How to Remove Office 365 Subscription from PC? Here’s How

As the Office 365 admin, many times deleted Office 365 subscriptions due to changes in the M365 plan, or in a merger scenario.  So, this process is not just about uninstalling Microsoft 365 from the computer, but you have to properly remove licenses, disable services, and backup/transfer data.

This means a proper plan is needed to cancel Microsoft 365 subscription (Win & macOS) effortlessly. Today, I’ll provide you with the insights on how to remove Office 365 subscription from PC via three reliable solutions step by step. Let’s begin our discussion!

Why Remove Microsoft 365?

Removing Microsoft 365 from a computer is a big decision, and no user won’t do this if:

• No longer needed the subscription.
• The apps were consuming space and RAM.
• Licensing issues caused constant sign-in prompts.
• Switch to a different Office version or plan.
• Decided on Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace migration to reduce licensing cost.

If you’re in a similar situation, then go through the following sections to completely remove M365 from your computer. 

How to Cancel Microsoft 365 Subscription?

Before removing the Microsoft 365 subscription, you have to cancel it first. To do so, check your billing account type: MCA (Microsoft Customer Agreement) or MOSA (Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement). You need the right billing/admin role to remove any custom domain.

The important part of how to remove Office 365 subscription from PC process, first, back up or move data to access it in future(if needed). Additionally, if you enable Office 365 message encryption, then disable it to avoid errors.

Moreover, it doesn’t matter whether your plan is business, enterprise, or home/family; you can easily cancel anyone by following the steps given below:

#If your billing account type is MCA:

• Open the Microsoft 365 admin center.
  • Simplified view: Subscriptions
  • Dashboard view: Billing > Your products
• Open the subscription.
• Billing settings > Subscription status > Cancel subscription.
• If within 7 days of start/renewal: select reason, then cancel Microsoft 365 subscription.
• If, after 7 days, you can’t cancel immediately, turn off recurring billing instead.
• Repeat for other active subscriptions if needed.

#If your billing account type is MOSA:

• Open the Microsoft 365 admin center.
  • Simplified view: Subscriptions
  • Dashboard view: Billing > Your products
• Open the subscription.
• Subscription & payment settings > Cancel subscription.
• Choose Cancel now or Cancel before next renewal, click Next, pick a reason, then hit Cancel now.
• If you have more than 25 licenses, first reduce to 25 or fewer, then cancel. Otherwise, contact Microsoft support, and they will guide you how to remove Office 365 subscription from PC step by step.

If you bought a plan via a Microsoft rep/reseller, you have 7 days to cancel for a prorated refund. Contact your seller/partner.

#Quick Alternative to Cancel Microsoft 365 Subscription: Stop renewal (Both Business & Home)

Turn recurring billing off and use the service until the term ends.

• For the Business plan – Go to the Admin center, and click on subscription. Afterwards, hit the Edit recurring billing > Off. Lastly, Save.
• For the Home/Family plan – Open Services & subscriptions, and look at your plan. Then, click on Manage > Turn off recurring billing.

You’ll get a confirmation email once the license becomes inactive. Once it is cancelled, the Business subscriptions go to the Disabled state; data can be deleted after 30–180 days. Before deleting, consider backing up/exporting data first.

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

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

How to Remove Office 365 Subscription from PC?

As we completed with first step, i.e. cancel Microsoft 365 subscription, our next step is to remove it from the computer. For the same, follow the instructions below:

#1. Use Control Panel

This is the quickest way to remove Microsoft 365 apps from your PC using the built-in Programs and Features tool in Windows. The steps are as follows: 

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.

#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.

#3. How to Remove Office 365 Subscription from PC Via Manual + Microsoft Tools Hybrid Method

In this solution, we take help from Microsoft tools. This is better compared to the above methods, as it helps to clean the account, credentials, apps, and cache thoroughly:

• Open the Microsoft account’s Installs/Devices page and choose Sign out of Office.

Note: Apps can take up to ~72 hours to realise the sign-out.

• Open any Office app, File > Account (Outlook: Office Account) > Sign out, and close all Office apps.
• Disconnect the work/school account from Windows (if shown). For the same, go to Settings, then click on Accounts option > Access work or school > select your org account > Disconnect > confirm.
• Clear saved Office credentials by opening Credential Manager > Windows Credentials > removing entries related to Office/Microsoft 365.
• Now, run Microsoft’s cleanup to remove license tokens & cached identities: use OLicenseCleanup.vbs and the signoutofwamaccounts.ps1 script. Or run the Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter in the Get Help app.
• Uninstall Office apps by going to Control Panel. Then click on Programs and Features, and select Microsoft 365 > Uninstall.
• If it won’t uninstall cleanly, use Microsoft’s Uninstall troubleshooter or remove the Microsoft Store build via PowerShell as documented.
• From the Advanced security options of your Microsoft account, use Sign out everywhere to stop sessions across devices.

That’s it, this deactivates the subscription on the device, removes cached sign-in/licensing, and uninstalls O365. Next, we’ll learn how to remove it from registry for both Windows, and macOs.

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:

• Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
• Backup Your Registry: Go to File > Export, choose All under Export range, and save a backup.
• 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

• Clear Licensing Cache
  

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform

• Delete any key with Office or 365 in it.
• 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 Office 365 Subscription from PC – Registry-Like Files on Mac

MacOS uses property list (.plist) files, application support folders, and keychain items instead of a centralised registry. Therefore, the steps is totally different to remove registry-like files from macOS:

• • Make sure Outlook, Word, Excel, OneNote, or PowerPoint are not running. To check, click on

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 the 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)

Author’s Verdict

The entire process of cancelling and removing Microsoft 365 requires proper planning, solutions, and step-by-step instructions. That’s why today I shared:

• How to remove Office 365 subscription from PC
• How to cancel Microsoft 365 Subscription
• How to remove Office 365 from registry

If you’re preparing for a new install, upgrading from the current plan, or deciding on Office 365 to Office 365 migration, I strongly recommend using the SaRA tool for a thorough cleanup.