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.

It is a common practice for everyone of us to save the file created using Office say, excel, word or powerpoint. This is a different case with the new Microsoft Office 16. Whenever you save a file using the Office 16, it saves and generates a copy of it, which it stores in the cache folder prior to uploading to the web server. Microsoft does not support the use of registry cleaners. Some programs available for free on the internet might contain spyware, adware, or viruses. If you decide to install a registry cleaning utility, be sure to research the product and only download and install programs from publishers that you trust.

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.

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 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

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.

Microsoft Office Clean

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

Microsoft Office Cleaner

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.

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, w

Microsoft Office Cleaner Mactalkingrenew