Problem with office 365

Laurence Yan Luk 20 Reputation points
2026-08-07T19:01:55.7966667+00:00

Had a license Microsoft office Home and student but used the professional license of my work for 2 years. Would like to go back to my personal license but cannot do it. The apps ( Word/ Excel and powerpoint ) won't work. I changed to my personal email but still doesn't work. What is the problem? Have updated for MacOS SONOMA still nothing

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | MacOS
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Xavier-D 12,775 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2026-08-08T02:55:31.4+00:00

Hello Laurence Yan Luk

This is most likely a licensing conflict from the previous work account.

Here what you can do:

First, please confirm that your personal Microsoft account shows the Office Home & Student purchase under Services & subscriptions.

Then quit all Office apps, use Microsoft’s Office License Removal Tool for Mac to remove the old work license, reopen Word, and sign in with the personal Microsoft account linked to your purchase.

Also, if Word, Excel, and PowerPoint were installed from the Mac App Store, uninstall them and reinstall Office directly from your Microsoft account instead. Mac App Store versions require a Microsoft 365 subscription and do not support one-time Office Home & Student licenses.

If it still does not activate, please share the exact error message and the year/version of your Office Home & Student license, such as 2016, 2019, 2021, or 2024.

Feel free reply back to this post and update me on this issue, I'll be happy to help.

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  1. Laurence Yan Luk 20 Reputation points
    2026-08-09T06:36:52.11+00:00

    Thank you so much for your help. It worked and everything is fine now.

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