How to Properly Uninstall and Reinstall Microsoft Office Without Losing Settings

At some point, every Office user faces the need to uninstall and reinstall the application suite. Perhaps a corrupted installation is causing crashes. Perhaps you are upgrading from an older version and the upgrade is not clean. Perhaps you are setting up a new computer and want to transfer your customised Office environment. Whatever the reason, the process is more nuanced than simply clicking Uninstall and starting again — particularly if you have invested time in customising Office with templates, Quick Parts, AutoCorrect entries, and specific settings.

This guide covers the full process: backing up your settings and customisations, properly removing Office, performing a clean reinstall, and restoring your personalised environment — so that the reinstalled Office feels like the one you know, not a generic out-of-box installation.

Before You Start: What Can Be Preserved

Many Office customisations are stored in files that survive a standard uninstall (because they are in your user profile folders rather than the Office installation directory). However, some are stored in the registry and will be lost during certain types of reinstall. Knowing which is which determines what you need to back up manually.

Customisations stored in your user profile (usually survive reinstall):

• Custom templates (.dotx files) stored in your Templates folder
• Quick Parts and Building Blocks (stored in NormalEmail.dotm and Building Blocks.dotx)
• Word Normal template (Normal.dotm) — contains your default styles and macros
• Excel personal macro workbook (PERSONAL.XLSB)
• AutoCorrect entries — stored as .acl files per language in AppData
• Custom dictionary words (.dic files)
• Outlook data files (.pst and .ost files)

Customisations stored in the registry (may be lost on clean reinstall):

• Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar customisations
• Office application settings and preferences
• Custom keyboard shortcuts
• Recent document history
• Trust Center settings (trusted locations, macro security settings)

Step 1: Back Up Your Customisations

Before touching Office, create backups of your key customisation files. Open File Explorer and navigate to these locations (enable hidden files first: View > Show > Hidden items):

Word templates and settings:
Navigate to AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates within your user profile folder. Copy the entire Templates folder. This contains Normal.dotm, NormalEmail.dotm, and any custom templates you have created.

Excel personal macros:
Navigate to AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART. Copy PERSONAL.XLSB if it exists — this file contains all your personal Excel macros.

AutoCorrect entries:
Navigate to AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office. Copy any .acl files (e.g., MSO2052.acl or MSO1033.acl) — these contain your AutoCorrect entries.

Custom dictionary:
Navigate to AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof. Copy CUSTOM.DIC — this contains words you have added to your custom dictionary.

Outlook data:
Search for .pst files using File Explorer search in your Documents folder. PST files (local archives) must be backed up explicitly, as they are not recreated automatically from the server the way OST files are.

Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts: Export these from within each Office application before uninstalling. In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint: File > Options > Customise Ribbon (or Quick Access Toolbar) > Import/Export > Export all customisations. Save the exported .exportedUI file to your backup location.

Outlook signatures:
Navigate to AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures. Copy the entire Signatures folder — each signature is stored as a set of HTML, TXT, and RTF files plus a folder of images.

Step 2: Try Office Repair Before Uninstalling

Before going through the full uninstall and reinstall process, Office’s built-in repair function resolves many common issues without losing settings or requiring a reinstall. There are two repair options:

Quick Repair: Runs locally without internet, checks for and replaces corrupted files, typically completes in 5–10 minutes. Try this first.

Online Repair: Downloads Office from Microsoft’s servers and performs a more thorough repair, replacing all Office installation files. Takes 20–60 minutes depending on your internet speed. Use this if Quick Repair does not resolve the issue.

Access repair options via Settings > Apps > Installed Apps, find Microsoft Office in the list, click the three-dot menu, and select Modify. The repair wizard presents Quick and Online Repair options.

For the majority of Office problems — crashes, missing features, activation issues, slow performance — Online Repair resolves the issue without any data loss and without going through the full uninstall process. Use it before deciding to fully uninstall.

Step 3: Proper Uninstall Using Microsoft’s Support Tool

If repair does not work and a full reinstall is necessary, use Microsoft’s official Office removal tool rather than the standard Windows uninstaller. The standard uninstaller leaves behind registry entries and cached files that can cause problems with a fresh installation. Microsoft’s Support and Recovery Assistant (SaRA) performs a thorough removal.

Download SaRA from Microsoft’s support website (search for “Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant”). Run it, select the Office option, and follow the prompts to perform a thorough uninstall.

Alternatively, download Microsoft’s dedicated Office uninstall support tool directly from support.microsoft.com. This tool runs automatically, removing Office files, registry entries, and programme folders more thoroughly than the standard uninstaller.

After using the official removal tool, restart your computer before proceeding with the reinstall. This ensures all Office processes are terminated and temporary files are cleared.

Step 4: Verify No Office Remnants Remain

After the official removal tool runs and you have restarted, check that no Office files remain in these locations:

• Program Files\Microsoft Office
• Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office
• ProgramData\Microsoft\Office

If any of these folders still exist and contain Office files, delete them manually. The removal tool should have cleared them, but occasionally some files are locked during the removal process.

For a very thorough cleanup, use a registry cleaner (CCleaner is commonly used, though exercise caution with registry editing) to remove any remaining Office registry entries. This step is optional — a fresh Office install works correctly over minor registry remnants in most cases.

Step 5: Installing Office

With the previous installation cleanly removed, proceed with the fresh installation.

For Microsoft 365 licences: Sign into office.com with your Microsoft account, click Install apps, and download the Office installer. Run it and sign in with your account during setup.

For perpetual licences: If you have an Office product key, go to setup.office.com, enter your key, and follow the instructions to download and activate Office. Keep your product key stored securely — you will need it if you ever reinstall again.

Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows is available for £29.99 from GetRenewedTech, and Office 2021 Professional Plus for Windows is also available at £29.99.

During installation, allow Office to fully install before launching any applications. The installation includes a second phase after the initial download — check the system tray for an icon indicating that Office is still completing background installation.

Step 6: Restoring Your Settings and Customisations

With Office freshly installed, restore your backed-up customisations:

Templates and Word settings: Copy your backed-up Normal.dotm, NormalEmail.dotm, and custom templates into the AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates folder. Restart Word to apply the restored Normal template.

Excel macros: Copy PERSONAL.XLSB back into the AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART folder. Your personal macros will be available the next time you start Excel.

AutoCorrect entries: Copy your backed-up .acl files into the AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office folder. Your AutoCorrect entries will be restored the next time Office starts.

Custom dictionary: Copy CUSTOM.DIC into the AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof folder.

Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts: In each application, go to File > Options > Customise Ribbon > Import/Export > Import customisation file, and select the .exportedUI file you saved earlier. Repeat for the Quick Access Toolbar and (in Word) keyboard shortcuts.

Outlook signatures: Copy your backed-up Signatures folder content into the AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures folder.

Outlook data files: In Outlook, go to File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File, and navigate to your backed-up .pst file to re-add it to your profile. OST files are recreated automatically when Outlook connects to the mail server.

Troubleshooting Common Post-Reinstall Issues

Activation errors after reinstall: If you see “Product activation required” after a clean reinstall, run the Office activation wizard: File > Account > Activate Product. For perpetual licences, enter your product key. For Microsoft 365, sign in with your Microsoft account. If activation fails, use the Microsoft Activation Troubleshooter available via Windows troubleshoot settings.

Missing features after reinstall: Some Office features install as optional components. If Publisher, Access, or language packs are missing, go to Settings > Apps, find Microsoft Office, click Modify, and select “Add or remove features” to install the missing components.

Upgrading version during reinstall: If you are moving from Office 2019 to Office 2024, some settings from the older version may be stored in folders with version-specific names in your AppData folder. Check AppData\Roaming\Microsoft for version-numbered subfolders and copy any relevant customisation files to the current version’s equivalents.

Outlook profile issues: After reinstalling Outlook, you may need to recreate your email profile. Go to Control Panel > Mail (Microsoft Outlook) > Show Profiles > Add to create a new profile with your email accounts. Once configured correctly, set it as the default profile.

Maintaining a Recovery Kit

Once you have been through this process once, set up a system to make future reinstalls easier. Create a dedicated folder — on OneDrive or an external drive — called “Office Recovery Kit” containing:

• Copies of Normal.dotm, PERSONAL.XLSB, and your AutoCorrect .acl files
• Exported .exportedUI files for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint ribbon customisations
• Your Office product key (stored securely, perhaps in a password manager)
• A text document listing your trusted locations, add-ins, and any non-default settings

Update this folder periodically — particularly after making significant changes to your Office customisations. With this kit prepared, a future reinstall becomes a 30-minute process rather than a day-long ordeal of recreating settings from memory.

Transferring Office to a New Computer

The same process applies when setting up Office on a new machine. Before decommissioning your old computer, collect all your customisation files into the Office Recovery Kit folder. Copy the folder to your new machine, install Office, then restore all your settings using the process described above. The result is an Office installation on your new machine that has all your personalised settings intact from day one.

For perpetual Office licences, deactivate the installation on the old machine before activating on the new one. Sign into account.microsoft.com and manage your Office product licences under Devices to remove the old installation. This ensures you do not exceed the installation limit for your licence.

Conclusion

A properly done Office reinstall — with settings backed up beforehand and restored afterwards — leaves you with a fresh, stable installation that still feels like your customised working environment. The extra time spent on backing up AutoCorrect entries, templates, and ribbon customisations pays off immediately when you do not have to rebuild those settings from scratch. With Office 2024 now available at accessible prices from GetRenewedTech, a clean reinstall is a practical solution for persistent performance or stability issues, made much less painful by following the process described in this guide.