Every time I want to use any of the Microsoft 365 products, I have to go through a verification process. It is infuriatingly slow and often the application (PP in this instance) won't respond. I've seen the tech solutions (create a new local user, etc.) but if we can put a machine on Mars you'd think we could solve this problem. My question: What can I do to ensure that I don't waste an hour trying to open PP?
iMac 27″, macOS 11.2
If you did not download the Microsoft 365 applications from the Mac App Store, then they will appear to macOS as third-party developer applications, and each will need to be manually verified once.
You do this by selecting each Microsoft application icon in the /Applications folder, right-clicking on it, and selecting Open. A verification progress bar will appear, followed most likely by a dialog informing you that it is a third-party application not from the Mac App Store. You then select Open on that dialog. The application will launch, and should not reissue the verification challenge the next time that you use it.
If you did not download the Microsoft 365 applications from the Mac App Store, then they will appear to macOS as third-party developer applications, and each will need to be manually verified once.
You do this by selecting each Microsoft application icon in the /Applications folder, right-clicking on it, and selecting Open. A verification progress bar will appear, followed most likely by a dialog informing you that it is a third-party application not from the Mac App Store. You then select Open on that dialog. The application will launch, and should not reissue the verification challenge the next time that you use it.
It sounds like your hard drive is running very slow. That is a common complain from iMac owners. I have started recommending that people get an external, Thunderbolt 3 SSD and start using that as a boot drive instead.
But the problem is that Microsoft's auto-updater will periodically update these apps and they will need to be verified again. If you don't use Office version often, you could easily that that verification dialog every time you launch.
Just to add, Thunderbolt 3 requires a 2017 or later iMac.
Microsoft 365 verification frustration
