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General discussion

How do I uninstall JUST Outlook + Emails from Office 2010?

Mar 21, 2011 6:58AM PDT

Hi - I've got MS Office Pro Plus 2010 installed. I use Thunderbird, so I want to remove just Outlook and all it's emails, to claw back some space on my laptop. But if I go into the Control Panel and Program Uninstall, it gives me a window that asks me to confirm whether I want to uninstall Office - not the choice to selectively remove Outlook. I've clicked "Yes" hoping that it will allow me to remove individual programs, but it simply starts the removal, so I've cancelled.

So - 2 questions I was hoping someone could help me with:
1) Is there a way to just remove Outlook?
2) Is there anything I need to do to ensure that the associated emails are also removed. I've removed other apps where the data remains, taking up lots of space.

Thanks,

Gus

Discussion is locked

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Re: uniatalling Outlook
Mar 21, 2011 7:08AM PDT

In older versions of Office uninstalling components was simply a question of running the setup from the installation cd and unchecking what you wanted to remove. I never tried with Office 2010.
Anyway, the program is small (so not important to remove), the data can be a lot. Just find your .pst-file and delete it. That's 95% of all data. Google OUTLOOK 2010 FILE LOCATIONS to find about the other 5%.

Kees

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That helps a bit
Mar 21, 2011 8:59AM PDT

Thanks Kees. Will do that, but really hope there's a way to find out how to remove the app itself. As I share the computer with someone who isn't very tech-literate, I know it'll be a matter of time before the application is launched and it'll then load up all my emails from the server! Thanks. Will remove the pst, though.

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Hmmm. ost file
Mar 21, 2011 11:01AM PDT

I've just looked at the location for the .pst (C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook) and the file isnt' actually very large: only 4mb. There's a much larger file -- close to 500mb -- which is an ".ost" file. This is shown as an Outlook data file.

What are the implications of removing that?

Cheers,

Gus

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That's Outlooks offline folder.
Mar 21, 2011 6:01PM PDT

If you delete that, you'll lose the contents (mostly mail). In fact, you can delete the whole folder if you uninstall Outloook. The uninstall won't do it for you.

Did you try uninstalling from the CD/DVD? It should work. If not, do it the dirty way. Rename Outlook.exe to any other name. It can't be run then.

Kees

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Uninstall Outlook 2010
Jun 5, 2011 3:21PM PDT

Hi,

Programs & Features > Highlight MS Office .....

At the top of the window you will see Uninstall Change ....

Click on Change.....Add or Remove Features > Continue ......

Click on the down arrow on Outlook > click on not available > Continue .....

Follow any screen instructions through.

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reply to original post?
Aug 4, 2011 1:55AM PDT

removing a .ost isn't a big deal if you're using exchange or an IMAP account because the information will resync from the server.

your .pst is your archive of your outlook mailbox, and as a general best practice I wouldn't remove it if you plan on using that mailbox anymore.