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I have Office for Mac which I purchased and activated 18 months ago. I recently opened a Word doc sent to me which I believe was created in Office 365. Now I’m unable to use my Office for Mac. It states I must activate Office 365 and take out a subscription. Can anyone help with this?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.3
I think you will need to contact Microsoft about that: Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support, but from what I have read on this site attempting to talk sense into them will only result in frustration and wasted time.
I suggest you do this instead. Open that document using any number of free programs such as Apple's Pages or third party products such as LibreOffice:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pages/id409201541?mt=12
Those are just two examples. There are others. They are capable of reading, editing, and saving Microsoft Word formatted documents and Excel spreadsheets.
I gave up on Microsoft years ago, when they made continued use of their products too inconvenient. Fortunately no one needs Microsoft any more.
I think you will need to contact Microsoft about that: Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support, but from what I have read on this site attempting to talk sense into them will only result in frustration and wasted time.
I suggest you do this instead. Open that document using any number of free programs such as Apple's Pages or third party products such as LibreOffice:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pages/id409201541?mt=12
Those are just two examples. There are others. They are capable of reading, editing, and saving Microsoft Word formatted documents and Excel spreadsheets.
I gave up on Microsoft years ago, when they made continued use of their products too inconvenient. Fortunately no one needs Microsoft any more.
The industry catchphrase is "friction". When the effort or expense of buying or using some product or service exceeds benefits conveyed, a customer is lost. Sometimes for good.
Thank you for your response. I haven’t had problems opening the Word document sent to me. It’s just that since doing so I can no longer use Word on my Mac. It appears that the Word document sent to me has corrupted my already paid for version of Word. You’re right though, may be time I ditched Microsoft altogether.
Thank you. I’ll think about contacting Microsoft but I’m not hopeful. May be time I ditched them as per the other suggestion. It’s just annoying that I’ve already paid and activated my software and it’s worked quite happily until I received this document.
Thanks. That's what I couldn't quite make out due to the wording. That is, did you mean Office 2021, or the Mac was a 2021 model?
But anywho, did reinstalling the software help? If not, the default template may have gotten trashed.
Before uninstalling / reinstalling I contacted Microsoft and they sent me a license removal tool and that has fixed the issue. It’s apparently caused by a shared 365 doc affecting the Office 2021 license. They advised opening future docs I receive in Office online which is apparently free.
I didn’t need to reinstall in the end. I decided to contact Microsoft and they sent a license removal tool which fixed the issue. The problem is caused by a shared 365 document. They advised that in future I should open any docs sent to me in Office online which is apparently free.
Ah, the license got lost/trashed.
Still doesn't make a bit of sense why a document from a person using 365 would cause such an issue. Because it certainly shouldn't.
And the free online version? Well, yes, there's that. It's also a very watered down version of Office. Meaning, it may not be able to display the document properly if the creator used features that don't exist in the online version.
This is a Microsoft activation issue and only Microsoft can advise you as to a reason and possible fix.
Bit of confusion here as to how you titled your topic. Do you have:
Microsoft 365 (subscription)
or
Microsoft Office 2021 (perpetual license)
If a perpetual license, can you reinstall by going to: https://setup.office.com ?
So far as I remember, you need to sign in to your Microsoft account and enter the key.
Easier to go to Microsoft's page here. No need to enter any password to download the latest installers.
I have Microsoft Office 2021 (perpetual license). I put that in the title although not the words perpetual license. Sorry for the confusion.
Oh right. To be honest both the Mac and the software are 2021. I’ve not had the opportunity to deal as yet but I think a re-installation is the way to go. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.
I agree it shouldn’t but that’s Microsoft for you. Thanks for your advice anyway.
MS Office for Mac 2021
