Microsoft Office Apps allow me to "view only" on MacBook Pro with M1 chip but seem to load correctly on older macs?

Question

Microsoft Office Apps allow me to "view only" on MacBook Pro with M1 chip but seem to load correctly on older macs?

Hi all,

I'm having a very frustrating battle with my new MacBook Pro (M1, 2020 running Big Sur 11.0.1). I have a Microsoft office subscription that allows me to download the office suite of apps. I am able to do this but when I open the apps and log in, the apps allow me to 'view only' making them completely useless for any kind of functional work value.

After many, many conversations with microsoft the problem is still unresolved. I have tried the following:

Cleared Cache
Reinstalled all applications
Checked all settings in admin panel
Created a new account
Check all licensing is up to date and valid for use on my mac
Used my license on another mac to load software (it worked perfectly fine on this computer. Note that it was a 2017 iMac running Catalina and does not have the M1 chip)

This is the error I receive in all MS applications:

Microsoft seem completely baffled. After getting in touch with Apple support via chat, they told me to talk with Microsoft rather than look into a potential compatibility issue. I'm going around in circles which is driving me absolutely bananas. There's only so much of 'Pages' and 'Numbers' I can take before I completely loose my mind.

Is anyone else having the same issue? Better still, has anyone had this issue and fixed it?

Posted on Jun 15, 2021 4:58 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Ness-Kel-mellow Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 17, 2021 2:58 AM in response to Ness-Kel-mellow

Hoorah!!!

After more investigating and chats with Microsoft the problem has been solved!

Turns out there was a hidden expired license stored on my device that has been causing this error. Even if your cache is erased and Microsoft files removed from Library and you *think* you have logged out of said expired license and log back in using a different valid license, the previous expired license could still be hanging around causing trouble. It needs to be completely removed using Microsoft's license removal tool. Who knew!?

For anyone having this extremely annoying problem, you can click here to find this tool

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-to-remove-office-license-files-on-a-mac-b032c0f6-a431-4dad-83a9-6b727c03b193?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

I really hope this thread helps someone else before they loose their mind.

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Answer 2

Jun 15, 2021 4:40 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi TT2,

I have the Microsoft 365 Apps license. I only use the desktop apps. I don't need onedrive or teams so this is perfect for me. The consultant I spoke to last night said this plan is the best for me and should be working.

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