How to Completely Uninstall OneDrive From Your Mac

OneDrive on Mac is one of those apps that comes preinstalled or auto-installed on a lot of Macs without anyone asking. It bundles with Microsoft Office, gets pushed via Microsoft 365 work setups, and sometimes appears after a Windows-to-Mac migration. If you don’t actively use it, it’s still running in the background, syncing zero files but consuming RAM and showing up in your menu bar.

There are also two versions: the Mac App Store build and the Standalone build downloaded from microsoft.com. They have different bundle IDs, different storage layouts, and slightly different uninstall paths. Here’s the full removal on macOS Sonoma 14 and Sequoia 15.

Identify which version you have

Open Finder → Applications. Right-click “OneDrive” → Show Package Contents → Contents. Look for _MASReceipt:

• _MASReceipt present → Mac App Store version. Bundle ID com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac.
• No _MASReceipt → Standalone version. Bundle ID com.microsoft.OneDrive.

Or just check the bundle ID directly in Terminal:

mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier /Applications/OneDrive.app

Knowing which version matters because the storage paths differ.

Make sure your files are accessible

OneDrive on Mac uses the File Provider API, mounting your OneDrive at ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-<account>/. Files can be set to “Always keep on this device” (downloaded) or “Online only” (placeholders that download on demand).

After uninstall, online-only files become inaccessible from this Mac. They’re still in the cloud at onedrive.live.com or office.com, but the local placeholders break.

Before uninstalling:

1. Open the OneDrive folder in Finder.
2. Right-click any folders you need offline → “Always keep on this device.”
3. Wait for the downloads to finish.

Or just download what you specifically need to a non-OneDrive folder (Documents, Desktop, etc.).

Sign out and quit

Click the OneDrive cloud icon in the menu bar → Help & Settings (gear) → Settings → Account tab → “Unlink this Mac.” Confirm.

This signs you out and disconnects the sync. Local cache stays for now.

Then quit: gear menu → Quit OneDrive.

In Activity Monitor, search “OneDrive” — kill anything still running.

Drag OneDrive to the Trash

Open Finder → Applications. Drag OneDrive to the Trash.

If you have multiple OneDrive accounts (personal + work, or multiple work tenants), they share one app — uninstalling removes all of them.

Where Standalone OneDrive stores data

For the Standalone version (com.microsoft.OneDrive):

• ~/Library/Application Support/OneDrive/ — sync database, account info, file metadata
• ~/Library/Application Support/com.microsoft.OneDrive.NativeFinderIntegration/ — Finder extension data
• ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.OneDrive/ — image cache, search cache
• ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.OneDrive.NativeFinderIntegration/ — Finder extension cache
• ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite/ — shared between OneDrive components
• ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OfficeOneDriveSyncIntegration/ — Office integration
• ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac.FileProvider/ — File Provider extension container
• ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.OneDrive.FinderSync/ — Finder sync container
• ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.OneDrive.plist — preferences
• ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.microsoft.OneDrive.savedState/ — window state
• ~/Library/Cookies/com.microsoft.OneDrive.binarycookies — cookies
• ~/Library/Logs/OneDrive/ — diagnostic logs (often hundreds of MB)
• ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-<account>/ — File Provider mount point

Where App Store OneDrive stores data

For the App Store version (com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac):

• ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac/ — main sandbox container; holds most data
• ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac.FileProvider/ — File Provider container
• ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac.FinderSync/ — Finder sync container
• ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveSyncClientSuite/ — shared
• ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac.plist — preferences
• ~/Library/Application Support/OneDrive/ — also used by App Store version

The App Store version stores most data inside Containers because of sandboxing. The Standalone version is more spread out across Application Support and Caches.

Open Finder, Shift+Cmd+G, paste each path that exists, drag what’s there to the Trash.

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File Provider extension cleanup

OneDrive registers a File Provider extension that needs explicit cleanup.

1. System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions.
2. Click File Provider extensions.
3. Find OneDrive entries (one per signed-in account).
4. Toggle each off, or remove the registration.

Verify from Terminal:

pluginkit -m | grep -i onedrive

Anything still showing means the registration didn’t clear. Reboot to fully unregister.

The CloudStorage mount point

After uninstall, clean up the empty/broken mount points:

rm -rf ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-*

If the directories refuse to delete because of “in use,” reboot first.

Microsoft AutoUpdate

OneDrive uses Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU), which is shared with Office, Teams, and other Microsoft apps. Don’t remove MAU unless you’re removing all Microsoft software.

Check what MAU is managing:

ls /Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/

If OneDrive is the last Microsoft app you have, you can remove MAU:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0
sudo rm -rf "/Library/Application Support/Microsoft AutoUpdate"

Otherwise, leave it alone.

Login items and background

1. System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions.
2. Remove OneDrive from “Open at Login” and “Allow in the Background.”

OneDrive is one of the more aggressive apps about adding itself back to login items. After uninstall, the entry should clear, but if it lingers, manually remove it.

Finder extension

OneDrive’s Finder extension adds sync status badges to your files (green checkmarks, cloud icons, etc.). After uninstall:

1. System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions.
2. Click Extensions → Finder.
3. If “OneDrive Finder Integration” is listed, uncheck it.

The entry typically clears automatically after a reboot.

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Keychain cleanup

OneDrive stores OAuth refresh tokens, ADAL tokens for work accounts, and a Microsoft Identity universal storage entry in the Keychain.

1. Open Keychain Access.
2. Search “OneDrive” and “MicrosoftOneDrive.”
3. Delete matching entries.

If you also use Outlook, Teams, or other Microsoft 365 apps, do NOT delete the shared com.microsoft.adalcache and com.microsoft.identity.universalstorage entries — those are used by all Microsoft apps. Sign out from inside the OneDrive app (which we did above) handles the OneDrive-specific token cleanup.

Empty the Trash and reboot

Empty the Trash. Reboot. The reboot fully unloads the File Provider extension and clears any remaining menu bar artifacts.

After reboot, verify the menu bar icon is gone, the OneDrive folder is no longer in the Finder sidebar, and pluginkit -m | grep -i onedrive returns nothing.

Manual vs. Sweep

OneDrive is genuinely complex to uninstall manually because of:

1. Two distinct versions (Standalone vs. App Store) with different storage layouts
2. Multiple Group Containers shared with other Microsoft apps
3. File Provider extension that needs separate cleanup
4. Finder extension registration
5. CloudStorage mount points
6. Shared MAU framework you usually don’t want to remove

Sweep’s uninstaller handles both bundle IDs, the per-version Containers and Group Containers, the Finder extension data, and the prefs/caches. It carefully avoids the shared Office Group Container if other Microsoft apps are still installed. The File Provider settings and CloudStorage cleanup are still manual either way.

Reinstalling

If you ever come back, download from microsoft.com/onedrive (Standalone) or get it via the Mac App Store. The fresh install creates clean storage, signs you back in, and remounts your OneDrive. The old cache isn’t useful — a clean install is faster long-term.

That’s OneDrive completely removed. The menu bar is one icon shorter, the Finder sidebar is one source lighter, and Microsoft is one app farther from your ~/Library.