Need Help Getting Excel in Microsoft 365 to Launch on MacBook Pro

Question

Hello Microsoft -

On Friday I downloaded Office 365 onto my MacBook Pro 2021 (running the most recent version of Ventura 13.2.1). I did this because my prior version of Excel (from Office 2016) suddenly refused to launch and I figured I'd just replace the whole suite given its age. Excel still won't launch. I don't get an error code, it just won't boot up. All other Office 365 applications work. Hoping you can help.

Thanks,

Peter

Answer 1

Hi Peter,

Thanks for contacting us, there are several possible reasons why Excel won’t launch on your Mac, such as corrupted preference files, outdated app version, disk errors, user account issues, etc. Here are some steps you can try to fix the problem:

1. Force quit and relaunch Excel. Sometimes a simple restart can solve many issues. To force quit Excel, click on the Apple logo at the top left corner of your screen and select Force Quit from the drop-down menu. Then select Excel from the list of apps and click on Force Quit again. Then try to relaunch Excel and see if it works.
2. Update Excel. Make sure you have the latest version of Excel installed on your Mac. To check for updates, open any Office app and go to Help > Check for Updates. Follow the instructions to install any available updates.
3. Remove Excel preference files. Preference files store your custom settings for Excel and they may get corrupted over time. To remove them, quit all Office apps and go to Finder > Go > Home > Library > Preferences (you may need to hold down the Option key while clicking on Go to see Library). Then drag com.microsoft.Excel.plist to your desktop or another folder (this will backup your preferences). Then try to relaunch Excel and see if it works.
4. Run Disk Utility. Disk errors can also cause problems with launching apps on your Mac. To run Disk Utility, go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility (or use Spotlight Search). Select your startup disk (usually Macintosh HD) and click on First Aid. Click Run to repair any disk errors.
5. Create a new user account. Sometimes your user account may have some issues that prevent Excel from launching properly. To create a new user account, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups (or Accounts) and click on the + sign at the bottom left corner of the window. Follow the instructions to create a new administrator account and log out of your current account. Then log in with the new account and try to launch Excel.
6. Uninstall and reinstall Excel. If none of the above steps work, you may need to uninstall and reinstall Excel completely from your Mac. To uninstall Excel, go to Finder > Applications and drag Microsoft Office 365 folder (or Microsoft Office folder) into Trash (or use an app cleaner tool). Then empty Trash or use Secure Empty Trash option if available. To reinstall Excel, go to https://www.office.com/ or https://portal.office.com/Account/#home depending on where you purchased Office 365 from and sign in with your Microsoft account credentials. Then follow the instructions to download and install Office 365 apps on your Mac.

I hope these steps help you resolve your issue with Excel not launching on your MacBook Pro 2021.

Kind Regards, Ajibola.

Answer 2

Ajibola -

Many thanks for your quick reply. I am moving through your list of things to try. Numbers 1, 2 & 4 didn't work. For step number 3, I'm trying to find the proper Preference list, but do not find one specifically for Excel. The only Preference list entries for Microsoft I find are:

com.microsoft.autoupdate2.plist com.microsoft.office.licensing.plistcom.microsoft.office.licensingV2.plistcom.microsoft.teams.plist

Should I remove one of these, or is this step just not going to bear fruit?

Again, thanks for your guidance.

Peter

Answer 3

It seems that you are not able to locate the com.microsoft.Excel.plist file in your Preferences folder. This could mean that Excel is using the default preferences.

You can find the com.microsoft.Excel.plist file in one of these locations:

/Users/username/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9. Office/User Content/Templates /Users/username/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9. Office/User Content.localized/Templates.localized If you find the file in either of these locations, you can drag it to Trash and restart your Mac. Then try launching Excel again and see if it works.

Please let me know if this helps or if you have any other questions.