Office Home and Student 2019 for Mac not functioning anymore as of today: Forced to buy a new license??? Unethical!!!

Anonymous
2023-11-20T15:39:33+00:00

Hi,

As of this morning I have found my legal/registered Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019 (1 Mac) applications (Excel, Word, Powerpoint) do not function properly...

I have searched for similar problems on Microsoft community (found some & then applied all!). Also called "microsoft support" 3 times to look for an answer/solution.

As recommended, after all "Office app removals" (@Apple and Microsoft web sites)+ "license removal tool running" + "Re-installing of Office 2019", they still do not work/function. After the Office package re-install when I try to open an app it says "No license found for my account", although my purchase of Office 2019 can be seen in Microsoft Account (i.e. MS knows that I have legally bought it several years ago)...

Last support center guy told me that "Office 2019 support of MS ended as of Oct'23 -p.s. I confirmed it later-" recommended me "to buy a new license"!... I had bought my license for "LIFETIME". Now, they say "BUY A NEW ONE, just after 3 years!", adding that there is no other address that I can tell about this problem/my complaint (p.s. Live Chat did not work either today)...

Don't want to say bad words to Microsoft after such an ETHICALLY INCORRECT response; so any help of community much appreciated... Thanks.

Biltor Ulucay

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | MacOS

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Answer accepted by question author
Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
2023-11-22T19:06:30+00:00

I think the problem results from AutoUpdate installing a wrong version of Office for your license. You would have to remove the wrong version first:

Uninstall Office for Mac - Microsoft Support

Then, install the correct version, which is 16.78.3 which you can download from this link

Office suite (with Teams)

Please use the Help menu and choose Check for Updates. In AutoUpdate uncheck the box to automatically keep office up to date. 16.78.3 is the final version of Office 2019.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-11-22T23:46:46+00:00

    I also went to the above link to update and still no luck with my license. Al that happened was that I lost data.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-22T23:07:05+00:00

    I am having the same problem. I contacted Microsoft help center and I was told that it is a bug and they are working on it. That I should wait 5 to 7 days and try to activate my account again. Was he pulling my leg or is that correct?

    Thank you for the help

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-11-21T17:04:24+00:00

    Biltor U, to best resolve this issue, I will need you to remove Office apps from your device completely and reinstall Office 2019 from your Microsoft account.

    Step 1: Remove Office for Mac applications

    1. Open Finder > Applications. 2.Command ⌘ + click to select all of the Office for Mac applications.
    2. Ctrl+click an application you selected and click Move to Trash.

    Step 2: Remove files from your user Library folder

    1. In Finder, press ⌘+Shift+g.
    2. In the window that opens, enter ~/Library and then click Go.
    3. Open the Containers folder and ctrl+click each of these folders and Move to Trash. Note that some of these folders may not be present.

    com.microsoft.errorreporting com.microsoft.Excel com.microsoft.netlib.shipassertprocess com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2 com.microsoft.Outlook com.microsoft.Powerpoint com.microsoft.RMS-XPCService com.microsoft.Word com.microsoft.onenote.mac

    1. Click the back arrow to go back to the Library folder and open Group Containers. Ctrl+click each of these folders if present, and Move to Trash.

    UBF8T346G9.ms UBF8T346G9. Office UBF8T346G9. OfficeOsfWebHost

    Step 3: Remove from Dock and restart

    1. If you put any of the Office applications in your Dock, go to each one and ctrl + click > Options > Remove from Dock.
    2. Restart your Mac to complete the uninstall.

    For more guidance with uninstalling Office on Mac: https://support.microsoft.com/help/eefa1199-5b58-43af-8a3d-b73dc1a8cae3

    Step 4: Remove Office license files on a Mac using license removal tool. 

    1. Download the license removal tool. https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=849815

    1. Open the .pkg file from your Mac's Downloads folder.
    2. Select Continue and follow the prompts in the setup wizard.
    3. When you're ready to complete the license removal, select Install. You may need to enter your Mac's local admin account password.

    After the tool successfully removes licenses, select Close.

    Step 5: Reinstall your Microsoft Office 2019 from your Microsoft account by signing in https://office.com/myaccount

    For more guidance with installing Office on Mac: https://support.microsoft.com/help/4414eaaf-0478-48be-9c42-23adc4716658

    Step 7: Uninstall the License Removal Tool by dragging the Microsoft_Office_License_Removal file from Finder > Downloads to Trash

    https://support.microsoft.com/help/b032c0f6-a431-4dad-83a9-6b727c03b193

    Source: https://support.microsoft.com/office/ec3aa66e-6a76-451f-9d35-cba2e14e94c0

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-20T17:18:12+00:00

    Hi Raymond,

    Thanks so much for your assistance.

    I have added an alias (@outlook.com) and then made it primary...

    Now, what should I do?...

    p.s. After the alias change, I have tried to re-open office apps, but I still see the same response "No license found for my account" (my account still seems the older one in this pop-up message; not the new outlook.com)

    Regards.

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