Word activation loop & Pages incompatibility on Ventura

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Word activation loop & Pages incompatibility on Ventura

I have a current subscription to Office 365 but cannot run Word as it keeps getting into a loop over activation. Excel works fine.

I am running Ventura 13.7.8 but Word needs one of the 3 latest MacOS versions.

I contacted Microsoft and they cannot help other than use online version or get a newer OS.

I contacted Apple and they say use Pages - but when I try to download and use that it is not compatible with Ventura either.

I have an iMac 2017 and cannot urn later than Ventura (according to Apple). How to I either get Word to work again - or get Pages to work?

Thanks in advance.

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.7

Posted on Feb 24, 2026 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 24, 2026 8:59 AM in response to Hoarder26

Unfortunately, if you have never purchased a prior version of Pages, then there is no path forward for you other than to buy a newer Mac since the current release requires macOS 15.6 Sequoia or later.

As for MS Word, it seems MS might owe you some additional support, depending on when you bought your subscription. If your subscription is new, then the required "latest three versions" of macOS is likely very enforceable. And if that's the case, then you might ask MS to refund and/or cancel the subscription.

If your subscription has been in force for some time, then one would hope MS has a path to re-activate the app in the older OS. Apparently they do not.

You might look at LibreOffice as an alternative to both those apps.

MacOS 11 is listed as the requirement for the current version.

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Word activation loop & Pages incompatibility on Ventura

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