Office 2021 license won't activate, shows "Subscription Required"

Natalia Kornilova 0 Reputation points
2026-08-16T14:17:51.7466667+00:00

Hi, I purchased Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac. It shows as a purchased product on my account ([******@gmail.com]) under Subscriptions, but Word/Excel display "Subscription Required to Edit and Save" and won't let me edit or save. I'm signed in with the correct account, running the latest Word version (16.112) on macOS Tahoe 26.6.1 (well above minimum requirements). I've already signed out/in and updated Office, but the issue persists. Could you please check why this purchased, account-linked license isn't activating? Thank you.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For home | iOS
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  1. Thoura Sopheak Nanta 655 Reputation points
    2026-08-16T14:37:49.3233333+00:00

    Hi @Natalia Kornilova

    Download and run the Microsoft Office License Removal Tool for Mac. (This should remove activation and license caches, not your license.)

    If you installed Word/Excel from the Mac app store, uninstall them, restart your Mac, and install them back from your Microsoft account page instead, sign in with the account that has the license.

    Hope this helps! I'm hoping to hear back from you!

    Best regards,

    Nanta

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  2. DaveM121 929.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-08-16T14:51:09.8866667+00:00

    There are some widely reported problems with the Office apps on an Apple Mac caused by the July update, the working method to resolve this problem is to completely uninstall the Office apps using the steps on this link, then download and reinstall Office from your Microsoft account.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/lifecycle/officeinstall/uninstall-office-for-mac

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