Microsoft 365 - Uninstall/Reinstall Microsoft 365 for Mac or PC


Table of Contents

How to Uninstall/Reinstall Microsoft Office 365 for Mac and PC

Install Office for Mac

The steps below can now be done automatically through Self-Service on the Mac. In Self-Service, select the option that says Uninstall Microsoft Office/Remove License. After the job completes, you may reinstall Microsoft 365 via office.byu.edu. If this does not work, try performing the steps manually, and if the issue persists, escalate the incident to End-User Engineering. 

You must be signed in as an administrator on the Mac or provide an administrator name and password to complete these steps.

  1. Navigate to https://office.byu.edu.

  2. Sign in to your account using your NetID and Password.

  3. Click on Microsoft 365 in the top left corner.

  4. Click on the Install Office dropdown on the right side and select Microsoft 365 apps.

  5. Run the installer.

  6. When the installer completes, open Microsoft Word.

  7. Log in using your NetID@byu.edu.

Note: If you see an error after reinstalling that says "Sorry, another account from your organization is already signed in on this computer," have try signing in on a different Windows profile on the computer. If that works, continue using the new profile. If you need to move over any data from the old profile to the new one, please contact your CSR.

 

Troubleshooting Office for Mac

Before attempting to uninstall the Microsoft 365 apps on a Mac, it can be helpful to run the license removal tool to make sure that no license files from previous installations are still on the Mac. You can run the tool by doing the following:

  1. Download the license removal tool.

  2. Open the .pkg file from your Mac's Downloads folder.

    • Note: If you get an "unidentified developer" error, try opening the file by holding Control + clicking the file > Open.

  3. Select Continue and follow the prompts in the setup wizard.

    • Caution: We recommend you double-check that you have the correct account information ready by logging in to Office.com/signin and checking for the license you want to activate with.

  4. When you're ready to complete the license removal, select Install. You may need to enter your Mac's local admin account password.

    • After the tool successfully removes licenses, select Close.

  5. Now open any Office app and sign in with your NetID@byu.edu. 

    • After you've successfully activated, restart your computer.

  6. Uninstall the License Removal Tool by dragging the Microsoft_Office_License_Removal file from Finder > Downloads to Trash.

If this does not resolve the issue, proceed to the steps below.

Uninstall Office for Mac applications

  1. Open Finder > Applications.

  2. Command COMMAND +click to select all of the Office for Mac applications.

  3. Ctrl+click an application you selected and click Move to Trash.

             

Remove files from your user Library folder

  1. In Finder, press COMMAND +Shift+g.

  2. In the window that opens, enter ~/Library and then click Go.
     
  3. Open the Containers folder and ctrl+click each of these folders and Move to Trash. Note that some of these folders may not be present. It is important to delete the hidden folders when uninstalling Microsoft Office. If you don't delete them, the reinstall won't work.
    •  
    • com.microsoft.errorreporting

    • com.microsoft.Excel

    • com.microsoft.netlib.shipassertprocess

    • com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2

    • com.microsoft.Outlook

    • com.microsoft.Powerpoint

    • com.microsoft.RMS-XPCService

    • com.microsoft.Word

    • com.microsoft.onenote.mac

  4. Warning: Outlook data will be removed when you move the three folders listed in this step to Trash. You should back up these folders before you delete them.

  5. Click the back arrow to go back to the Library folder and open Group Containers. Ctrl+click each of these folders if present, and Move to Trash.

Remove from Dock and restart

  1. If you put any of the Office applications in your Dock, go to each one and ctrl + click > Options > Remove from Dock.

  2. Restart your Mac to complete the uninstall.

 

PC

Do these steps until Microsoft Office starts working. Try Logging out and in again and, if that doesn’t work, try clearing the credentials. If that still doesn’t work, try uninstalling and reinstalling.
 

Log out and then back in again

  1. Open Microsoft Word.

  2. In the top right corner, click on Switch Account.

  3. Click on Sign Out at the top.

  4. Close All Microsoft Office Products.

  5. Open Microsoft Word again.

  6. Click Login.

 

Clear Credentials

  1. Log out of Microsoft Office again using steps 1-4 from above.

  2. Search for Credential Manager in the Cortana Search bar in the Task Bar.

  3. Open Credential Manager.

  4. Click on Windows Credentials.

  5. Under General Credentials, find any “MicrosoftOffice 16_data:ADAL:……….” Entries.

  6. Expand the entry with the down arrow next to each.

  7. Click on remove and accept.

  8. Open Microsoft Office and log in.

 

Uninstall Microsoft Office

  1. Close all instances of Microsoft Office on the computer.

  2. Click on Start from your Task Bar.

  3. Go to Settings (above the shutdown button).

  4. Click on Apps.

  5. Locate Microsoft Office.

  6. Click on it and click Uninstall.

  7. If present, uninstall OneDrive and OneNote the same way.

  8. Wait for Uninstall to complete.

  9. Go to https://support.office.com/en-us/article/uninstall-office-from-a-pc-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8.

  10. Scroll down until you see Option 2
  11. Click on Download under step 1.

  12. Run the program you downloaded. (This will uninstall back-end program files.)

  13. Restart your computer.

  14. Run it again to make sure that everything is gone after rebooting the computer.

 

If All Else Fails...

NOTE: These steps are more advanced. Hop on a Zoom call to see what the caller is doing and make sure that they don't accidentally ruin their computer. You could really mess up your computer if you don't follow these instructions closely.

If completely uninstalling and reinstalling all Microsoft apps don't work, there could be a cached login or license still stored on the device. This commonly occurs for students who left on missions after a semester at BYU, and then returning and using the same device after returning again to BYU. The error code is often AADSTS70008. Do the following to clear out that cache:

  1. Hold down Windows + R to open the Run Command. You can also find this if you search Run in the Windows search bar at the bottom of the screen. 

  2.  In this program, we will look up the folder paths below. When you look up these paths, it will pull up File Explorer and show you every folder and file at that location. Delete every file and folder you can here. If you run into any sub folder that will not allow you to delete it, go into that sub folder and delete everything from within. (Some specific files won't let you delete them no matter how many times you try. If this is the case, carry on without deleting it)

  3.  These are the folder locations that you will delete:
    • %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin_cw5n1h2txyewy
    • %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\OneAuth
    • %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\TokenBroker
    • %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\IdentityCache
    • %appdata%\Microsoft\<insert name of application> (For this last one, you will run this for every Office application that needs to be uninstalled completely. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, OneNote, and so on. If you want to see what applications are installed and in the cache, just simply navigate to %appdata%\Microsoft\ )

  4.  Follow the steps above under Uninstall Microsoft Office and delete the Microsoft Office Apps completely

  5.  Restart the computer after uninstalling

  6.  Reinstall the apps from microsoft.byu.edu and try logging in again