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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239 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-03-19T12:07:25+00:00

    hi ,

    i am in the position close as michael ; my thread was closed after my question (see below) and advise to joint this thread ... with no solution so far ... what to do ? (my mac was an El capitan but as i tried to subscribe this new office 365C package , i was request to update my IOS to a more recent version ,what i did with the help of apple care :my mac is now mojave 10.14.3 ...); for your information ,i will copy also the answer of microsoft in my thread...before closing it (!)

    yves (i'm french sorry for my english)

    impossibiity to activate office 365 on my Macbook air

    hello experts !

    My suscription being expired  on the 14/03 ; the same day, i subscribed an office 365 personnel for one year (69€) but i could not activate it even if it was duly registered by microsoft as bought by me. When i open a excel file , i got the message that my subscrition expired ! . After 45mns of chat and talks with the (french ) customer service ,they transfered me to the technical assistance of microsoft (also french) and they told me that they have a general bug that prevents the users to activate their renewal or suscription of Office on Macs !

    they confirmed by mail , telling me that the will advise me when it is fixed !

    i can't work in the mean time as i cant print or save my files on excel , power point or word ! i cant believe it !!!!  do you have this information and what do you suggest me to do ?

    yves

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-03-19T01:57:09+00:00

    I posted about this, then my thread was closed, and I was told to watch this one.  The customer support said to upgrade my OS, which is not a possibility on my computer.  I purchased my license from Best Buy, scratched the product key, so I am unable to return the product to Best Buy, and Microsoft support just said call the Money Back program to start a refund.  I called, no answer, no call back.  I wasted this past weekend due to this issue.  My time is worth something, and now I am spending more time waiting & watching this thread for some answer, which from reading other people who provided a response here, is unlikely to happen any time soon.  And I will still need to deal with the refund program, if I hope to be refunded my money.

    I expect Microsoft to either fix the issue, provide compensation for time wasted, or quickly and without any fuss, provide a refund, and publish to others, that this product will not install, and not hide behind a support team that is not able to fix the bug.

    M. Wood

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-03-18T17:33:48+00:00

    ...or at least tell us which version we can use/re-install to work until you fix your problem.

    My current mac is running El Capitan.

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