how to edit my word documents

Maylie Holt 0 Reputation points
2026-09-03T21:38:12.8633333+00:00

my mac is saying i am signed in under my old school account, which i havent been able to access since 2022. i need to access my word documents for work and im not sure how to solve this.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | MacOS
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  1. Ivory 1,155 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-09-03T22:16:17.8666667+00:00

    Hi Maylie,

    The resolution will depend on which of the following two scenarios applies.

    If the documents are stored in the school's OneDrive and you lost access in 2022, the issue may be that the files are still saved in that tenant. Without access to the school account, you'll likely need the school IT department to restore access or provide copies of the files.

    If Word on the Mac is still trying to use credentials from your old school account, which can prevent activation, cloud access, or opening files stored in OneDrive. You can sign out of that account and sign back in with the Microsoft account that has the correct Office rights.

    Step 1: Check whether your documents are local or in OneDrive

    • Open Finder.
    • Look for your files in Documents, Desktop, or another local folder.
    • If they're stored locally on your Mac, you should be able to open them regardless of the old school account.

    Step 2: Sign out of Office apps

    1. Select Word > Settings (or Preferences).
    2. Go to Accounts.
    3. Sign out of the old school account.
    4. Quit all Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).

    If you’ve added your school account as an Internet Account on your Mac, you can follow the steps shown in the image to stop using the account. 

    • Go to the System Settings app on your Mac. 
    • Click Internet Accounts in the sidebar.  
    • Click the account you want to stop using
    • Click Delete Account at the bottom, then click OK. 

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    Step 3: Clear Office credentials from Keychain

    1. Open Keychain Access (Applications > Utilities).
    2. Search for:
      • Microsoft
      • Office
      • ADAL
      • OneAuth
    3. Delete credentials related to the old school account.
    4. Restart your Mac.

    Step 4: Sign in with your current work account

    1. Open Word again.
    2. Sign in using your current work Microsoft 365 account.
    3. Verify your name and work email appear under Word > Settings > Accounts.

    I hope this provides enough clarity and helps you stay inform with your current situation.

    However, if neither of these scenarios aligns with your current situation, please provide additional information and a screenshot of the issue so I can assist you more accurately.

    Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.  

    If the answer is helpful, please click 'Yes' and kindly upvote it.

    Note: Please follow the steps in the forum documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

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  2. AI answer

    2026-09-03T21:38:29.1533333+00:00

    If Word on the Mac is still signed in with the old school account, the app can go into view-only mode and block editing. The supported fix is to sign out of that account and sign back in with the Microsoft account that has the correct Office rights.

    1. Open Word.
    2. Go to the app’s Account settings.
    3. Sign out of the old school account.
    4. Sign in again with the Microsoft account that should be used for work or with the account tied to the Office license.
    5. Reopen the document and test editing.

    If Word keeps asking to sign in again, shows Authentication Expired, or repeatedly prompts for keychain access:

    1. Quit all Microsoft 365 for Mac apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.
    2. If prompted for keychain access when reopening an app, select Always Allow. This can appear up to three times per app.
    3. If the prompts continue, restore keychain permissions by following Apple’s keychain access steps from the Microsoft guidance.

    If the old school account is the only account signed in and it no longer has desktop editing rights, Word may still open documents in view-only mode. In that case, use the correct licensed Microsoft account in Word. If the account is a school/work account and access is lost, password help for that type of account must go through the organization’s IT admin or the work or school password reset process.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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