Help me please!
On My 2023 MacBook Pro M3 I bought MS Office 2021 in Nov-2023, I dislike the 365 subscription model thing.
It's been a few weeks since I used Excel, went to use it yesterday (Nov-2-2025) and could not save changes ... wtf I thought.
Noticed this "activate MS 365 ...." huh?
I did the usual, logged out of apps, restart MacBook, etc.
Then re-installed MS Office 2021, still same, ugh.
doing a search I see these steps below none of which seem to help me.
Well, it's not asked me for my product key, so somehow I must delete everything so it's a true fresh install??
below is copy/paste from web browser reply:
To fix the Office 2021 license error on Mac,
try signing out of your Microsoft account in all Office apps, restarting, and then signing back in with the correct account. If that doesn't work, update Office to the latest version, verify your product key is linked to your account, and consider reinstalling the software.
Initial steps
On My 2023 MacBook Pro M3 I bought MS Office 2021 in Nov-2023, I dislike the 365 subscription model thing.
It's been a few weeks since I used Excel, went to use it yesterday (Nov-2-2025) and could not save changes ... wtf I thought.
Noticed this "activate MS 365 ...." huh?
I did the usual, logged out of apps, restart MacBook, etc.
Then re-installed MS Office 2021, still same, ugh.
doing a search I see these steps below none of which seem to help me.
Well, it's not asked me for my product key, so somehow I must delete everything so it's a true fresh install??
below is copy/paste from web browser reply:
To fix the Office 2021 license error on Mac,
try signing out of your Microsoft account in all Office apps, restarting, and then signing back in with the correct account. If that doesn't work, update Office to the latest version, verify your product key is linked to your account, and consider reinstalling the software.
Initial steps
- Sign out and sign back in: Open any Office app like Word, go to the top menu, click on your name in the upper-right corner, and sign out of all accounts. Restart the app and sign back in with the account that owns the Office 2021 license.
- Check your Microsoft account: Go to your Microsoft account online and verify that your Office 2021 license is listed under "Services & subscriptions" or "Products you've purchased".
- Update Office: Make sure your Office apps are up to date. If you are prompted for an update that leads to this error, try running the license update from the Word menu again after checking your account.
- Clear cached credentials: On a Mac, this can be done by using the "Reset Microsoft Office 365 License" tool if you have it installed via a self-service application, or by deleting the license files.
- Reinstall Office: If the issue persists, uninstalling and reinstalling Office may resolve the problem.
- Enter product key: If you are unsure about the account associated with the license, you may need to enter the product key again to associate it with your account.
- The error can be triggered by an update that mistakenly asks for a Microsoft 365 subscription instead of recognizing your perpetual Office 2021 license.
- This is a known issue, so using the steps above to ensure you are signed into the correct account and that the license is linked to that account is the most important step.
