How to Remove Office 365 License from Computer Step by Step Guide

Read time: 5 minutes

Imagine you are changing your computer, giving it to someone else, or facing license limit issues. In these instances, you should remove your Office 365 license from the computer first. Many users uninstall Office, but forget to deactivate the license, which causes several problems when activating on a new computer. Some of them are:

License limits exceeded.
Unlicensed product.
Too many devices.
Device not listed.
License still active.

This guide explains how to remove Office 365 license from computer step-by-step for both personal users and business (Microsoft 365) accounts with zero data loss. Just stay with us and get what you want!!

Know the Facts Before You Remove Office 365 License from PC

If you’re going to remove Office 365 license from computer, know the following points as well to avoid confusion:

You can reuse the Office 365 license on another computer.
Removing a license does not delete Office 365 data like emails, files, etc., immediately.
In a business account, data remains in Microsoft 365 unless the account is deleted. So, take a full backup before making license changes or account changes.
Microsoft (Office) applications may stay installed after removing the license but provide limited features, restriction creation/editing, or go into read-only mode. You need to uninstall them manually.

Methods to Remove Personal Office 365 License from Computer

If you’re using a personal Office 365 (Home and Family) license, then consider the following methods. Go through each and choose them at your convenience:

Method 1: Remove the license from the Microsoft account

This is the safest and easiest method to remove Office 365 license from computer. You can do it remotely anytime. Here are the steps to follow:

Sign in to the Microsoft 365 account and open Services and Subscription.
Select your Office 365 plan and click Manage.
Go to Devices and select your computer. Tap on Sign out/Deactivate.

The Office 365 license will be removed from the computer.

Method 2. Use MS Application to Remove Office 365 License from PC

If you have access to your system, then follow the steps below to delete license Office 365 effectively:

Open any Microsoft application like Word, Excel or other and tap on File.
Go to Accounts and click on Sign Out.

After performing the above steps, close all Microsoft applications and restart the system. The license will be removed from the PC.

Method 3. Use Control Panel to Remove Office 365 License from PC

You can also remove Office 365 license from computer via the Control Panel. This is also the easiest approach. Follow the steps below:

Open the Control Panel and go to Programs & Features.
Select Microsoft Office and tap on Uninstall.

Once uninstalled, restart the system, and the Office 365 license will be removed from the PC.

Note: For MacOS, open Finder, go to Applications, and tap on Office Apps. Click on Move to Trash and select Empty Trash. Restart the system.

Methods to Remove Office 365 Business License from Computer

If you’re a Microsoft business user and looking to remove Office 365 license, then go through the methods below. Understand each and choose at your convenience:

Method 1. Remove Office 365 License using EAC

You can remove Office 365 business licenses from a user using the Exchange Admin Centre if you are a business owner and IT admin. Carry out the steps below:

Sign in to Microsoft 365 Admin Centre, go to Users, then tap on Active Users.
Select the user account and click License and Apps.
Turn off the License and click Save Changes.

The Office 365 license will be removed successfully.

Method 2. Remove License Office 365 using Powershell

If you have enough expertise with PowerShell commands, then you can also remove Office 365 license via PowerShell. Execute the below command to remove licenses from an existing user account:

Set-MgUserLicense -UserId "<Account>" -RemoveLicenses @("<AccountSkuId1>") -AddLicenses @{}

If you want to remove all licenses from a group of existing licensed users, execute the below commands:

$licensedUsers = Get-MgUser -Filter 'assignedLicenses/$count ne 0' -ConsistencyLevel eventual -CountVariable licensedUserCount -All -Select UserPrincipalName,DisplayName,AssignedLicenses

foreach($user in $licensedUsers)
{
    $licensesToRemove = $user.AssignedLicenses | Select -ExpandProperty SkuId
    $user = Set-MgUserLicense -UserId $user.UserPrincipalName -RemoveLicenses $licensesToRemove -AddLicenses @{} 
}

If you want to remove specific licenses from a list of users in a CSV file, you can do it efficiently.

Note: Always backup Office 365 mailboxes and other data before removing license to fulfil business needs further or prevent data loss.

Why Backup Matters Before Removing Office 365 License?

Removing or assigning an Office 365 license doesn’t instantly delete data; it goes into a 30-day retention period. If no data is recovered during the retention period, Microsoft deletes them permanently. The data deletion may lead to several issues, such as business disruption, strained client relations, etc. Thus, an effective Office 365 backup is necessary.

How does the Kernel Office 365 Backup Solution Help Users?

Kernel Office 365 Backup software allows to backup Microsoft 365, On-premises Exchange & Hosted Exchange mailbox items (emails, contacts, calendars, notes, etc.) to PST, PDF, MSG, EML, HTML, & other file formats. Integrated with advanced features and capabilities, it involves easy-to-follow steps and keeps the original data intact & 100% accurate in the destination.

Winding Up

Now you know various methods to remove Office 365 license from computer. Each method is easy to follow, but using PowerShell to remove Office 365 licenses may bother non-technical users. However, Office 365 is a renowned productivity suite, but users need to remove the Office 365 license under certain circumstances.

Many MVPs and professionals suggest backing up Office 365 data to prevent data loss. The manual process to backup Office 365 is complex, so using a professional Office 365 backup solution will be wise. Since the Kernel Office 365 Backup tool comes with a free trial version, you can use and evaluate its reliability on your own. Don’t let the disaster vanish your Office 365 data, back it up today!!!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1. How to remove office 365 license from computer?

You can remove Office 365 license using Microsoft account wizard, control panel, or you can use any Microsoft app like Word/Excel.

Q2. How to remove license from Office 365 account?

You can remove license from Office 365 using the Exchange Admin Centre and PowerShell commands. However, the user must have an admin role/permission to do it. Besides, using PowerShell can be troublesome for non-technical users.