Excel and OneNote does not open "Excel cannot be opened because of a problem"

Question

Excel and OneNote does not open "Excel cannot be opened because of a problem"

LP 25

Hello. I just purchased Office Home 2024 for Mac and installed from my Microsoft account. OneNote and Excel both have the same error message and I tried a reinstall already. Why does Word work but Excel and OneNote do not?

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Answer accepted by question author

Norah-L 10,490 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Welcome LP to the Q&A forum!

I understand you're having trouble with opening OneNote and Excel (Office Home 2024) on your Mac. Both show the message Excel cannot be opened because of a problem while Word is functioning properly.

This issue can happen when the installation didn’t finish properly or the app is running in the wrong mode (Rosetta instead of ARM...).

First, open Word and sign in to make sure your Office is fully activated (check that it’s not showing Unlicensed).

Next, in Finder, right‑click the app (Excel/OneNote) > Get Info > make sure “Open using Rosetta” is unchecked so the app runs in its native ARM64 mode. Once unchecked, test the apps again

If the issue continues, try running Microsoft AutoUpdate Tool and Update All to the latest build. This step makes sure your Office for Mac apps (Word, Excel, OneNote, etc.) are fully updated to the newest ARM‑native files.

Hope this helps. Please let me know how it goes!

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2 additional answers

Your answer

Answer 1

LP 25

Hello. Thank you for the response. To follow up with the solution I ended up deleting the previous version and re-downloading it from my Microsoft account. This time it provided an update for Excel as well and everything works now. Thank you!

Norah-L 10,490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-10T05:34:33.5+00:00

Hi LP,

Thank you so much for letting me know that. I'm so glad that your issue has been resolved.

Wish you a great day!

Best regards.

Answer 2

The error message "Excel cannot be opened because of a problem" can occur for several reasons, even if other Office applications like Word are functioning properly. Here are some troubleshooting steps you can try:

Check the Program Path: Ensure that the Office applications are located in the correct directory. The path should be Macintosh HD\Applications\Microsoft Office 2024. If the path differs, move the application folder to the correct location.
Delete Duplicate Entries: Sometimes, duplicate instances of the application can cause issues. Search for duplicate icons of Excel and OneNote in Finder and delete any duplicates.
Repair Disk Permissions: You can use the "Repair Disk Permissions" option in Disk Utility to fix potential permissions issues that might be affecting Excel and OneNote.
Create a New User Account: If the problem persists, try creating a new user account on your Mac. This can help determine if the issue is related to your user profile.
Reinstall Office: If none of the above steps work, consider completely uninstalling Office and then reinstalling it from your Microsoft account.

These steps should help resolve the issue with Excel and OneNote not opening. If the problem continues, further investigation into specific error messages or system configurations may be necessary.