Remove OneDrive from Mac without deleting cloud files

Check your cloud files, unlink this Mac, and then remove OneDrive. A sync folder is not a cache: deleting its contents while it is still syncing can delete the cloud copies too. Before any step below, make sure every file you need is either visible on OneDrive on the web or copied outside the sync folder. This guide covers the standalone OneDrive package, which is also what the Homebrew cask onedrive installs; the separate Mac App Store edition also has a recorded removal test, described below.

Verify usable copies first

Open OneDrive on the web and check recent important files. For offline copies you want to keep, download their complete contents while OneDrive still works, then copy them outside the sync folder and open those copies to verify them.

A Files On-Demand placeholder is not a backup. Moving a file outside a still-synced folder is not the same as copying it. Check personal, work, and school accounts separately.

  1. Click the OneDrive cloud in the menu bar, open Help & Settings, and select Preferences.
  2. Open Account and choose Unlink this Mac. Check which account you are unlinking before confirming.
  3. Quit OneDrive, then move it from Finder’s Applications folder to Trash.
  4. Open OneDrive on the web again and verify that important files are still present and open correctly.

This order follows Microsoft’s disable and uninstall instructions. Unlinking and removing the app do not require deleting cloud files.

Free local space without uninstalling

While OneDrive is still installed and linked, Free up space and Delete in Finder’s OneDrive menu do different jobs. For files already synced and available in the cloud, Free up space removes downloaded local contents while keeping cloud files. Delete can remove cloud files too while synchronization is active. Use Free up space before unlinking if this is your goal; see Microsoft’s Files On-Demand guide.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Mole skips --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked, and still cleans the leftovers you selected.

The onedrive cask installs Microsoft’s package, and its uninstall step also unloads the package’s updater jobs (com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdater, com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdaterDaemon, com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdaterDaemon, com.microsoft.SyncReporter) and deletes files recorded by the com.microsoft.OneDrive package receipt before forgetting it. This ordinary package removal runs with or without --zap. Its zap list goes further: ~/Library/Application Support/OneDrive, the OneDrive containers, and Group Containers whose names end in .OneDriveStandaloneSuite, .OneDriveSyncClientSuite and .OfficeOneDriveSyncIntegration. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap onedrive yourself removes them whatever you ticked in Mole.

The zap list does not touch your sync folder, but it removes the client’s own state. If you still use Microsoft Office or another OneDrive account on this Mac, uninstall without the zap step:

brew uninstall --cask onedrive

Review remaining folders and login items

Keep the sync directory until you know it contains no unique local files. On current macOS, file-provider sync folders such as OneDrive’s live under ~/Library/CloudStorage, and Finder also shows them in the sidebar. Do not manually delete Apple’s FileProvider databases or Microsoft-wide containers that may serve Office or other installed apps.

If OneDrive still opens at login, review its entry in System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions. In the recorded test, the com.microsoft.OneDriveLauncher entry was still listed after the app had gone to the Trash. A historical system entry is not proof the app is running. Do not edit system databases just to remove a displayed record. Follow your organization’s requirements on managed devices.

For the fuller explanation of local and cloud data, read Uninstall OneDrive without losing cloud files.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -il onedrive
ls ~/Library/CloudStorage
launchctl list | grep -i onedrive
pkgutil --pkgs | grep -i onedrive
  • No output from pgrep means no OneDrive process is running. A listed process, such as the sync service or a Finder extension, means OneDrive has not fully quit; quit it before touching any folder.
  • ls ~/Library/CloudStorage shows the sync folders still on this Mac. A surviving OneDrive folder is expected: it holds your local copies, and you decide what to do with it after checking the web copy.
  • No output from launchctl list means no OneDrive job is loaded in your session. A listed updater job means a package-installed component is still active.
  • A com.microsoft.OneDrive line from pkgutil means the package receipt remains. It is a record, not a running program, and it does not affect your files.

If files still occupy space after unlinking

Check whether a file is in the former OneDrive sync folder, the independent backup you made, or both. Duplicate disk use is not automatically an app remnant. Verify the cloud copy on the web and open your independent backup before deciding which local copies to keep or move to the Trash. Free up space requires the installed, linked OneDrive client, so it is not a follow-up step after uninstalling.

When another OneDrive account or Office app remains in use, do not remove shared Microsoft containers or login items solely based on this account's removal.

What Mole lists

For OneDrive installed from Microsoft’s package:

  • The sync folder under ~/Library/CloudStorage is not listed; Mole does not scan that location when uninstalling.
  • ~/Library/Application Support/OneDrive starts unchecked with Remove data and settings with apps off. Turning it on can preselect eligible app-owned data; verify the web files and independent copies, then review this row before removal.
  • Caches, preferences, web data and the containers filed under com.microsoft.OneDrive are selected by default.
  • Login items and the system’s background-item records are not edited; turn them off in System Settings.

Mole’s associated-file review does not replace checking cloud backups.

What this test covered

On September 19, 2026, the OneDrive app was copied out of Microsoft’s official package and installed without running the full installer, then uninstalled with a Preview build of Mole 1.15. OneDrive registered its file-provider extension and the com.microsoft.OneDriveLauncher login item; after removal, that login item was still listed, pointing at the app in the Trash, and a few container and Group Container items could not be moved to the Trash. Because the installer did not run, the updater jobs and package receipt were not tested. Signed-in synchronization was not tested, and this record does not establish coverage of the Mac App Store version, management policies, or every sync state.

On October 4, 2026, OneDrive 26.168.0830 with bundle ID com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac was removed again. The app, its own container and the FinderSync and FileProvider extension containers and scripts went to the Trash, along with its user-level FileProvider data. Microsoft and OneDrive shared groups and their paired scripts stayed protected or were retained when exclusive ownership could not be confirmed. Signed-in synchronization and cloud recovery were not tested.