Word for iPad won't activate

Anonymous

I downloaded Word, Powerpoint and Excel for iPad yesterday and purchased a 365 Home Certificate. I tried to activate Word and am always given the message "Cannot Activate. This account doesn't have a paid Office 365 subscription." Then I tried activating Powerpoint and Excel -- knowing if you activate one, they're all activated -- and those won't activate either.

I have the receipt and Order ID from Apple and their phone support has been great, including today, Saturday. But ultimately, they can't help, because it's up to the developer (Microsoft). Everything is fine on the Apple side.

I have done everything possible, from rebooting, to reinstalling, to resetting my network connections, without success. So I tried to call Microsoft Support (through a link Apple kindly supplied) only to find they don't work on weekends.

I've searched the internet for solutions, but the program is so new that I appear to be the only one so far with a problem -- or maybe no one's buying a 365 Home subscription for the first time.

Any thoughts that don't include all the things I've already done would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Don

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Anonymous

Go to settings and look for the app there.. Do u see it?... If so try doing a Word reset" and then reload or open from AppStore page.. Report back..

This worked for me on my iPad. These are the full steps I used:

Open up Settings
Scroll all the way to the bottom in the left hand pane, select Word
In the right hand pane, select Reset Word
Turn on Delete Login Credentials
IF you already have Word running on your iPad, as I did: Double-press the iPad's home button to bring up all currently running programs, swipe back and forth until you see Word, flick the Word screen up to stop the program
Press the iPad's home button to get back to the home screen
Select Word
Swipe all the way through the introductory screens until it says "Sign in now" - select Sign in
Enter your e-mail address, selected "Next"
Sign in to your Microsoft account with your e-mail and password, select "Sign in"
Select "Buy Office 365"
At the bottom, select the "Restore previous purchase" link
Enter your iTunes password

Yeesh.

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211 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-07-15T23:49:55+00:00

Awesome!! Thank you! I now have it!
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Anonymous

2014-07-15T11:46:53+00:00

Just a quick note to say THANK YOU. I was about to lose my mind, and you saved the day.
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Anonymous

2014-07-04T14:16:35+00:00

I've had this problem with Office 365 in the iPad since mid April. In my scenario, I did not had an active Office 365 subscription, so when I bought it from iTunes I wasn't expecting these many problems. Also, I recently moved from Switzerland to Chile, which made things a bit more confusing. But it's finally fixed.

I won't presume that this will work for everyone, but it worked for me:

1-) Make sure your iPad International Settings match the country which is registered with your Apple ID at the time you bought Office 365

2-) Reset all Office 365 apps in the iPad, as explained above:

"Getting your app back to the First Run State:

Go to Settings and then scroll down to the <Office app> you want to reset.

Under RESET, tap Reset < Office app>.

Turn on Delete Login Credentials. "

3-) Open one of the Office apps (like Word)

4-) When you get to the SIGN IN panel, choose SIGN IN LATER

5-) You should now be inside Word. Click the ACTIVATE icon at the bottom left

6-) You will be prompt to sign in to your Microsoft Account. Do so.

7-) Now choose BUY OFFICE 365

8-) Choose RESTORE PREVIOUS PURCHASE

9-) Now put in your APPLE ID password

These steeps finally did it for me. It also allowed me to install Office 365 in my PC once I accessed my account from my laptop. After more than two months it's fixed. Now let's just hope I have no issues when the subscription renews...

Good luck!
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Anonymous

2014-06-25T18:35:40+00:00
Go to settings and look for the app there.. Do u see it?... If so try doing a Word reset" and then reload or open from AppStore page.. Report back..

I tried the reset and still get the Can't Verify Subscription try again later. I like the refund strategy. This is so ridiculous.

Hi ductor,

Sorry to hear that you are having issues. Here are a few steps you can try before doing a refund:

Reset the app, which you say you have already tried. But below are the steps to make sure your are resetting everything about the app:

Getting your app back to the First Run State:

Go to Settings and then scroll down to the <Office app> you want to reset.

Under RESET, tap Reset < Office app>.

Turn on Delete Login Credentials.

Close your app if it’s running before you start it again to see the first run screen and enter your new creds.

To close, go to the Home screen of your iPad.

Press the iPad's Home button twice rapidly. A list of your recent apps appears on the screen.

Swipe up the app to close it.

Reset your device (I understand this is a painful method).

To get a refund, you will have to get in touch with Apple Customer Support and ask them to cancel your subscription and give you a refund.

Let me know if either of the first 2 steps helped you resolve the issue.

Thanks,

Sumesh
I performed Step 1 from Sumesh's post above, but did not go on to reset my device. Instead, I went ahead and opened up the Word app, and when it asked me to purchase Office 365, I selected "Restore previously purchased version." I then entered my iTunes password, and was able to successfully open and use the full version of Word.
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