm if you want to remove Microsoft Office from your computer. Click either the Yes or Uninstall button to proceed with the uninstallation.
If the built-in uninstaller fails to remove Microsoft Office from your computer, then refer to other methods shown below.
Uninstall Microsoft Office 2016
Remove Microsoft Office using the Setup File
Running the setup executable file that is used for installation can also trigger the option to remove the Microsoft Office installed on the computer. Open the optical drive letter or disc image to view where the install files are located.
Running the setup.exe will open a window giving you the option to add or remove features, repair, remove, or enter a product key.
Uninstalling from the Setup executable on the disk doesn’t work for all versions of Office. We tested the installers for 2013, 2010, and 2007 and they do have the remove option, 2016 didn’t have it.
Uninstall Office 365 Using Fix It
Uninstall Office with the Microsoft Office Uninstall Support Tool
After discontinuing or making some other Office uninstall tools unavailable, Microsoft has come out with another utility to handle the task. The Office uninstall support tool says it can completely uninstall Office 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and various versions of Office 365. It’s worth noting the tool did not detect our Office 2007 install during testing but did work with 2010, 2013 and 2016.
Download the tool from Option 2 on the Microsoft webpage and double click it, .NET Framework 4.6 or higher is required on Windows 7. It will first install the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant of which the uninstall support tool is a part. Run the executable again and select the version of Office that has been detected, then click Next. Read the warning, check the box and click Next.
After some minutes, the process will complete and you will be prompted that the computer is going to be restarted.
The tool will popup after a reboot with the results of the uninstall process with some links to help you reinstall Office if you don’t have a CD/DVD/ISO/IMG with the install files. The Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant will need to be uninstalled from Programs and Features or Settings > Apps.
Download the Microsoft Uninstall Support Tool
Delete Microsoft Office using FixIt
FixIt used to be a useful set of free troubleshooting tools by Microsoft to repair a variety of common problems including uninstalling Office. Sadly it was discontinued in 2018 in favor of the built in Windows troubleshooters. FixIt’s came as small tools that each focused on one or two specific tasks so you will need to use the correct version for your installed version of Microsoft Office and Windows.
To use one of these tools, download it and double click on the diagcab or MSI file. All you have to do is essentially click Yes or the Next button a few times while the tool attempts to find and completely remove the Office installation.
Uninstall Office 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 or 2016
From any Windows: O15CTRRemovev2.diagcab
Should I Uninstall Office 2016 For Mac Before Installing Office 365 2017
Uninstall Office 2013, 2016 or Office 365
From any Windows: O15CTRRemove.diagcab
Uninstall Office 2010
From Windows 8/10: MicrosoftFixit20055.mini.diagcab
From Windows 7 and below: MicrosoftFixit50450.msi
Uninstall Office 2007:
From Windows 8/10: MicrosoftFixit20052.mini.diagcab
From Windows 7 and below: MicrosoftFixit50154.msi
Uninstall Office 2003:
From Windows 8/10: MicrosoftFixit20054.mini.diagcab
From Windows 7 and below: MicrosoftFixit50416.msi
The tool might scan for Office a couple of times before finishing but just keep pressing Next until you reach the completed window and the Close button, then restart the computer.
Clean Up Microsoft Office using OffScrub VBScript
OffScrub is an Office Removal Utility created in VBScript by Microsoft that is found in many of the Fix it tools mentioned above. You’d have to extract the MSI or diagcab file of the Fix it tool to obtain the OffScrub .vbs file using a third party tool such 7-Zip (for the diagcab files only) or Universal Extractor. It’s not found in the top link of the FixIt tools above but is available in the others.
Some of the advantages of using OffScrub are the ability to remove Office standalone products which you would not be able to do if you were running the Fixit tool and also the possibility of automation using the command line. For the more advanced user, you can also see the different removal stages in real time which could be helpful in pinpointing the cause of uninstallation problems.
Erase Microsoft Office using Remove Office 2007 / 2010
A software developer called “Refuse to Suffer” created two free dedicated tools to clean up Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 when the normal uninstallation procedure fails. The developer and its website are gone now but the tools still exist. All you need to do is run the programs as admin and click the Go button.
There are a few things you should know before using the Remove Office 2007 or Remove Office 2010 tool. First of all, the tool automatically restarts your computer after completing the removal process so make sure you’ve already saved and closed any other running files. Also, it should not be used when you have two different versions of Microsoft Office installed on the computer because the tool isn’t programmed to keep the important commonly shared files.
How To Uninstall Office 365 Personal
Download Remove Office 2007 / Download Remove Office 2010
Get rid of Microsoft Office using a Third Party Uninstall Utility
While there are many third party software uninstaller utilities, we recommend one of the best around which is Revo Uninstaller Pro. It’s reliable and has a feature to analyze leftover files/folders/registry entries based on a given path, and automatically creates a backup so that the forced uninstall can be restored. The only drawback is Revo Uninstaller Pro is shareware but it offers a 30 day fully functional trial.
1. Download Revo Uninstaller Pro and install.
2. Run Revo Uninstaller Pro and double click the Office entry in the list. If you can’t find an entry for Office, click the “Forced Uninstall” button.
3. If you chose Forced Uninstall, enter the program name which is Microsoft Office, click the “Browse for” button and select Folder, then browse to the Microsoft Office folder which is normally installed in “Program Files” or “Program Files (x86)”. If it finds any uninstallers connected to Office they will be listed and you can choose one to try and uninstall with it. Click Next.
4. Revo Uninstaller Pro will create a registry backup and a system restore point. It will first attempt to uninstall Office with any selected official uninstaller. Click Scan and the program will scan for leftover files, folders and registry items which you can review and delete if you want.
If most or all of the installation is still on the system, Revo uninstaller could find thousands of registry entries and files. In the event anything is still leftover from an Office install after going through the process once, you can simply run Revo Uninstaller Pro again and select the remaining files in a forced uninstall.
Office 365 Full Uninstall
Last Resort: Uninstall Microsoft Office Manually
If none of the above methods have helped to completely remove Office from your computer, there may be little choice than to try and manually remove it from the system yourself. There are separate guides on the Microsoft website for uninstalling Office 2007, 2010, 2013 and one joint guide for 2016 and newer versions.
Should I Uninstall Office 2016 For Mac Before Installing Office 365 Free
The instructions are complex and comprehensive so will take a lot of time and patience. They work with Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 along with versions of Office that are Click-to-Run, MSI installer or Windows Store versions. You will be guided through removing files, folders, scheduled tasks, services, Start menu entries, and registry keys/values. It’s not for the faint of heart but maybe your only option left to get rid of your Office install.
Should I Uninstall Office 2016 For Mac Before Installing Office 365 -
Visit Microsoft Manually Uninstall Office Page