Dear Lifehacker, I have Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 installed on my PC but I have found that I’m not using anything more than Word and Excel. I’m wondering if there is a way to uninstall the applications I’m not using (Powerpoint, Access, OneNote and so on) without completely uninstalling the lot and doing a fresh install? Thanks, Office Clutter
Dear Office Clutter,
Fortunately, this is an easy problem to fix. While Office 2010 does have an all-in-one installer, you can remove individual apps without having to dump everything else. First, access the Uninstall dialogue (type ‘Uninstall’ in the Windows 7 search bar, or go to Control Panel –> Programs and Features).
Select the Microsoft Office 2010 entry, and then click on the Change button in the top bar (rather than uninstall, which is the default if you double-click the link). Choose the option to ‘Add or Remove Features’, and click Continue. You’ll be given a list of all Office applications. Expand out the tabs for options you don’t want, and select ‘Not available’. Click Continue and the apps will be removed (which can be a slow process, and might require a reboot.)
If you ever want to add those apps back, you should also be able to do so via the same process, this time re-selecting the apps that aren’t available. (You may need your install media handy for this.)
That said, if you’re on a workplace PC and don’t have administrator rights, you might find that you don’t have access to the uninstall options within Control Panel in the first place. That’s an annoyance you won’t necessarily be able to solve, but it doesn’t mean you have to run the apps; you just have to put up with wasted disk space if you’ve got a local installation.
Cheers
Lifehacker
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