Office 365 Apps not showing up on Start menu and search bar after installation

Question

So I recently installed office 365 apps on my laptop after downloading the office installer and leaving it to run and download the Office apps. However, after the installer had informed me the office apps had finished installing, I went to the start menu to try and open Word but the office 365 apps were not on the start menu. When I tried to use search to find the apps, no positive results came about. It was as if I had not installed office 365 apps. I realised however that my word documents were opening with the Word app from office 365 which meant that it was installed but was not showing up on the start menu. I tried to reinstall office 365 to see if it will solve the problem, but the problem is still there. I further tried to check if it was a problem with many apps in the start menu as I have read it has a limit of 512 apps but that also was not it as my start menu has way less.

How do I go about this? I have also tried to use quick repair and online repair from office 365, but it has not solved the problem.

Answer 1

Hi Techactuary,

May I know which Microsoft 365 subscription you have? Is it Microsoft 365 family/personal or business/enterprise?

I understand you have recently installed Microsoft 365 apps, but they do not appear in Start menu nor they show up in Search bar and you tried online and quick repair.

Please go to the following location, check if you see your Office apps:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

If you do see the apps, right-click on any Office application, select Pin to Start, repeat the step for the next Office application. When done you have your Office applications in Start menu.

Besides, you can also follow suggestion from the following article to pin the Office apps to the taskbar or desktop.

Office apps are missing from All apps on Windows 10

Regards,

Neha

Answer 2

Hi Techactuary,

May I know which Microsoft 365 subscription you have? Is it Microsoft 365 family/personal or business/enterprise?

I understand you have recently installed Microsoft 365 apps, but they do not appear in Start menu nor they show up in Search bar and you tried online and quick repair.

Please go to the following location, check if you see your Office apps:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

If you do see the apps, right-click on any Office application, select Pin to Start, repeat the step for the next Office application. When done you have your Office applications in Start menu.

Besides, you can also follow suggestion from the following article to pin the Office apps to the taskbar or desktop.

Office apps are missing from All apps on Windows 10

Regards,

Neha

Hi, thank you for the reply. Yes, I checked for the apps in **C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs...**but they were not there. The only way I found one of the installed apps, Word is when I opened a word document and it opened and so I pinned it in the taskbar.

Also, I am using the Microsoft 365 business/enterprise.

Answer 3

Hi Techactuary,

Good to know that you can at least open the apps from the Task bar. You can also create a shortcut in your Desktop:

1. Open a File Explorer.
2. Go to the Office 16 folder:
   • For 32-bit Office, go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16.
   • For 64-bit Office, go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16.
3. Find the Office program that you want to create a shortcut for: WINWORD, EXCEL, POWERPNT, ONENOTE, OUTLOOK, MSPUB, or MSACCESS.
4. Right-click the program, then select Create shortcut.
5. Choose Yes on the alert that opens.

Another thing you can check whether Show recently added apps toggle is On or OFF in Windows Settings>Personalization>Start.

Regards,

Neha

Answer 4

Hi Techactuary,

I am writing to follow up in this case. If you still need help, please update us when you have time.

Regards,

Neha