How to Remove Office 365 Subscription from PC: Cancel Microsoft 365 & Clean Registry

If you’re trying to remove your Office 365 subscription from a PC, uninstalling the apps isn’t enough. In this guide, I’ll explain how to remove an Office 365 subscription from your PC, uninstall Office completely, and remove leftover registry entries from both Windows and Mac systems to clean your system thoroughly.

Why do I Want to Remove Office 365?

Here’s why I decided to remove Office 365:

• I no longer needed the subscription.
• The apps were consuming space and RAM.
• Licensing issues caused constant sign-in prompts.
• I switched to a different Office version.

If you’re in a similar situation, follow the steps below to completely remove Microsoft 365.

How to Cancel a Microsoft 365 Subscription?

If you’re being charged monthly or annually, simply removing the software won’t stop the billing. Here’s how I cancelled mine:

1. Open https://account.microsoft.com/services, and sign in with your Microsoft account.
2. Under Services & subscriptions, you’ll find your plan, e.g., Microsoft 365 Family or Personal.
3. Click on Manage > Cancel Subscription, and follow the on-screen prompts.
4. Confirm Cancellation. You’ll get a confirmation email. Once the license becomes inactive.

Cancelling the subscription does not remove the installed Office apps from your PC. That’s the next step.

How to Remove Office 365 Subscription from PC?

After cancelling, I followed this method to remove Microsoft 365 from my PC:

Method 1. Use Control Panel (Quick Uninstall)

This is the quickest way to remove Microsoft 365 apps from your PC using the built-in Programs and Features tool in Windows.

1. Press Win + R, type appwiz.cpl, and hit Enter.
2. Locate Microsoft 365 or Office 365 in the list.
3. Right-click and select Uninstall.
4. Follow the prompts until uninstallation is complete.
5. Restart your PC.

Method 2. Use Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (SaRA)

Sometimes the basic uninstall doesn’t clear everything. I used SaRA to clean it fully:

1. Download it from Microsoft’s official tool.
2. Open the app, choose Office, then Uninstall.
3. Select all components and follow the cleanup wizard.

This method ensures leftover registry entries, services, and scheduled tasks are also removed.

Also Read: How to Migrate Shared Mailbox to Office 365 Using PowerShell?

How to Remove Office 365 from Registry (Windows)

If Office still leaves traces after uninstalling, follow these steps to manually delete leftover registry entries. This is important when learning how to remove Office 365 subscription from PC. For the same:

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
2. Backup Your Registry: Go to File > Export, choose All under Export range, and save a backup.
3. Navigate to Office Registry Paths, and look in these locations and delete related Office folders:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Office

1. Clear Licensing Cache
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform
   • Delete any key with Office or 365 in it.
2. Delete User Credentials
   • Open Credential Manager.
   • Remove all saved Microsoft Office credentials.

Only try this if you’re well known how to edit the registry, as incorrect changes can damage your system. 

How to Remove Microsoft 365 (Office) Registry-Like Files on Mac

MacOS uses property list (.plist) files, application support folders, and keychain items instead of a centralised registry. So here’s how to remove Office 365 subscription from PC (all traces of Office 365 from my Mac).

• Make sure Outlook, Word, Excel, OneNote, or PowerPoint are not running. Use:

Command + Q or open Activity Monitor and force quit any Microsoft processes.

• Now, open the Applications folder and drag the following apps to the Trash:
  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft OneNote
  • Microsoft Teams (if installed)

Then empty the Trash.

• Remove supporting files and preferences by opening Finder and pressing:

Command + Shift + G. Then go to each of the following directories and delete the Microsoft folders/files.

• Library Files to Remove:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.*

~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.*

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.*

~/Library/Application Scripts/com.microsoft.*

System Library (admin password required):

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft

/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.*

If you have OneDrive or Teams installed, also delete:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams

• Now, remove Microsoft Credentials from Keychain
  • Open Keychain Access, search via Spotlight.

• In the search bar, type:
  • Delete all Microsoft Office-related entries.

• Remove Office AutoUpdate:

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0

Delete the MAU2.0 folder to fully remove the Microsoft AutoUpdate tool.

• The Office 365 installs its fonts. To delete them:

~/Library/Fonts/Microsoft

Extra Tips: What to Do After Uninstallation

• Reboot Your PC
• Check for Leftover Files
• Install a New Office 365 Version (if needed)

Related: How to Enable Office 365 Message Encryption?

Author’s Verdict

I’ve personally gone through the entire process of cancelling and removing Microsoft 365. That’s why I know how to remove Office 365 subscription from PC is not a quick task. You need to clean up your subscription, registry, credentials, and leftover files. 

If you’re preparing for a new install, I strongly recommend using the SaRA tool for thorough cleanup.