Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Microsoft Office includes several programs, including Word, Excel and Outlook. Uninstalling only one of them is fairly easy using Office Setup.
I have a new PC with Vista on it. I have installed MS Office 2003. I do not want to use Outlook. I'd rather use Windows mail which came on the PC. How do I uninstall just the Outlook program? When I go to add/remove programs I have to delete the whole MS Office edition.
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Actually it is a tad confusing, I agree. We tend to think of Outlook as a standalone program, and as such would expect to find it listed individually in Add/Remove.
The problem is, from Office Setup's point of view, it's not a program.
It's a feature.
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I'll be mixing Office 2007 and Office 2003 here, but the concepts apply to both.
The short version is that Outlook is considered a "feature" of the larger Microsoft Office package. That means that in order to uninstall it, we'll Change the configuration of Office.
In Vista, that means in Control Panel, Programs and Features, we locate and right click on Microsoft Office's entry:
Note that one of the options is to Change the installation. Click on that.
Microsoft Office setup will run, and offer you this choice:
Make sure that Add or Remove Features is selected, and press Next:
At this point you'll see all the major components (or "features") of Microsoft Office listed, with checkboxes indicating which are currently installed. To remove one, simply clear its checkbox, and press Next. That should remove that component.
I'll also leave you with this thought: consider not uninstalling it at all. Outlook in particular is benign - it doesn't do anything except take up some disk space unless you actually use it. In the grand scheme of things, it might be simpler to just let sleeping programs ... er, features ... lie.
Article C3701 - April 12, 2009 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
August 13, 2012 1:18 PM
I have a 2002 version of Office XP and I put outlook.com in my address bar to check out the pros and cons and it automatically before I even had a chance to check it out. It is terrible. I tried to remove it following your instructions but when I open Office and click change, it will still not let me remove Outlook.
Help
October 22, 2012 11:12 AM
SO helpful!!! Thank-you!!
November 22, 2012 3:08 PM
i want my hotmail back NOW.....WHAT DO I DO NOW..i was sending a email...outlook express STOLE my choice of email provider...HELP..doc
February 8, 2013 7:45 AM
am asenior used to the old system,lines spaces,toolbars.want to change back very badly.help accepted from all.ken
March 12, 2013 11:14 AM
Love the visual aids for folks like me!
Thank you so much.
It's been a year on this "new" computer dealing with Outlook's insistence I use it, and not being able to get rid of it due to not understanding it being a "change" versus software. I was so afraid of deleting the whole package.
You are awesome! :>)