How to remove the previous log-in account from the MS-office from my laptop?

Question

I am currently working in one of the laptops from my office. The former staff who have now left the office did not logged out from the MS-Office system, as a result, I cannot log-in to the desktop version of MS-Office. How can I remove his ID and log myself in to use MS-office (word, excel, outlook, etc)?

Answer 1

Hi @Durga Bhattarai,

Thank you for your response.

To sign the former staff member out of their current Office apps, please follow these steps:

• Open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
• Go to File > choose Account.
• Under User Information, select Sign out, then close all Office apps
• Open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint again and sign in with your account.

 

For more detail, you can refer to this article Sign out of Office.

 

Thank you for your time and for working through this with me. I appreciate you being part of the Microsoft Q&A community.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".       

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

Hi @Durga Bhattarai,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum. 

I understand that you’re trying to sign in to Microsoft Office on your work laptop, but the previous employee is still logged in. This can prevent you from accessing Word, Excel, Outlook, and other Office apps, so I’ll guide you through the steps to remove their account and sign in with your own.

1. Sign the former staff member out of Office apps

• Open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
• Go to File > Account.
• Under User Information, select Sign out, then close all Office apps.

Reference: Sign out of Office.

2. Outlook-specific sign‑out

• Classic Outlook: Go to File > Office Account > under User Information, choose Sign out.
• New Outlook: Click your profile picture (top right) > View account > once the web page opens, click your avatar again > Sign out.

3. Remove the old work or school account from Windows

On Windows 11:

• Open Settings > Accounts > Access work or school.
• Select the previous employee’s account > click Disconnect.

Note: If you don’t see the Disconnect option, the device may still be joined to their organization or controlled by company policy. In such cases, an admin may need to unjoin the device or update the primary user in Microsoft Entra ID before you can remove the account.

If Windows lists the old account under Accounts used by other apps (or Email & accounts), remove it there as well.

Foe reference:  Add and Remove Microsoft, Work, or School Accounts used to sign in by other apps in Windows 11.

Please note that this information is being provided by the moderator solely for your convenience. The referenced sites are not managed or overseen by the moderator, and therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy, security, or suitability of any software or content available there. We recommend reviewing all information carefully and ensuring you understand any associated risks before following suggestions from the provided link. 

 

4. Clear cached Office/Outlook credentials (to avoid automatic re‑login)

• Close all Microsoft apps (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive).
• Open Control Panel > Credential Manager > Windows Credentials.
• Under Generic Credentials, remove entries related to:
  • MicrosoftOffice
  • Office
  • Outlook
  • OneDrive
  • Any credentials associated with the former user or tenant

(Do not remove your Windows logon credentials.)

 

I hope this information helps. Please try the steps and let me know whether they resolve the issue. If the problem persists, we can work together to find a solution.  

As other users will also search for information in this community, your vote can significantly help those with similar inquiries quickly locate the most relevant resources. 

Thank you for your kindness and for contributing to the forum.   

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".       

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

Answer 3

To remove the previous login account from Microsoft Office on your laptop, you can follow these steps:

1. Sign out of Office: Open any Office application (like Word, Excel, or Outlook), go to File > Account, and select Sign out.
2. Remove the user account from your Office profile:
   • In the upper-right corner of the Office app, select your name and then choose Switch Account.
   • On the Accounts screen, select Sign out for the account you want to remove.
3. Remove connected services:
   • Go to File > Account and under Connected Services, remove all services associated with the previous account.
4. Clear cached credentials:
   • Open the Run dialog by pressing Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
   • Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Identity\Identities in the Registry Editor.
   • Delete the Office account you want to remove.
5. Remove cached credentials in Credential Manager:
   • Open the Control Panel, select Credential Manager, and under the Windows Credentials tab, find and remove the account you want to delete.
6. Log off and log back in to your computer to ensure the changes take effect.

Following these steps should allow you to remove the previous account and log in with your own credentials to use Microsoft Office applications.