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Uninstalling and Reinstalling Word (Office 2021 for Mac)

Anonymous
2022-08-13T08:28:32+00:00

I have been having ongoing problems with my Word program since I bought it, which no one here or anyone else online has been able to solve for me. (Essentially, when I try and search a document, the page goes blank until I move the mouse or scroll again. It's not crashing, it just goes blank.) I'm now thinking that I will have to uninstall Word completely and start again.

What I would like to know is a) whether I will need my activation key again, and b) is Microsoft going to think I have already installed the program on my machine, and will complain if I try and reinstall it? I use Word every day, so not having access to it is not going to be an option for me. I need the reinstall to be straightforward!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | MacOS

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-08-13T19:03:19+00:00

    Hi Claire,

    It is NOT necessary to remove the many thousands of files that are the complete set of Microsoft Office just to uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Word.

    Uninstalling and reinstalling Microsoft Word does not require you to activate or sign back into Microsoft Word application.

    The procedure is simple:

    1. In Finder, go to the Applications Folder. Drag Microsoft Word.app to the Trash
    2. Empty the Trash
    3. Restart your Mac
    4. Use this installer to reinstall Microsoft Word: Word

    You can find all the current installers here:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-08-13T09:03:14+00:00

    Hi,

    Thank you for reaching out to us today. I’m Kevin and I’m happy to to help you out with your question.

    You can easily uninstall Word from your Mac by following this guide:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/uninstall-office-for-mac-eefa1199-5b58-43af-8a3d-b73dc1a8cae3

    Then you can reinstall using this guide:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/download-and-install-or-reinstall-microsoft-365-or-office-2021-on-a-pc-or-mac-4414eaaf-0478-48be-9c42-23adc4716658

    You should have no license or activation issues because the hardware isn’t changing.

    I hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please reach back out and I will be more than happy to assist you.

    Best Regards, Kevin

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  3. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-08-13T18:49:10+00:00

    Hi Palcouk,

    In Office for Mac you CAN uninstall and reinstall individual applications.

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  4. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-08-13T18:50:25+00:00

    Hi Kev,

    Please re-read the question that was asked. The question was NOT how to uninstall the entire Microsoft Office suite. The question was about removing and reinstalling Microsoft Word.

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-08-13T08:56:29+00:00

    If you have Office 365 you cannot uninstall an individual component.

    You re-install Office 365 via the MS Account that was used in the original 365 setup process

    I dont use a Mac but how you search may have some baring - your other posts have received many replies, if you still have issues you should reply to one of the replies you received

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