How locate MS Office For Mac after successfully loading and installing on iMac24

Question

I have purchased Microsoft Office for Mac through TechSoup and The Microsoft 365 AdminCenter. Downloaded the .iso file, Extracted the VL Serializer package, ran it and it says "successfully installed to Macintosh HD". There is no icon on desktop or toolbar to enter Office, Word, Excel, etc. I cannot find the software by searching, or scrolling through Macintosh HD, applications, user, etc. Have gotten successful installed messages three times, but cannot find the software to run. The Support Assistant (Copilot Studio) and many articles/pages online support sends me to has not helped.

<Moved from Office/Access>

Answer 1

The VL Serializer only activates a volume-licensed copy of Office; it does not install the Office apps themselves. The apps must be installed first, then the VL Serializer is run to license them.

To get the Office apps onto the Mac and then find them:

1. Install Office for Mac
   • If Office was not actually installed (only the VL Serializer was run), download and install the Office for Mac suite:
     • Use the appropriate installer package for the license (for example, Office 2024/2021/2019 for Mac Installer) from Microsoft, then open the downloaded .pkg and complete the installation.
     • For volume licenses, the context shows these options:
       • Office 2024 for Mac Installer
       • Office 2021 for Mac Installer
       • Office 2019 for Mac Installer
       • Office 2016 for Mac Installer
     • Once the installer finishes, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook are copied into the Applications folder.
2. Locate the Office apps on macOS
   • Open Finder → Applications and scroll down to entries starting with Microsoft (for example, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook).
   • Alternatively, open Launchpad and look for the Microsoft apps there.
3. Add icons to the Dock (optional)
   • From Finder → Applications or from Launchpad, drag each app (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) down to the Dock to create permanent icons.
4. If Office still cannot be found
   • Confirm that the Office installer actually ran (not just the VL Serializer). If only the VL Serializer package was executed, repeat step 1 using the full Office for Mac installer.
   • If the apps were installed but are not visible in the Dock, use Finder → Applications or Launchpad as above; Dock icons are not created automatically.

Once the Office apps are installed and visible in Applications/Launchpad, the VL Serializer that was already run will apply the volume license so the apps run as licensed.

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References:

• Microsoft Office activation and the Mac App Store
• What to try if you can't install or activate Office for Mac
• Troubleshoot installing Office
• Install Office with Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet
• Video: Find your Office apps on Windows 10
• "Microsoft program cannot be opened because of a problem" error when you start an Office program