Uninstall Microsoft Edge on Mac
Sign in to your Microsoft account and check that favorites and saved passwords are synced, or export them, before you remove Edge, because its profile folder is what this guide removes. These steps cover the direct download from Microsoft and the Homebrew cask microsoft-edge; the recorded tests used the Homebrew cask and Microsoft's own disk image.
Back up favorites and passwords first
Open Edge's Settings, confirm you are signed in to the Microsoft account you want to keep syncing, and check that Sync is on for favorites, passwords and extensions. If you are not signed in, use Edge's own export tools for favorites and passwords before you continue. This only protects what is in your profile; it does not cancel a Microsoft 365 subscription or sign you out of that account on other devices.
Quit Edge and remove the app
Finish downloads, quit Edge from its menu, then move Microsoft Edge from Applications to the Trash. Removing the app does not close your Microsoft account or touch a synced profile on another device.
Where Edge keeps its data
| Location | What it holds | What to do |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge |
Every profile: favorites, passwords, history, extensions, signed-in account state | Back it up first; keep it if you are not sure everything synced |
~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.edgemac and ~/Library/Caches/Microsoft Edge |
Disk cache | Safe to remove with the app |
~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.microsoft.edgemac |
Per-site storage cache | Safe to remove with the app |
~/Library/WebKit/com.microsoft.edgemac |
Embedded web view data | Safe to remove with the app |
~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.edgemac.plist |
App preferences | Safe to remove with the app |
~/Library/Saved Application State/com.microsoft.edgemac.savedState |
Window state | Safe to remove with the app |
~/Library/Application Scripts/com.microsoft.edgemac.wdgExtension and ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.edgemac.wdgExtension |
Edge's Notification Center widget extension | Safe to remove with the app once you have quit Edge |
~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/EdgeUpdater |
Edge's own updater payload (separate from Microsoft AutoUpdate) | Keep while any installed Edge channel or Microsoft Copilot needs EdgeUpdater |
These paths come from the Homebrew Edge cask's zap list, which matches what the direct download from Microsoft writes to the same locations. Stable, Beta, Dev and Canary may share EdgeUpdater, and Microsoft’s current policies also cover Copilot. Check all installed consumers before deleting its folder. Microsoft AutoUpdate for Office, Teams or OneDrive is separate and stays untouched. EdgeUpdater policies.
Check the result
Run these read-only commands in Terminal:
pgrep -ilf "Microsoft Edge"
launchctl list | grep -i com.microsoft.edgeupdater
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge"
No output from pgrep means Edge is not running. No output from the launchctl list line means Edge's own updater job is not loaded in your session; a listed com.microsoft.EdgeUpdater line means it still is. The ls command proves only that this profile directory exists, not that favorites or passwords are intact; inspect the actual data or a usable backup. "No such file or directory" concerns that path alone, and a permission or read error leaves the check unresolved.
For freeing space in a profile you are keeping, see Free Up Chrome and Safari Storage on Mac Safely; the same cache layers apply to Edge's Chromium-based profile.
If you installed it with Homebrew
Mole removes a Homebrew-installed Edge with brew uninstall --cask microsoft-edge without zap, so the Homebrew step does not delete the profile. A selectable personal-data row can still go to the Trash if you explicitly select and confirm it in Mole; browser data is excluded from the default app-data option and select-all. Ordinary cask uninstall quits Edge and unloads com.microsoft.EdgeUpdater.wake, which other Edge channels can share, so it can affect their updater too. Keep the shared updater while another product needs it and verify that product’s update check afterward. Homebrew Edge cask.
Running the zap list yourself is a different matter. If you (not Mole) run brew uninstall --cask --zap microsoft-edge, that deletes the whole profile and the widget extension and EdgeUpdater paths in the table above, regardless of any backup you have made through Mole's review screen. Back up first, or leave --zap out:
brew uninstall --cask microsoft-edge
Account and subscription
Removing Edge does not close your Microsoft account, does not sign you out on other devices, and does not affect a Microsoft 365 subscription. If Office, Teams or OneDrive still use that account on this Mac, they are unaffected by removing Edge.
What Mole lists
~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge is listed but not selected. The widget extension's Application Scripts folder is a review row, unchecked with Remove data and settings with apps off; enabling it can preselect eligible app-owned data; its Container folder sits under a path Mole treats as unverified once it has already recognized Edge as a browser, so Mole locks that one row instead of offering a checkbox for it. Microsoft/EdgeUpdater, the MicrosoftSoftwareUpdate registration record, and channel data from Edge Beta, Dev or Canary are not collected by Mole and stay on disk either way. Edge's widgets group UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.edgemac.widgets is handled as browser data: its Group Containers folder is listed but not selected and stayed on disk in the recheck even with every other row ticked, and its Application Scripts folder is listed but not selected.
What this test covered
The recorded uninstall used the Homebrew cask on September 17, 2026, with a development build of Mole. Caches and preferences were removed; the profile folder and the widget extension's Container were left on disk, listed but not selected. On September 26, 2026, Edge 154 from Microsoft's official disk image was installed, opened once and removed with a development build of Mole with every selectable row ticked. Mole's Status page showed Edge as one row of nine processes. The app and eight rows, including a 1 GB code-signing clone in the temporary folder, went to the Trash; the profile folder and the widgets group container stayed on disk, unselected, as designed. That build carried no widget extension, so no wdgExtension rows appeared, and no login item or launch agent appeared. Microsoft account sign-in and Edge Beta, Dev or Canary channels were not tested.