How to completely remove Office for Mac 2011

Step 1: Quit all Office for Mac applications

You can follow one of these methods to quit an active Office for Mac application:

• Select the application name next to the Apple icon, and then click Quit <application name>.
  Example: If Word for Mac is active, click Word next to the Apple icon from the menu system, and then click Quit Word.
  
  
• If the program icon appears in the Dock, press the CONTROL key, click the icon, and then select Quit.

Step 2: Remove the Microsoft Office 2011 folder

1. On the Go menu, click Applications.
2. Drag the Microsoft Office 2011 folder to the Trash. 

Step 3: Remove Office preferences

Warning Removing preferences will delete any customizations that were made. These customizations include changes to toolbars, custom dictionaries, and keyboard shortcuts that were created. 

To remove "com.microsoft" files, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Home.
2. Open Library.
   Note The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X 10.7 and later. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.
   
   
3. Open Preferences.
4. Arrange files and folders in alphabetical order.
5. Drag all files that begin with "com.microsoft" to the Trash.

To remove com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Computer.
2. Double-click your hard disk icon. The default name will be Macintosh HD.
3. Open Library, and then open LaunchDaemons.
4. Drag com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist to the Trash.

To remove com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Computer.
2. Double-click your hard disk icon. The default name will be Macintosh HD.
3. Open Library, and then open PrivilegedHelperTools.
4. Drag com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper to the Trash.

Step 4: Remove the license file

1. On the Go menu, click Computer. 
2. Double-click your hard disk icon. The default name will be Macintosh HD.
3. Open Library, and then open Preferences.
4. Drag com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist to the Trash.

To remove subscription files, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Home.
2. Open Library.
   Note The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X 10.7 and later. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.
3. Open Preferences and then open ByHost.
4. Arrange files and folders in alphabetical order.
5. Drag all files that begin with "com.microsoft" to the Trash.

IMPORTANT Please restart your computer after following the above steps to remove in-memory caches.

Step 5: Remove /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/

1. On the Go menu, click Computer.
2. Double-click your hard disk icon. The default name will be Macintosh HD.
3. Open Library, and then open Application Support.
4. Drag the Microsoft folder to the Trash.

Warning If the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in is installed on the computer, you may have to reinstall it after removing this folder. Click here to reinstall Microsoft Silverlight.

Step 6: Remove receipts

1. On the Go menu, click Computer.
2. Double-click your hard disk icon. The default name will be Macintosh HD.
3. Open Library, and then open Receipts.
4. Drag all files that begin with "Office2011_" to the Trash.

Note These files are not always found on the computer.

If you have Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) or Lion (10.7), continue with these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Go to Folder.
2. Type this text in the Go to folder box, and then click Go:
   /private/var/db/receipts
   
   
3. Arrange files and folders in alphabetical order.
4. Drag all files that begin with "com.microsoft.office" to the Trash.

Step 7: Remove /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/

Warning This will delete any custom template files that you may have created.

1. On the Go menu, click Home.
2. Open Library.
   Note The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X 10.7 and later. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.
   
   
3. Open Application Support.
4. Open Microsoft, and then drag the Office folder to the Trash.

Step 8: Remove the Microsoft fonts 

To remove the Microsoft fonts that were installed with Office for Mac 2011, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Computer.
2. Double-click you hard disk icon. The default name will be Macintosh HD.
3. Open Library, and then open Fonts.
4. Drag the Microsoft folder to the Trash.

Step 9: Empty the Trash

Warning Make sure all files and folders in the Trash can be deleted.

1. On the Finder menu, click Empty Trash.
2. On the Apple menu, click Restart.

Step 10: Move the Microsoft User Data folder to the desktop

Warning The Outlook for Mac 2011 identity information is located in /Users/username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/. If you delete this folder, you will lose all Outlook information and Citation Source Manager data. Do not remove the Microsoft User Datafolder if you want to keep this data. We recommend you move the folder instead.

Important If a Microsoft User Data folder is located on the desktop, rename it before you follow these steps.

To move the Microsoft User Data folder, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Documents.
2. Drag the Microsoft User Data folder to the desktop.
3. On the Apple menu, click Restart.

Step 11: Remove Office application icons in the dock

To remove the Office application icons in the Dock, follow these steps:

1. Hold down the CONTROL key and then click an Office application icon in the Dock such as Microsoft Word.
2. Click Options, and then click Remove from Dock. (The screen shot for this step is listed below).
   
   
   
   
3. Repeat the previous two steps to remove all Office application icons in the Dock.