You Installed Grammarly to Write Better, Now It Won’t Let Go
You remember the day you installed Grammarly. Maybe it was a recommendation from a colleague, a pop-up ad that promised to polish your emails, or a desperate attempt to catch those pesky typos before hitting send. For a while, the little green icon in your menu bar was a welcome sight, a digital proofreader always on duty.
But now, things have changed. Perhaps you’ve switched to a different writing assistant like LanguageTool or Hemingway Editor. Maybe you found the constant underlines distracting, or you’re concerned about privacy and prefer your documents not be processed by an external service. You might even be preparing your Mac for a clean sale or transfer.
You try the obvious first. You drag the Grammarly app icon from your Applications folder to the Trash. A satisfying *whoosh* sound plays. You empty the Trash, feeling accomplished. You restart your Mac, ready for a Grammarly-free existence.
Then you open Safari, or Chrome, or Microsoft Word. A familiar green ‘G’ icon is still there in your menu bar. Grammarly still pops up in your browser, correcting text you type into Gmail. The app is gone, but its influence remains. It feels like a digital ghost, haunting your workflows.
This is a common frustration. Grammarly, like many modern productivity tools, installs more than just a single application file. It adds helper programs, browser extensions, and system components that run in the background. Removing it completely requires a few more steps than a simple drag-and-drop.
Don’t worry. The process is straightforward, reversible, and won’t harm your Mac. Let’s walk through the definitive, step-by-step guide to scrubbing every trace of Grammarly from your system.
Why a Simple Drag to Trash Isn’t Enough
To understand how to remove Grammarly fully, it helps to know what it installs. When you run the Grammarly installer, it places several components across your Mac’s file system.
The main application lives in your Applications folder, which is what you see and delete. However, Grammarly also installs a background agent or “helper” application. This is a small program that runs automatically when you start your Mac. Its job is to ensure the Grammarly service is always available, especially for desktop apps like Microsoft Word or Apple Mail.
Most importantly, Grammarly installs extensions directly into your web browsers. These are separate pieces of software that integrate with Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and others. They operate independently of the main Mac application. Deleting the app does nothing to these browser add-ons.
There may also be support files, caches, and preference files (called .plist files) stored in your user library folder. These are harmless leftovers, but for a truly clean removal, we can address them too.
The Core Removal Process: A Three-Pronged Attack
To successfully remove Grammarly, you need to tackle it from three angles: the main application, its background services, and its browser extensions. Follow these steps in order.
Step 1: Quit Grammarly Completely
Before you delete anything, you need to make sure Grammarly isn’t running. An active process can lock files, preventing you from moving them to the Trash.
Look at the top-right of your screen, in your menu bar. If you see the Grammarly icon (a green ‘G’ or a square icon), click on it. In the dropdown menu that appears, look for an option that says “Quit Grammarly” or “Exit.” Select it.
You can also use the Force Quit window. Press Command + Option + Escape on your keyboard simultaneously. This opens the “Force Quit Applications” window. Look for “Grammarly” in the list. If it’s there, click on it to select it, then click the “Force Quit” button. This ensures all Grammarly processes are stopped.
Step 2: Uninstall the Main Application and Its Helper
Now, let’s remove the core software. Open a new Finder window. In the sidebar, click on “Applications.” Scroll through the list until you find the Grammarly app. It might be named simply “Grammarly.”
Click and drag the Grammarly icon to the Trash icon in your Dock. Alternatively, you can right-click (or Control-click) on the Grammarly icon and select “Move to Trash” from the context menu.
This removes the primary application. However, the background helper is still installed. To remove it, you need to navigate to a hidden library folder.
Open a new Finder window. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, click “Go.” While holding down the “Option” key on your keyboard, you will see the “Library” folder appear in the dropdown menu. Click on it.
Inside the Library folder, look for a folder named “LaunchAgents.” Open it. Look for any files with “grammarly” in the name. A common file is something like “com.grammarly.agent.plist.” Drag any Grammarly-related .plist files from this LaunchAgents folder to the Trash.
Next, go back to the main Library folder (you can press Command + Up Arrow). Look for a folder named “Application Support.” Open it. See if there is a folder named “Grammarly” or “Grammarly LLC.” If it exists, drag that entire folder to the Trash.
Finally, go back to the Library folder one more time and open the “Preferences” folder. Look for files starting with “com.grammarly…” – for example, “com.grammarly.desktop.plist.” Drag these to the Trash as well.
Step 3: Remove Grammarly From Your Web Browsers
This is the step most people miss. Even after completing Step 2, Grammarly will still work in your web browser because the extension is separate. You must remove it from each browser you use.
Removing Grammarly from Safari
Open Safari. From the Safari menu in the top-left, choose “Settings…” (or “Preferences…” on older versions). Click on the “Extensions” tab. You will see a list of all installed extensions. Find “Grammarly” in the list. Click on it, then click the “Uninstall” button. Confirm if prompted.
Removing Grammarly from Google Chrome
Open Google Chrome. Click the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner. Hover over “More tools,” then select “Extensions.” This opens your extensions management page. Find the Grammarly extension. Click the “Remove” button below it. A confirmation dialog will appear; click “Remove” again.
Removing Grammarly from Mozilla Firefox
Open Firefox. Click the menu button (three horizontal lines) in the top-right. Select “Add-ons and themes.” In the left sidebar, click “Extensions.” Locate the Grammarly extension. Click the three-dot menu next to it, then select “Remove.” Confirm the removal.
If you use other browsers like Microsoft Edge, Brave, or Opera, the process is nearly identical. Look for the browser’s extensions or add-ons management page, usually found in the main menu.
Step 4: The Final Cleanup and Verification
You’ve removed the app, its helpers, and its browser extensions. Now, let’s do a final sweep and make sure everything is gone.
First, empty your Trash. Right-click on the Trash icon in your Dock and select “Empty Trash.” This permanently deletes all the files you’ve moved there.
Next, restart your Mac. This is a crucial step. Restarting clears any cached processes from memory and allows the system to fully register that the Grammarly launch agents are gone.
After your Mac boots up, open a few applications where Grammarly used to appear. Open Safari or Chrome and go to Gmail or Google Docs. Type a few sentences. You should no longer see the green Grammarly underlines or the icon in your browser’s toolbar.
Open Microsoft Word or Apple Mail if you used Grammarly there. The add-in should be absent. Check your menu bar. The Grammarly icon should be completely gone.
What If Grammarly Still Won’t Go Away?
In rare cases, especially with older installations or if there was a conflict, a component might persist. If you’ve followed all steps and Grammarly (or its icon) reappears, here are some troubleshooting steps.
First, check for any other Grammarly-related applications. Go back to your Applications folder and look for anything with “Grammarly” in the name that you might have missed, like “Grammarly Desktop” or “Grammarly for Microsoft Office.” Remove them as well.
Use Spotlight Search (Command + Spacebar) and type “Grammarly.” See if any related files appear in the search results outside of the Applications folder. If they do, note their location and move them to the Trash.
For a more thorough, automated clean-up, you can use a dedicated uninstaller app. Tools like AppCleaner (free) or CleanMyMac X (paid) are designed for this. They scan your system for all files related to an application when you drag the main app into them. They present a list of associated files—caches, preferences, helpers—and let you delete them all at once. This is a safe and effective method if you’re uncomfortable manually digging through Library folders.
Important Privacy Consideration
Since Grammarly processes your text, you might be wondering about your data. According to Grammarly’s privacy policy, when you uninstall the application and extensions, it stops collecting new data from your device. However, data already transmitted to their servers is governed by their retention policies. For complete peace of mind, you can also log into your Grammarly account on their website, go to account settings, and review or delete your data history there.
Your Mac is Now Grammarly-Free. What’s Next?
With Grammarly fully removed, you have a clean slate. Your system will have a tiny bit more free memory and storage without the background service running. More importantly, you have control over your writing environment.
If you removed Grammarly to switch to another tool, now is the time to install your preferred alternative. Whether it’s a privacy-focused local tool, a different AI writing assistant, or the built-in spelling and grammar checkers in macOS and your applications, you can set things up exactly how you want.
If you removed it for a Mac cleanup before selling or giving it away, you should perform a full factory reset to wipe all your personal data. This process, accessible through macOS Recovery (restart and hold Command + R), erases the entire disk and reinstalls a fresh copy of macOS, guaranteeing no trace of any of your software or files remains.
For most users, simply following the steps outlined here—quitting the app, deleting it and its helper files, and meticulously removing the browser extensions—will solve the problem completely. The digital ghost is banished. Your writing space is yours again, ready to be filled with words, checked only by the tools you consciously choose to invite in.
