How to uninstall Microsoft AutoUpdate on Mac

If you’ve ever been interrupted mid-work by a Microsoft AutoUpdate popup asking you to update Word, Excel, or some other Office app, you know how distracting it can be. I’ve had the same window pop up in the middle of focused work many times. Whether you’ve already uninstalled all your Microsoft apps or you just want to stop the update reminders for good, this guide walks you through each option, from the simplest to the most thorough.

What is Microsoft AutoUpdate on Mac?

Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) is a background utility that Microsoft installs alongside any of its Mac apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Teams. Its job is to check for updates and notify you (or update automatically) whenever a new version is available.

The problem is that MAU runs independently from the apps themselves. So even if you’ve deleted every single Microsoft app from your Mac, MAU can still be sitting in the background doing its thing, or popping up with update prompts for apps that no longer exist. That’s the main reason people want to get rid of it.

Option 1: Turn Off Auto-Update (Keep MAU but Disable It)

If you still use Microsoft apps but just want to stop the automatic update checks, you can disable the auto-update feature without fully removing MAU. This way, you stay in control of when updates happen.

Open any Microsoft app like Word or Excel, go to the Help menu in the top menu bar, and select Check for Updates. In the Microsoft AutoUpdate window that opens, uncheck the option Automatically keep Microsoft Apps up to date, then close the window.

That said, the MAU window can still show up when you open a Microsoft app. If you want it gone completely, move on to the next option.

Option 2: Fully Uninstall Microsoft AutoUpdate on Mac

This removes the MAU application entirely. After this, Microsoft apps will no longer be able to check for or install updates automatically.

Step 1: Open Finder, then press Command + Shift + G to open the Go to Folder dialog. Paste the following path and click Go.

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Copy

Step 2: Look for a folder named MAU or MAU2.0 (the name depends on the version installed on your Mac). Open that folder.

Step 3: Right-click the Microsoft AutoUpdate app inside that folder and select Move to Trash.

Empty the Trash afterward and you’re done. Microsoft AutoUpdate will no longer appear on your Mac.

Option 3: Remove Microsoft AutoUpdate via Terminal

If you prefer working in Terminal or the folder method didn’t work for you, here’s the command-line approach. Open Terminal (you can find it in Applications > Utilities) and run this command:

sudo rm -rf "/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0"Copy

You’ll be prompted to enter your Mac’s admin password. Type it in and press Enter. The MAU folder will be deleted immediately.

If you want to also remove the MAU launch agents that run in the background, you can run these additional commands:

sudo rm -rf /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.autoupdate*
sudo rm -rf /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.autoupdate*Copy

These clean up the scheduled tasks that tell macOS to run MAU in the background. After running them, restart your Mac to make sure everything takes effect.

What Happens After You Uninstall MAU?

A few things worth knowing before you remove it:

• No more automatic updates: Your Microsoft apps will stay on whatever version they’re currently on. They won’t update themselves anymore.
• You can still update manually: If you ever need a newer version, you can download it directly from microsoft.com or reinstall the app from the Mac App Store if you got it from there.
• MAU may reinstall itself: This is the annoying part. When you update or reinstall any Microsoft app, MAU often comes back along with it. So if you update Office in the future, you may need to remove MAU again.
• Security updates will be missed: Microsoft regularly releases security patches through MAU. If you leave your apps unupdated for a long time, especially Outlook or Teams, you could be missing important fixes.

Should You Remove MAU or Just Disable It?

Here’s a quick way to think about it:

• Remove MAU completely if you’ve uninstalled all Microsoft apps and just want to clean up leftovers, or if you use Microsoft apps from the Mac App Store (which handles updates through the App Store itself, not through MAU).
• Disable auto-update but keep MAU if you still actively use Office apps and just want to control when updates happen rather than having them run automatically.

For most people who still use Word or Excel regularly, disabling auto-update is probably the better middle ground. You keep the option to update manually when you’re ready, without being interrupted at random moments.

Note for Apple Silicon Macs (10/2026)

If you’re on an M1, M2, M3, or M4 Mac, the steps above work the same way as on an Intel Mac. The screenshots in this guide were taken in 2020, but the MAU folder location and the auto-update setting haven’t changed. Office for Mac has had native Apple Silicon builds since late 2020, right after the first M1 Macs launched (see Microsoft’s support page), so the chip doesn’t change how MAU behaves. The main thing to remember is that MAU usually gets reinstalled whenever you install or update a Microsoft app downloaded from Microsoft’s website.

If MAU keeps coming back after you remove it, a cleaner option is to install Word, Excel, and PowerPoint from the Mac App Store instead. According to Microsoft’s documentation, MAU only updates apps downloaded directly from Microsoft, while App Store versions are updated by the App Store. Keep in mind that if you still have other Microsoft apps downloaded from the web, MAU will keep running to update those.

Conclusion

Microsoft AutoUpdate isn’t hard to deal with once you know where it lives. Whether you just want to quiet it down or remove it for good, the steps above cover the most common situations. If you’re still using Office apps, the safest route is to disable auto-update rather than delete MAU entirely so you can still update manually when needed. But if you’ve already moved on from Microsoft apps, go ahead and clean it out.

Got a different version of MAU on your Mac or ran into a step that didn’t work? Drop a comment below and I’ll help you figure it out!