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Office 2021 & Office 365 conflict (Mac OS)

Anonymous
2023-01-22T20:53:18+00:00

I have a permanent license for Office 2021 MAC. I've been using 2012 Word on a MacBook Air for over a year. In the last 2 days, when I open Word, I get a message to activate Office 365. I remove the notice but Word will not allow me to enter data or edit existing documents.

I have the same license and software on an iMac and it works. I bought both computers and the licenses at the same time.

Both licenses were loaded on 1/17/22. The two computers were new on 1/17/22

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | MacOS

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Anonymous
2023-01-25T19:33:37+00:00

Thanks for you assistance in trying to solve this issue.

Yesterday, in frustration, I uninstalled Office 2021, restarted my MacBook, and then re-installed Office 2021 from my MS account page. When I opened a Word document, I was still getting the message to 'activate Office 365' so I clicked on the 'Activate' button. A window opened up that asked if I had Office 2021 or Office 365. I selected Office 2021 and the system responded that I had completed the update.

I was then able to use my Office 2021 applications. It was that easy. It did appear that I was invoking Office 365 as my future software package.

This was a very weird, unnecessary interruption levied by MS. I don't understand why they would make me validate a software package that they know I had (when I log into my MS account, the license is clearly shown as a valid Office 2021 license). This was almost like a head-fake to make me think about upgrading to Office 365. Yes, I'm an old guy who prefers to buy my software one time and use it until I am ready to update. I understand the subscription mindset, but it's not for me at this time.

Bottom line, my Office 2021 applications are now working. Hopefully I won't have to go through this again next year.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Bob

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-01-23T18:04:11+00:00

    Hi Robert,

    Rhoda's advice to run the License Removal tool should take care of this for you EXCEPT that the instructions are missing an important step. After you do step 4 and before you do step 5 you must restart your Mac. That's the only way to be sure Mac OS has cleared the previous launch of Office from your Mac's virtual memory.

    Rhoda's screen shot shows version 16.18 but the current channel update is 16.69 not 16.18. You should have 16.69 when you're all done, unless you are using a non-current version of Mac OS.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-23T00:37:41+00:00

    Dear Robert Spearman,

    Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community.

    Based on your description, it seems that you are using Office 2021 on Mac with a permanent license, however message prompt to activate Office 365, and Word will not allow you enter data or edit existing documents.

    If my understanding is right, if you have the correct account info and password associated with the purchased license when you reactivate, we'd recommend you try the steps mentioned in this article to reset license and sign in to reactivate: How to remove Office license files on a Mac - Microsoft Support

    Image

    We've also found some similar threads in the community for your reference:

    Office 2021 and 365 Conflicts - Microsoft Community

    Office 21 and MS 365 conflicts - Microsoft Community

    If the issue persists, we do understand the inconvenience caused and apologize for it, would you please provide us below information for further investigation?

    1. Would you please share a screenshot of the error prompt with us?
    2. Please also share a screenshot of your Office as shown below, for your reference: About Office: What version of Office am I using? - Microsoft Support Image
    3. Is the two Office 2021 license you are using on 2 Mac tied to one same account or two different accounts?

    If the scenario above is not consistent with yours, you can also post back and point that.

    Your patience and understanding are highly appreciated. We hope that you are keeping safe and well!

    Sincerely,

    Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator

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