To correctly and completely remove OneDrive on your Mac, you need to find and remove all of its support files as well. You can use App Cleaner & Uninstaller to completely uninstall OneDrive on Mac with two clicks or do this task manually by finding the OneDrive associated files in the Library folder. Read this step-by-step guide to learn two ways how to uninstall OneDrive from Mac.
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Video removal guide: A quick way to get rid of OneDrive on Mac
What is OneDrive and does it use space on a Mac hard drive?
OneOneDrive is one of popular free online service from Microsoft that allows you to store files from your computer’s hard drive in cloud-based storage. It is considered to store, synchronize and share all kinds of files with other users and devices through the Internet in a convenient way. If you need more storage space on your Mac or just want to optimize your disk usage, it’s a good idea to visit onedrive.com and see how much space it can help you save on your Mac.
All cloud storage, including OneDrive, sync the content and by default stores it on your Mac. However, OneDrive provides an option Files On-Demand. This option allows you to view all files in Finder but store them online. As a result, online-only files in OneDrive will not take up your hard drive’s space. With this option, you can add files to OneDrive cloud storage from any device, and they will appear in Finder as online-only files. When you’re connected to the Internet, you can open and view online-only files like any other file on your Mac.
You can turn on and turn off the Files On-Demand option in the OneDrive preferences.
Should I uninstall Microsoft OneDrive from my Mac?
Any application takes up space on a Mac. By default, OneDrive synchronizes files and stores them on a Mac’s hard drive. You can use the Files on-Demand feature in OneDrive to store files online only.
If you have a lack of free space on your Mac, you should clean up your disk from all unneeded applications, files and junk. If you don’t use OneDrive and don’t need files stored in OneDrive to regularly work with them, you can uninstall the OneDrive desktop application and free up space on your disk. Note, when you uninstall OneDrive, files in the cloud storage will not be removed. However, don’t forget to first disconnect your account.
Below, we will explain ways to completely uninstall OneDrive on Mac.
How to remove OneDrive from Mac without deleting my files
By default, when you uninstall the OneDrive desktop application from your Mac, it doesn’t remove the OneDrive folder in Finder. However, before you uninstall OneDrive, please quit OneDrive.
Here is how to disconnect OneDrive on Mac:
- Click on the OneDrive icon in the menu bar.
- Click on Settings & Help.
- Select Quit OneDrive and confirm the action.
How to uninstall OneDrive entirely with a few clicks
To completely and easily uninstall OneDrive on your Mac, use a free application App Cleaner & Uninstaller. This uninstaller automatically finds all related files of each application and helps to entirely get rid of unused applications on a Mac.
Steps on how to get rid of Microsoft OneDrive using App Cleaner & Uninstaller:
- Quit all processes of OneDrive.
- Download and launch the app uninstaller.
- Select OneDrive and click the Uninstall button.
- Review the OneDrive files and confirm the removal.
You can enable the Expert mode to preview all OneDrive hidden files before removal.
If you have already uninstalled OneDrive by simply dragging it to the Trash, you should examine your Mac for any remaining files associated with it. To do this, navigate to the section labeled Remaining files, where you will discover any leftover files of previously uninstalled applications on your Mac.
Note, App Cleaner & Uninstaller provides Free and Pro modes. You can uninstall the application completely with both of them.
However, the Pro mode allows you to do it in the quickest way possible. In one of our previous articles, you can read more about the difference between Free and Pro versions of the uninstaller.
How to manually delete OneDrive on Mac
Wrong but described on official Microsoft help page:
“Just drag the OneDrive app to the Trash.”
Remember, that when you drag applications to the Trash, their support files remain on your Mac and take up your valuable disk space. It is important to find and remove all the hidden service files of the application for a complete uninstallation. We will explain how to manually find all support files of OneDrive on Mac.
Steps to manually remove OneDrive from Mac:
- Quit OneDrive.
For this, go to the menu bar → click OneDrive icon→ Help & Settings → select Quit OneDrive → confirm the action - Verify that OneDrive processes are not running.
Make sure there are no running background processes related to OneDrive. For this, open a default Apple applications Activity Monitor, if you see any processes connected to OneDrive, select them and click to close them. - Remove OneDrive from the Applications folder.
- Find and remove OneDrive’s service files.
OneDrive support files are stored in the system Library folder. To get to the Library, open Finder and press the Command+Shift+G key combination. Type ~/Library in the search field and press Enter.
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Check the folders below for all files associated with OneDrive:
- ~/Library/Application Support/
- ~/Library/Containers/
- ~/Library/Caches/
- ~/Library/Preferences/
- ~/Library/Cookies/
- ~/Library/Logs/
- ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
- ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Personal
- Select OneDrive service files and drag them to the Trash.
Please note, some applications can scatter their support files across numerous subfolders in Finder. You can use the free tool from Nektony called Funter to find hidden files on a Mac by a file name. In the screenshot below, we showed all of the files associated with OneDrive we discovered with Funter.
