Repair your Office installation

Applies To
Office 2016 Office 2013 Office 365 Small Business Microsoft 365 admin

If you're running a repair on Microsoft 365 and getting an error, try the following to fix the problem. We've outlined the most common solution first, so try them in order.

Repair Office from the Control Panel

The steps to access the repair tool vary depending on your operating system. Choose your operating system from the options below.

Select your operating system

Windows 10 and 11

  1. Right-click the Start button Windows Start button in Windows 8 and Windows 10  and in Windows 11 select Installed apps, or in Windows 10 select Apps and Features on the pop-up menu.

  2. Select the Microsoft Office product you want to repair and select Modify. If you don't have any options, select the three dots on the side.

    Note

    This will repair the entire Office suite even if it's just one application you want to repair such as Word or Excel. If you have a standalone app installed, then search for that application by name.

  3. In the How would you like to repair your Office Programs window, select Online Repair > Repair to make sure everything gets fixed. (The faster Quick Repair option is also available, but it only detects and then replaces corrupted files.)

  4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the repair.

Uninstall and then reinstall Office

If running Repair didn't help, use this easy fix tool to completely uninstall Microsoft 365 and then reinstall it.

Use the uninstall troubleshooter to uninstall Microsoft 365, Office 2021, Office 2019, or Office 2016 from your Windows PC.

  1. Select the button below to start the uninstall troubleshooter.

    Uninstall

  2. Click Open if you get a pop-up window indicating This site is trying to open Get Help.

  3. Follow the prompts on the remaining screens and when prompted, restart your computer.

  4. Select the steps for the version of Office you want to install or reinstall.
    Microsoft 365 | Office 2024 | Office 2021 | Office 2019 | Office 2016

Important

  • The uninstall troubleshooter currently can't uninstall Office 2024.
  • Run the troubleshooter on the same Windows PC with the Microsoft 365 or Office product you want to uninstall.
  • You need to be on Windows 10 or higher to run the troubleshooter.

Tip

If the Microsoft 365 uninstall troubleshooter doesn't completely uninstall Microsoft 365 or Office from your PC, you can try to manually uninstall Office.