Cannot activate Office Apps with High Sierra

Anonymous
2024-10-02T16:36:17+00:00

I have deleted everything and re-installed High Sierra on an old Macbook Pro. I have an Office 365 account and downloaded and installed Office (version 16.43). When first trying to use any of the Apps (Word, for example), I get a welcome page telling me all the great things I can get and then a window to enter in my Microsoft account email address. I then get a blank window where, when logging in to my account from a browser), I would need to enter my password. The blank screen never changes. Having done a clean install of the OS, there shouldn’t be any remaining bits of Microsoft licence.

Various web pages give conflicting advice about whether or not Office can still be used, albeit without support, or not with High Sierra. Can anyone give me the latest firm evidence about the situation and, if it is possible, suggestions as to how I can activate Office 365?

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-11-17T14:30:37+00:00

    Basically, after I force quit everything, I reopened Office and it signed back in without having to reenter the password.

    Thank you for such a prompt response. I have just tried what you suggest but I do not have an “Office App”. I have all the usual Microsoft Office apps such as Powerpoint, Word or Excel but nothing like just an Office app. Did you install something like “Office 2016” which I suspect would have had a Product key to activate it?

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-11-16T21:33:00+00:00

    Basically, after I force quit everything, I reopened Office and it signed back in without having to reenter the password.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-11-16T15:03:39+00:00

    I managed to get it to work by doing the following:

    Force Quit: Office App

    Force Quit: Finder (and anything else found in there).

    Do this from here… click on the Apple logo top left of screen, click on Force Quit, highlight app and click on the Force Quit button.

    Hope it works for you too…

    I’m sorry but I don’t understand what it was that you did. I can see that you force quit “Office App” and Finder, but then what did you do?

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-11-16T03:45:33+00:00

    I managed to get it to work by doing the following:

    Force Quit: Office App

    Force Quit: Finder (and anything else found in there).

    Do this from here… click on the Apple logo top left of screen, click on Force Quit, highlight app and click on the Force Quit button.

    Hope it works for you too…

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-10-24T03:57:17+00:00

    Hi Ryan,

    I can log into my Microsoft account without any problems from a browser, email or Onedrive. The Office version I have downloaded is 16.43 (I have tried 16.41 as well). The download and installation process seems to go perfectly. However, when first opening any App, I get the welcome screen and then a screen to enter my account ID. That seems to be accepted but then, when I expected to enter in my password, there is just a blank screen that doesn’t change. I have an Office 365 subscription and my internet connection is good. High Sierra 10:13.6 is, I know, old but my Macbook Pro is also old and cannot take later Mac Operating Systems. It seems a shame to have a laptop that is perfectly serviceable but cannot be used for Office apps.

    You will need to purchase Office 2016 for Mac from a retailer if you wish to continue using Office products in High Sierra.

    I spoke with Microsoft Support on chat today and got a refund for my Office 365 subscription. I can't even update my browsers to sufficiently acceptable versions to run 365 on the web.

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