How do I delete an old Word (Office) business account that I no longer have access to (email no longer exists)?

Question

I am a freelance sub-editor and for certain companies I have to use my own computer. Often, even if I go back to that company (usually quite a few months later) I am given a new email address, and the old one no longer works. For Outlook and Teams this never seems to be a problem, but for Word I am unable to delete the old business account as I don't have access to the old email address in order to log in. The online version generally works with the new profile but not the app. Please can someone help me delete this business account. Or is the only way to create a new user account on my laptop?

Answer 1

Hi @Charlotte Price

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum

Based on what you described, I understand that as a freelance sub-editor you are frequently assigned new company email accounts. While Outlook and Teams adapt without issue, Word continues to retain the old business account. Since you no longer have access to the previous email address, you cannot sign in to remove it normally, and this is causing conflicts in the Word desktop app (while the online version works fine).

It appears that the old business account credentials are still stored locally on your Mac, and Office apps are remembering and attempting to use that account.

To resolve this, please try the following steps:

1. Sign out of all Office apps
2. Remove stored credentials from Keychain

Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access > In the search bar, type: Microsoft or Office > Delete any entries related to: Microsoft Office Identities/ADAL/MSAL/Old business account email addresses > Restart your Mac after removing them.

3. Use the Microsoft License Removal Tool

Microsoft provides an official tool to remove old Office licenses completely. Run the License Removal Tool following Microsoft’s instructions. This clears any remaining activation or account links tied to the previous business account.

How to remove Office license files on a Mac

If Word still remembers the old account:

Completely uninstall Office > Restart your Mac > Download a fresh installer from office.com > Install Office again and sign in only with your current business account

Please let me know how it goes, and I’ll be happy to assist further if needed.

---

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.