Deleting Annoying Microsoft AutoUpdate from Mac

Looking to get rid of Microsoft AutoUpdate on your Mac? Maybe you’ve said goodbye to Microsoft Office or other Microsoft apps and don’t need their updates popping up anymore. Whatever your reason, it’s totally doable to remove the Microsoft AutoUpdate app from your MacOS.

First things first, if Microsoft AutoUpdate is active, you’ll have to exit the app. If it’s being stubborn, you can force it to quit using the Activity Monitor.

How to Uninstall Microsoft AutoUpdate from MacOS

Ready to banish Microsoft AutoUpdate from your Mac? Here’s how:

1. Find the App: Open Finder, click on the “Go” menu and select “Go To Folder” (shortcut: Command+Shift+G). Then, type in the path to locate the folder, which might be named “MAU” or “MAU2.0”.
2. Trash the App: Inside the folder, find “Microsoft AutoUpdate.app” and drag it to the Trash.
3. Clean the Trash: Empty your Trash as you usually would. Remember, you can also selectively delete this file from the Trash if you don’t want to clear everything.
4. Wrap Up: Close the MAU folder and you’re all set to use your Mac without Microsoft AutoUpdate.

Stopping com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper in MacOS

There’s another sneaky component you might want to get rid of – “com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper”. Here’s how:

1. Locate the File: In Finder, click “Go”, then “Go To Folder” and enter the path to find “com.microsoft.update.agent.plist”. Toss it into the Trash.
2. More Trashing: Go to the next path, find “com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist” and, you guessed it, drag it to the Trash.
3. Final Clean-Up: Empty the Trash to say goodbye to these files for good.

A Word of Caution

If you’re still use Microsoft apps heavily on your Mac, think twice before removing AutoUpdate. Doing so might leave you with outdated Microsoft software, which can be a hassle if you’re a regular user of Office, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Edge, or other Microsoft apps.

Bonus Tip

Also, if you have so much in the trash you kept it for a reason in the Trash bin, although not a good place to keep, you can individually delete the file from the Trash if you’re not ready to empty it completely.

Got more tricks up your sleeve for managing or removing Microsoft AutoUpdate on Mac? Drop your knowledge in the comments below!