If you’re troubleshooting MS Office and would like to remove the license files from your Mac, you can use the license removal tool. This will completely remove all licenses for Office for Mac. This tool can also help if you’ve subscribed to Microsoft 365 but previously had a one-time purchase of Office for Mac on your computer, and aren’t seeing certain subscription features. This can be due to your copy of Office still using the license of your one-time purchase and not your subscription. Before using the tool, make sure you have the correct account info and password associated with your purchase of Office available for when you reactivate.
Removing MS Office license files from Mac
Follow these steps to remove MS Office license files from your Mac.
- First check what license your version of MS Office is currently using. If you’re looking for subscription features and your version is using a Microsoft 365 subscription license, then you don’t need to do the rest of these steps. You’re already using the correct license
- If you’re uninstalling the MS Office apps with no intention of reinstalling them later, i.e quit out of all Office apps, or if you’ve already uninstalled MS Office, go to the next step
- Download the Microsoft Office License Removal Tool
- Open the .pkg file from your Mac’s Downloads folder. If you get an ‘unidentified developer’ error, try opening the file by holding Control + clicking the file > Open
- Select Continue and follow the prompts in the setup wizard. Make sure to double-check that you have the correct account info by logging into Office and checking for the license you want to activate with
- 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’
- Now open any MS Office app and sign in to activate with the email account associated with your MS Office for Mac license. If you’re troubleshooting an issue, you may need to reinstall MS Office before signing in
- After you’ve successfully activated, restart your Mac and then you’re good to go
- If your account has both a Microsoft 365 for Mac license and a one-time purchase associated with it, you’ll be prompted to choose which license you want to activate with
- Uninstall the License Removal Tool by dragging the Microsoft_Office_License_Removal file from Finder > Downloads to Trash
