Error Another account from your organization is already signed in on this device. Try again with a different account.

Sarah Nelson 60

Hello,

I keep getting the error - "Error

Another account from your organization is already signed in on this device. Try again with a different account." I've been trying to use all of the tips, tricks, and fixes available online, but nothing is working. Please help.

Thanks,
Sarah

JimmyYang-MSFT 48,871 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-02-20T06:21:18.78+00:00

Hi @Sarah Nelson

Do you mean this issue happened in all Office 365 Apps?

Do you have any operations before this issue occurred?

To diagnose and automatically fix several common Office sign-in issues, you can download and run the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant
JimmyYang-MSFT 48,871 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-02-20T07:51:33.59+00:00

@Sarah Nelson

It has been a while, how is everything going?

If you have any update about this issue, please feel free to post back.
Brian Sørensen 20 Reputation points

2023-03-09T08:57:23.2333333+00:00

Having had the same issue for 1,5 weeks now. Tried to remove apps, delete office logins from key chain, delete UBTF files, and get a new office account. Nothing works. A fix is urgently needed!
Clarissa Passos 0 Reputation points

2023-04-30T18:42:30.62+00:00

What a nightmare! I've spent hours trying to fix this issue, with no success. What is the solution? I am using a Mac.
Steve Griffith 25 Reputation points

2023-08-02T19:43:02.67+00:00

I used Outlook to fix the issue. I had the same problem in Office 2016 using a 365 login on "my" computer at a client. Even after following MS recommendations to include Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant for Office 365 nothing resolved the issue. Upgraded to 2019 and same issues. Word & Excel said I couldn't log in. I used Outlook to fix the issue and went to Outlook's "File" menu, "Office Account", "Sign Out", "Sign In" and it fixed the issue in Word & Excel. I'm an IT consultant and have numerous 365 logins on this one profile and I have always told it NOT to "Stay signed in?" and don't remember my login(s). Good Luck.
Drew 5 Reputation points

2023-08-16T20:24:03.9966667+00:00
The solution I found was to use the 'Clear Application Data' option in the 'Help' menu. I found this in the Microsoft Word, Excel, or Outlook apps.

Then you can go through and choose any or all of the following options:

'Select the data you want to clear:'

Experimental Features

First Run Experience

Identities

Information Protection

License

After you confirm, the app will restart. as soon as it restarted, it pulled the correct login information and account and I didn't even have to try to sign in again. Very weird. But checked all the apps and have had no issues. This was fixed today, 08/16/23
Amrit 0 Reputation points

2023-11-16T04:54:14.6533333+00:00
Solved for me:

I had the same problem in my iPhone.

You can try to Reset credentials for Office applications to check the result:

Close all the Office for iPhone apps.

Go to Settings on your device via tapping the gear icon.

Scroll down and find "Microsoft 365 (Office)" application.

Then find "RESET" section and click "Reset Microsoft 365 (Office)".

Turn the “Delete Sign-In Credentials” button on.

Open the app and Sign in again to see the result.
Alex A 0 Reputation points

2024-02-28T15:19:19.4+00:00

This is a MAJOR bug in Office since an update has occurred several months ago. I cannot count how many times I see this issue and the only way to correct it is to go into settings, disconnect ALL the accounts, then download the Support Assistant and run through that entire process, then when you're done, delete the OAuth folder from localappdata. This issue only started when Microsoft updated office to change the initial login screen of Word/Excel to remove the 'skip for now' option if the product was not activated (but still signed in with a user with no license). This is a MAJOR problem as it allow for word to have users remain signed into the applications but you cannot move the window out of the way to get into word in order to click their name in the upper right to sign them out so you can sign in a user that DOES have a license. THIS IS BUG THAT MUST BE FIXED. YOU CANNOT EXPECT USERS TO FIX THIS. Even a complete uninstall and reinstall of office entirely DOES NOT FIX THE ISSUE.
Suraj Karki 0 Reputation points

2024-03-18T19:52:49.6+00:00

Sometime, due to multiple licenses assign to single user can be the reason of this issue. Try to change the license type by looking at microsoft tenanet with administrative privilige.

If this way the problem is not solved then, try another way.

Modify OneAuth Account Store (Windows Devices):

Navigate to the %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneAuth\accounts folder.

You’ll find one or more files with different GUIDs (if multiple accounts are involved).

Open these files using Notepad.

Examine the account_hints value and identify files associated with the account you want to use.

Change the association_status entry for com.microsoft.Office to “disassociated” and save the file.

verify the ID which is assign to azure account of the user and put the same ID on here.

reboot the computer and try to sign in again.
Michael OHara 0 Reputation points

2024-03-26T17:50:44.8733333+00:00

Thank you. I spent hours trying all the recommended solutions with no luck. Your Outlook sign-in/sign-out solution did the trick.
Alex A 0 Reputation points

2024-03-26T17:58:20.6933333+00:00

We all know that this issue is caused by "multiple accounts". The problem is that Microsoft has randomly changed how the software works and it now prevents you from bypassing the sign in screen to sign out the account that does not have a license to use the product!

Prior to the update that has caused all these issues, if shared access was enabled and a user with no license for local word/excel signed into the product they would continue to use the product endlessly as the other user. Then, when the user WITH the required license needed to be reauthenticated you would simply "skip" the login screen and be unable to edit or save anything in the application (once you hit skip). At this point, you could sign out all of the users that were signed into the applications in the upper right, then validate the user with the proper license and be on your merry way.

This BUG prevents you from bypassing the login and simply gives you a halting error preventing the user from doing ANYTHING. The only method to fix this is "call your IT department".
Duncan Clarke 0 Reputation points

2024-04-11T15:59:37.2366667+00:00

I had the same issue using Excel on Windows 11. No other office apps installed so couldn’t do that.

When prompted for activation I could see it was already logged in using an account that has no office license. I eventually worked out that pressing Esc closed this window and allowed me to progress.

I then signed out of Excel and closed the app. On restarting Excel I was prompted to activate but could now enter the licensed user and it activated. I could then sign out again and use whatever user I wanted.

21 answers

Karl Albrecht 120 Reputation points

2023-03-30T17:35:21.29+00:00
I was having this issue on my iPhone and finally was able to resolve it by resetting Excel. I assume this might work from any of the Office apps on iOS.

Go to Settings

Scroll down to Excel

Reset Excel

Turn on Delete Sign-In Credentials

Back out from screen (not sure this is required)

Open Excel and then terminate the app

Restart Excel and you should get a fresh sign in page

Hope that helps, not sure if this thread was iOS or not...

Karl
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24 people found this answer helpful.
RG 0 Reputation points

2023-04-12T22:09:11.0333333+00:00

Karl, thank you, that worked like a charm. I really appreciate you posting that. Though, I really have to say, that this is another example of really hideous programming by Microsoft. There is absolutely no reason why this sort of an error should happen. If you log out of an app, you log out of an app – end of story. “Reset“ of said app should in no way be necessary. One more reason that if I didn’t have to use Microsoft, I would never use Microsoft. And I’m saying that as a 30 year IT professional. But, again, thank you Karl very much.

vnaito 0 Reputation points

2023-04-13T17:40:13.53+00:00

That fixed the issue. Thanks!

ebtm 0 Reputation points

2023-04-17T12:00:51.2233333+00:00

Yes! This has been a nagging issue for some time. This instantly fixed this issue on iPhone with M365 app. Thank you.

Clarissa Passos 0 Reputation points

2023-04-30T18:38:22.79+00:00

How to fix the issue on a Mac? I am trying to fix this since yesterday morning. Help!

Amit B Chakrabarti 0 Reputation points

2023-05-19T05:51:31.5633333+00:00

This fixed my problem in ipad. Thank you.

Ibrahim Adebowale Olaitan 0 Reputation points

2023-07-01T22:26:56.7733333+00:00

Thank you Karl, this works for me.

Alex Nguyen 0 Reputation points

2023-07-12T09:55:44.16+00:00

Thanks bro, this is what i looking for :))

Donovan Carson 0 Reputation points

2023-09-24T01:16:04.2066667+00:00

This was what fixed issue for me on iOS iPhone 15 pro. Thanks for your help! I wouldn’t have found this otherwise.

Maysoun AlTabbaa 0 Reputation points

2024-01-12T13:45:56.1866667+00:00

Thank you Karl thank you. This issue was so frustrating and I tried everything.

Bert Klaver 0 Reputation points

2024-01-29T18:05:18.24+00:00

After many hours of search: this finally fixed the issue. Thank you so much for your help.

Delante 0 Reputation points

2024-04-23T14:36:44.98+00:00

This actually worked. Thank you @Karl Albrecht !
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Erin 45 Reputation points

2023-05-05T13:12:07.2+00:00
I don't know if anyone has figured this out yet, but incase you haven't, I'll share how I fixed it. I'm also on a Mac, so maybe that is also helpful, too.

Open Word.

Go to the Help dropdown menu.

Select Clear Application Data.

And put a check mark by Identities. Click Clear.

Then the app should restart and you can sign in. You might have to Activate it as well, so you can edit documents.

I hope this helps.
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9 people found this answer helpful.
Will Ab 0 Reputation points

2023-05-08T01:47:28.31+00:00

THANK YOU!!! SAVED ME!

Tolu' BOLAJI 0 Reputation points

2023-05-11T16:11:05.89+00:00

This actually really helped.

I'm on a mac too and I experienced the problem after an OS update. I followed your listed steps but it didn't work at first, so I had to do it for all the MS apps installed on my Mac, including Outlook which was working fine.

That was the only thing I did differently.

Thanks.

Altansukh Ganbold 0 Reputation points

2023-07-07T14:47:54.5833333+00:00

Hi Erin.

Thanks for sharing the steps. When I first tried the same steps from within PowerPoint, nothing had changed, and I still got the same error message. However, when I tried from within Word, and chose to tick all the checkboxes on that screen (not only "Identities"), then it actually cleared out everything, and I was able to enter new credentials and sign in to Microsoft 365. Good work.

Altansukh

Reeve, Mary P 0 Reputation points

2023-07-13T16:19:12.0833333+00:00

Thanks so much Erin! I have been battling this for a few weeks and your solution was simple and worked. I had the trouble only in Excel and Word (not Outlook or Powerpoint) - Excel wouldn't let me reset credentials but when I followed your method and cleared them in Word, then Excel also cleared for me. I think Microsoft moves a lot of people to other tools with crazy stunts like this where you can't even see what account is logged in. They could at least provide some message that tells you how to fix it.

Mariel Johnson 0 Reputation points

2023-08-11T16:28:09.31+00:00

THIS WORKED!
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Trevor Matkowski 10 Reputation points

2023-03-02T22:49:57.59+00:00

I'm having the same issue with the exact same: Error "Another account from your organization is already signed in on this device. Try again with a different account"

One strange symptom I'm having is that this is only affecting Word and Excel. Outlook and PowerPoint seem to be activated just fine.

I too have tried to remove all accounts from the Settings-Accounts area as well as from Credential Manager. Rebooting, updating Windows, Office, etc. Even a new profile on the computer does not seem to work.
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2 people found this answer helpful.
Prudhvi Raj Balasetty 0 Reputation points

2023-07-19T20:14:16.9933333+00:00

I don't know if anyone has figured this out yet, but incase you haven't, I'll share how I fixed it. I'm also on a Mac, so maybe that is also helpful, too.

Open Word.

Go to the Help dropdown menu.

Select Clear Application Data.

And put a check mark by Identities. Click Clear.

Then the app should restart and you can sign in. You might have to Activate it as well, so you can edit documents.

I hope this helps.
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Brian Sørensen 20 Reputation points

2023-03-09T08:53:07.1266667+00:00

Having had the same issue for 1,5 weeks now. Tried to remove apps, delete office logins from key chain, delete UBTF files, and get a new office account. Nothing works. A fix is urgently needed!
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2 people found this answer helpful.

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Matthew Hoffman 5 Reputation points

2023-02-17T19:21:07.44+00:00

Following - having same issues here.
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1 person found this answer helpful.
Emmanuel Yazbeck 0 Reputation points

2023-06-01T12:30:03.3433333+00:00

Hello, I am on Mac and I am facing this same issue... I have remove all credentials, reset the accounts... the issue appeared when adding a shared account to outlook. Now I cannot even open word, excel, PPT, ... basically all my work is stalled.
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