Log in to word

Question

Good afternoon,

I am having trouble logging into my word as I have a 2 separate accounts on Microsoft and when prompted to login the other account logs in without an option to login with the other account. I need help,

Answer 1

Hi Sr. Dolores Benitez

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum.

On macOS, Word and other Office apps may automatically sign in with the last account that was used, without prompting to choose a different one. In addition to the steps provided in the Q&A Assist answer, please try the following troubleshooting actions if the issue persists.

Note: The following step removes Outlook profiles. If you have local data in Outlook, please ensure to backup this data before proceeding. 

1, Clear saved Office credentials

• Press Command + Space to open Spotlight, then search for Keychain Access on your Mac.
• Search for entries related to Microsoft, Office, ADAL, or MSAL.
• Delete the credentials associated with the account that keeps signing in automatically.
• Restart your Mac.

2, Remove Office identity cache

• Quit all Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook).
• Open Finder, then press Command + Shift + G.
• Enter the following path: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/
• Locate and remove cached identity or token files inside this folder.
• Restart Word and attempt to sign in again with the intended account.

3, Remove Office license files

• Please follow the instructions in this Microsoft article: How to remove Office license files on a Mac - Microsoft Support
• After completing the steps in the article, quit all Office applications.
• Restart your Mac.
• Open Word and sign in using the correct account.

Please let me know how things go on your side as your update can also assist others in the community who may be facing the same issue.

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Answer 2

When Word keeps signing in with the wrong Microsoft account and does not offer a choice, it is usually because Office and the browser are already signed in with that account and single sign-on is reusing it.

Try these steps on macOS:

1. Sign out of the wrong account in Office on the Mac
   1. Open Word.
   2. Go to the account/profile menu (usually under Word > Sign Out or by clicking the name/email in the top-right of the Word window).
   3. Sign out of all accounts shown.
   4. Quit Word and any other Office apps (Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
2. Remove cached Office credentials (Mac)
   1. Open the Keychain Access app.
   2. In the search box, type Office.
   3. Delete the entries that relate to Office sign-in (entries containing “Office” as described for similar sign-in issues).
   4. Close Keychain Access.
   5. Reopen Word and sign in with the correct Microsoft 365/Office account when prompted.
3. If Word still picks the wrong account via the browser Microsoft 365 uses single sign-on per browser profile, so if the browser is signed in with the other account, Word may reuse it. Use one of these options when Word opens a browser window for sign-in:
   • Use a private browsing window (InPrivate/Incognito/Private) and sign in there with the correct account.
   • Or create a separate browser profile (for example, a dedicated profile in Microsoft Edge) for the work/school account and use that profile only for the account you want in Word.
4. Be aware of multiple-account limitations
   • Office apps do not support logging in with multiple user accounts from the same Microsoft 365 organization at the same time. If both accounts belong to the same tenant, sign out of one account in Office before using the other.

If after these steps Word still signs in with the wrong account, repeat the sign-out and Keychain cleanup, then sign in only with the account that owns the Word/Office license that should be used on this Mac.

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References:

• About accounts in Office
• Sign in to SharePoint
• Can't sign in to an Office 2016 for Mac app