Can't sign in to Office 365 Personal: Mac, new installation

Anonymous
2019-03-08T23:31:53+00:00

Problem: When I try to sign in, I get a spinner forever saying "Loading..."

Details: I installed Office 365 Personal on a Mac. When I start Word, it asks for my email, which I entered successfully. But then the window shows just the spinner and "Loading..." and never asks for the password. I tried rebooting. I tried Word and Excel. I can log in successfully with this id on office.com on the same computer, so the network and account work. I tried Ethernet (which is very slow) and WiFi. No error messages show up, just the spinner for minutes. The only unusual factor I can think of is the Mac previously had Office 2004 installed.

Any suggestions? I'm kind of stuck. I searched the web for solutions but didn't come across anything that helped.

Thanks.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2019-04-11T10:29:07+00:00

Hi All,

I did some further testing with this and was able refine the process. I was able to sign out and back in half a dozen times. Each time when I signed out and then signed backed, the “loading” window would still appear, so this doesn't fix that error.

[Note1] Turn off Two-step verification if it is enabled. In a browser go to your Microsoft account, and then to the security menu to disable it.

Steps are as follows:

  1. Open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
  2. Select the Sign in or Activate button.
  3. Enter info in "Sign In" field [Email, phone, or Skype] if not already populated.
  4. Press 'Return' Key or 'Next' Button. The loading window will then appear with the spinner.

5. Click the mouse in the windo~~~~w. I found this step was unnecessary.

  1. Just type your password, followed by pressing the 'Return' Key. After a few seconds, your office should be activated or signed-in.

[Note2] Turn off Two-step verification back on if desired. In a browser go to your Microsoft account, and then to the security menu to enable it.

I hope these instructions are clear enough to follow.

-Mike-

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Anonymous
2019-03-09T07:49:21+00:00

Hi All,

Sorry for the inconvenience the issue causes. And we really appreciate all your effort and time for reporting this issue. We are aware of the issue now. Here we'd like to share a summary for the issue here which will benefit other community members.

We have been receiving multiple threads having similar issues caused by sign in issue on Office for Mac.

Users may not be able to sign in to Office applications, or meet error message when you want to save changes for files stored in OneDrive for SharePoint Online locations within from Office apps.

The possible scenarios:

 You may see a spinner forever saying “loading” when you try to sign in.

Issue Environment:

The issue happens to any latest OS version 10.12.6/10.13.6/10.14.3  

The issue happens to both the latest 16.16.8 and 16.23.

Workaround:

Thanks for Mike's reply and other community members confirming that the issue should be caused by the stuck sign in window not showing page content well. If you type password when you see the loading window then press enter, and wait for a little, then you should be able to sign in well. For detailed information, please check Mike's reply as another mark answer post.

Assessment:

Thanks for all your effort and time on this issue. Several customers have confirmed that updating to the latest 16.24 version can fix this issue. In the meantime, I am informed from the related team that the latest 16.25 insider version should fix the issue.

Please aware that the insider version is best for Insiders who want to use the very earliest builds to identify issues and provide feedback about new features still in development. Insider is ideal for those who don't mind the bit of risk involved in using unsupported builds. 

If you don’t mind, you can go to Help > Check for updates > tick the join the insider version option and update to 16.25 to see the result.

Any updates will be appreciated. Sorry for the inconvenience the issue causes again.

Thanks,

Rena

[Updated by Rena Yu MSFT, 21:33 May 2, 2019(UTC)]

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-05-17T23:08:29+00:00

    Curious if anyone who is using Office 365 for Mac has taken the plunge and upgraded to 16.25.  And if so, did this build resolve the dreaded pinwheel issue when trying to access your Office suite of documents? Like so many Mac users I'm still running a build from late 2018 (16.20 to be specific) since it is the only one that the works on my MacBook Pro.  Haven't figured out how MS is going to comp me for the past six months of old and vulnerable software...

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-05-17T07:48:08+00:00

    Hi Brian,

    Thanks for helping us confirming the result. Glad to hear the workaround worked this time. We will also keep contacting with related team to check when the final fix will released for Office 2016 for Mac version.

    Best Regards,

    Rena

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-05-17T02:44:12+00:00

    I downloaded and installed 16.16.10 and it didn't appear to fix anything, I still got the spinning on trying to sign in. As a hail mary, I tried typing my email address and hitting return, waiting a few seconds, then typing my password and hitting return, and... it worked! I'd tried it before and it didn't work although maybe I didn't wait long enough or mistyped something (being I couldn't see what I was typing). So, I'm signed in and it syncs, so I'm happy, although there's still something wrong, but at least I can use it again. Thanks for everyone's suggestions and Rena's assistance.

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