Microsoft has been readying its latest update to Office for Mac, and recently. We decided to give it a whirl and wanted uninstall Office 2011 to avoid any conflicts.

Much to our surprise, uninstalling Office 2011 for Mac is a terribly complicated affair. It’s no great mystery why we’d want to uninstall Office 2011. It’s just never felt like a real OS X application, or even a decent version of Office. Yes, it gets the job done but the interface is a mess and downright ugly. Word 2011 for Mac is so, so ugly. The new version of Office by contrast is clean and much more Office-looking.

Office 2016 for Mac better resembles the Windows version, which will likely please switchers. Speaking of Windows, uninstalling Office on it is a simple matter of opening Programs & Features from the Control Panel and removing the application there. It takes a few minutes and is entirely automated.

Removing Office 2011 on Mac however, can be best described as a labyrinthine process. Microsoft lays the process out in, but it’s a little difficult to follow. It won’t hurt your Mac to simply drag the application folder to the trash and move on from there, but the Office installation (which is automated) places files all over your Mac, so if you really want it all gone, you have to root around your hard drive and delete everything by hand. Step Zero: Quit Everything The first thing you need to do before you can remove Office 2011 is to make sure none of its applications are running. The easiest way to do this is to simply use “Command + Tab” to switch between running apps.

If any are running, simply use “Command + Q” to quit them. Remove the Office Folder and Dock Icons Open your Applications folder and locate the “Microsoft Office 2011 folder. Click and drag it to the trash. While you’re at it, you can also remove the Office icons from your Dock (if you have any pinned there).

The simplest way to do this is to click and drag them out of the Dock. Microsoft divides this into two steps.

You could simply stop here Office would be basically uninstalled, but as we said before, there’s a lot of little files that Office writes all over you drive. If you want it all gone, roll up your sleeves and get to it. Removing the Preferences, Subscription File, and License Once you remove the application files, it’s time to start removing all the little files spread throughout your system. One of the best ways to navigate your way through the Finder, is to. To remove the preferences, open the Library in your Home folder. Click “Go,” hold the “Option” key, and click “Library.” Navigate to the “Preferences” and arrange everything by Name.

It’s probably a good idea to change your view in Finder to a list. Select all the files (you can hold “Shift” to select a range of files) that start with “ com.microsoft” and drag them to the trash. Remember, these preference files contain customizations you’ve made for things like toolbars, keyboard shortcuts, and custom dictionaries.

If you remove them and later reinstall Office 2011, you will need to redo your customizations. While you’re in this folder, you can remove the subscriptions files. Open the “ByHost” folder, arrange everything by Name and drag anything starting with “ com.microsoft” to the Trash. When you install Office and you input your license info, it creates a file. Open “Computer” from the Go menu (you can use “Shift + Command + C”), double-click to open your system drive (it might be “Macintosh HD” unless you’ve renamed it), then open “Library - Preferences” and drag “ com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist” to the Trash. Microsoft recommends you restart your computer at this point to remove any files that are cached in memory. This will be necessary before you can purge everything in the Trash.

Removing the Application Support Folder and Receipts With your computer restarted, open “Computer” again from the Go menu, then your system drive, and “Library - Application Support.” Drag the “ Microsoft” folder to the Trash; you will need to enter your system password to complete this action. Next, while you’re still in that Library folder, open the “Receipts” folder and see if there are any files that begin with “Office2011” (there probably will not be) and drag them to the Trash as well. If you’re using using OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) or OS Lion (10.7), then you will need to Go to(“Shift + Command + G”) the Finder folder “/private/var/db/receipts.” Arrange the files in this folder by Name and drag every one that begins with “ com.microsoft.office” to the Trash. Removing Custom Templates and Fonts We’re almost done, there are just a few steps more to go. The next thing we’ll need to do is remove any custom templates you might have created. If you want to save these then you can simply relocate them to a safe location.

Open the “Library” folder from the Go menu once more by holding down the “Option” key. Navigate to “Application Support - Microsoft” and drag the “Office” folder to the Trash. Next, you’re going to again reopen the “Computer” location, click on you system drive (Macintosh HD by default), and then “Library - Fonts.” Drag the “Microsoft” folder to the Trash.

At this point, you can empty the Trash, unless you want to delete your Microsoft User Data folder in the next step. Moving or Deleting Your Microsoft User Data Deleting your Microsoft User Data folder is optional. If you remove this folder and you will lose all your Outlook data, among other things. This user data folder can be found in your Documents. It is recommend that if you want to keep this data folder, you drag it to a safe location such as the Desktop or archive it to a cloud folder. Regardless, upon finishing this last step, restart your computer once more and you’re done removing Office 2011 from your Mac.

RELATED: We hope that Microsoft includes some kind of ability in Office 2016 for Mac that will allow you to uninstall or upgrade from the previous installation. Right now however, to completely remove Office 2011, this is your best, albeit annoying, course of action. Have anything you’d like to add such as a question or comment? Please use our discussion forum to leave your feedback.

Download and install or reinstall Office for Mac 2011. All of your Office for Mac 2011 apps will continue to function. However, you could expose yourself to serious and potentially harmful security risks. Upgrade to a newer version of Office so you can stay up to date with all the latest features, patches, and security updates. Important note for Office 365 subscriptions: After September 22, 2016,. This doesn't affect one-time purchases of Office for Mac 2011 such as, Office Home and Student, Office Home and Business, or Office Professional. Note: If you have Office 365 or a one-time purchase of Office 2016 for Mac, see for install instructions.

Mac 2011 Home & Student or Office for Mac 2011 Home & Business (one-time purchase of Office) installation instructions For one-time purchases of Office for Mac 2011 you can install Office on only one computer. However, you may transfer Office for Mac 2011 to another computer that belongs to you if you experience a hardware failure or you buy a new computer. For more information, see the for your product. You can use the DVD that came with Office, but to get the most up-to-date version, download Office for Mac 2011 at.

Make sure you have your product key. Note: If your organization subscribes to the Home Use Program and that's how you received your copy of Office for Mac 2011, follow the steps in:. Go to Download Earlier Versions of Office at to download the file. Enter your product key and click Verify. Select a language, then click Confirm. When prompted, click Download Now. Open the downloads folder from the dock, and double-click the OfficeMacHB1PK2011.dmg file to start the installation.

Double-click the Office Installer icon. Follow the prompts, and click Agree to accept the terms of the software license agreement. Click Install to continue the installation. Click Change Install Location if you want to select another drive on which to install the product.

Click Customize to select or to remove optional installation components. For example, click Customize if you don't want to install Office Fonts, Dock Icons, or certain applications such as Microsoft Messenger, Remote Desktop, or Microsoft Document Connection.

Notes:. If you use Apple Remote Desktop to install Office for Mac 2011 on another computer on your network, Dock icons are not installed. Duplicate fonts are moved to the Fonts Disabled (/Library/Fonts Disabled folder or the /Users/ username/Library/Fonts Disabled) folder during installation. If prompted, enter your Mac user name and password to allow the installer to make changes, and then click OK. The installation is complete you receive a message that says, The installation was successful. When the Welcome to Office: Mac 2011 screen appears, select the option, Enter your purchased product key.

Office For Mac 2011

Enter the product key from the retail package of Office for Mac 2011, and then click Activate. Save your Product ID information, click Continue, and then click Done. If prompted, install any updates.