# How to manually remove Microsoft Office



## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

I was unable to find a MS Technet article that provides this information, so I'm writing (typing) it down here. Don't hold me responsible if something gets messed up! Though I assume it cannot get any worse than it is for you now, and these steps usually resolve the problem. I also assume that you've performed troubleshooting of the individual applications. For Word and Excel, go to those pages at www.theofficeexperts.com and look for the troubleshooting steps. I also assume your hard drive has been cleaned up. For those instructions, see www.theofficeexperts.com/cleanyourpc.htm

*Errors.*

If you get errors during uninstall or reinstall, write down the exact error message. Go to Microsoft TechNet and type the error message into the keywords search with your version of Office as the product.

*Backup your files.*

Type the following into your Find/Search, exactly as it appears (copy it if you want), find/search the files, and copy them somewhere else on your PC:

*.doc,*.dot,*.xls,*.xlt,*.ppt,*.pot,*.mdb

Those are Word documents (doc), Word templates (dot), Excel workbooks (xls), Excel templates (xlt), PowerPoint presentations (ppt), PowerPoint templates (pot), and Access databases (mdb). If you've never made your own templates, use just the following because the default templates will be reinstalled:

*.doc,*.xls,*.ppt,*.mdb

_Special Files_

*.pst files are Outlook files that contain all of your Outlook objects. You can also save your mail settings in Outlook: open Outlook, hit Tools-Accounts, choose an account and *export* it. Do it for each account. These become *.iaf files.

normal.dot and personal.xls are files that store macros and other customizations in Word and Excel respectively. You may want to back these up. Additionally, Excel stores custom toolbars in *.xlb files.

*Delete the program files.*

Rarely should programs be removed this way. Choosing to remove the application via the Control Panel is always preferred, but is sometimes not possible. So we do it this way.

By default, Office is installed to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office. Using My Computer or Windows Explorer, go to that folder. Delete the ENTIRE folder.

*Remove the program from the Windows registry.*

If the program isn't removed from the registry, it often is not fixed when you reinstall because the registry entries remain and are not overwritten on a reinstall.

To remove Office from the registry, hit Start-Run and type *regedit* (no asterisks) and hit Enter. This opens the Windows registry. Do not do anything except exactly as directed. Browse the registry similar to browsing in Windows Explorer and go to this folder:

hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\X.0

The X.0 will be:

8.0 for Office 97
9.0 for Office 2000
10.0 for Office XP
11.0 for Office 2003

If you have more than one, but only want one version of Office installed now, it is safe to rename the ENTIRE Office folder. If you are only trying to remove one version, then rename only the number. So...to rename the Office folder, simply right-click, hit Rename, and rename it to something like XOffice; or right-click the version number and rename it; for instance rename 10.0 to Old10.0. Using this method, you are backing up the old registry files, just to be safe. When Office is reinstalled, a new 10.0 (or whatever version number) folder will be created.

*Important Note*

If you're trying to fix just Word or one of the other applications, then you can go further into the version folder and rename just the application folder name. For instance, rename Word to OldWord. However, you will not want to delete the program files in this case. See the troubleshooting methods for Word and Excel, which I mentioned earlier.

*Continue with your task.*
You should now be in a position to reinstall the program(s).

*Good luck!*


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

And---you will need the Product Key just like with Windows Setup, to type in, be sure you have them handy!!!!!!!!
You also need the original CDs when you run Office Updates....


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

Byteman:

I didn't notice your post before. Why do you say that? This is MANUAL removal. The whole idea is that you DON'T need the CD to uninstall it this way.

It also doesn't contain any instruction on updating Office.


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

Ok DB- In case someone runs into a problem and has to re-run Setup----- they need the Product Key, and if they want to update Office, they need the physical CD. Merely trying to help those who uninstall whichever way and for whatever reason. 
This is not a comment on your post...... I got stuck that way, once....had the CD but no PKey. Owner misplaced that. I had to contact customer support for Office, and they did give me a new Key but it took some begging.
I did not post they would need a CD to uninstall, but I did neglect to say I was posting about reinstalling.... 
I've never uninstalled Office except by a format. You do need the PK if it is totally removed, if you want to re-install it. Your post mentions reinstalling in spots...so thought a reminder about the PKey would be appropriate. 
This happened with an older version, it might not be so for anything later than 2000.


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

LOL. Okay. I gotcha. Didn't know what you were trying to say. So, just to clarify.

1. Product ID is one thing. It can be found under Help-About. Not to be confused with the CD key.

2. The CD key is required for installation. We (at TSG) do not assist people in installing software illegally, so we don't feel it necessary to mention the obvious. If someone runs Office illegally, removes it, then finds they have no CD key, it's no sweat off my back at all.

I have been pointing people from other sites to this tip too, so it's very important that there is nothing misleading or confusing.


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## murray654 (Aug 15, 2004)

I removed office as explained. The problem is that the remove office link is still in control panel "add remove programs" (win98) This means office 2k professional is still there (in part) It is preventing me from using a different version of office (premium) If I install, then whenever I run an office program the windows installer says some component is missing and I need the office profesional CD. What else needs to be changed to get rid of office 2k professional completely?


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

You may still need to clean something out of the registry.

Do the regedit as mentioned above.

Go to hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\

and see if Office is under there.

Also hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\windows\current version\ and see if any ref to Office exists.

Basically, I would just search for "office" in the registry and trash any entries I find.


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## murray654 (Aug 15, 2004)

I managed to sort it out by using another office 2000 cd - I had a Small Business Edition - SR2 cd which somehow installed and ran without asking for the Office Professional CD. SR2 must sort out some of these problems.

Thanks for your quick response

Murray


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## Sooky 47 (Nov 6, 2001)

I am so glad I ran across this thread/ with uninstalling and re-installing programs on my computer .. when it comes to Office _ I am never sure what exactly should and shouldn't be removed/ with this now I have a reference! Thanks


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

Cool!


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## axis77 (Aug 31, 2004)

:up: here is a tool that you will find helpful when trying to completly get rid of all things related to office 2000, now keep in mind this is strictly for Microsoft Office 2000 (Professional, Premium, etc...). 
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;239938


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

axis: Office 97 has that, too, but some of us believe the Eraser tools leave stuff behind. And they do. The steps really completely remove it. 

HOWEVER! For most purposes, the Eraser tool does work.


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## murray654 (Aug 15, 2004)

> when it comes to Office _ I am never sure what exactly should and shouldn't be removed/ with this now I have a reference!


This thread is about removing office manually. The best way to remove office is to use the add/remove programs applet in the windows control panel. However, this requires inserting the office CD. Its not a perfect world, and not everytime you need it do you have the CD, hence this thread.


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## murray654 (Aug 15, 2004)

> here is a tool that you will find helpful when trying to completly get rid of all things related to office 2000


I believe that this is the same as the utility on the office CD: 
On the Office 2000 CD the utility is d:\PFILES\MSOFFICE\OFFICE\OFFCLN9.EXE where d: is your CD-Rom drive

This utility can remove previous versions. The same utility on the Office XP CD would be able to remove Office 2000. The location might be slightly different to the Office 2000 CD.

However, the version on the website is probably updated from the version on the CD and should work better.


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## kfila (Mar 1, 2008)

Thanks a million. Could not get Office to reinstall and your recommendations for removing (renaming) ALL registry files related to Office did the trick. Beats the heck out of removing all the folder files Microsoft recommended. Anyway - thank you again!!


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