Where's my purchase history? MS Office software disables every time Mac OS Updates.

Question

Every time my Apple OS updates, Microsoft disables my Office 2021 Home and Student software.

I need to enable it, however, the software does not appear on MS' purchases website. The last time this happened, a live MS chat rep was able to find my purchase, but I can no longer see it on MS' website, and MicroSoft apparently no longer has live chat assistance.

I believe I need to reinstall MS Office 2021 home student for mac. That's what a MicroSoft rep helped me with the last time this happened. I purchased the software from Apple when I purchased my latest MacBook Pro. Apple installed it before delivering my MacBook Pro.

Not only is this etremely frustrating, but without seeing my purchase on Microsoft's website, I fear they have essentially stolen my money and are not allowing me to use my legally purchased product.

I need help asap.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello E P,

This can happen with Microsoft Office 2021 Home and Student when it was purchased through Apple instead of directly from Microsoft.

Why you don’t see the purchase: Licenses bought via Apple are not linked to your Microsoft account. That’s why it doesn’t appear on the Services & Subscriptions page. Your license is still valid, just stored differently

Why Office disables after macOS updates

•  macOS updates can reset activation data
•  Office can’t verify the license > it becomes deactivated 

What to do now: 

1. Remove current Office

Close all Office apps

Go to Applications > delete all Office apps (Word, Excel, etc.)

Empty Trash 

For more details:

2. Reinstall Office 

Download and install again from Microsoft’s official site: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/download-install-or-reinstall-microsoft-365-or-office-2024-on-a-pc-or-mac-4414eaaf-0478-48be-9c42-23adc4716658

Follow the instructions.

3. Open and activate 

Open Word or Excel 

Sign in with your Microsoft account (if prompted)

Follow the instructions: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/activate-office-for-mac-7f6646b1-bb14-422a-9ad4-a53410fcefb2

4. If activation doesn’t work, the best way is contact Microsoft support:

Since your license came from Apple: 

• The system may not automatically detect it
• You’ll need support to locate and reattach your license

To contact Microsoft support:

Once you’ve tried the steps above, you can also reach out directly to the Microsoft Support team. It may offer live chat and, depending on your subscription/region, an option to request a callback:

• Go to https://support.microsoft.com/home/contact
• Search for "Office 2021 Activation Issues on Mac" in the search box.    
• Click "Get Help", then scroll to the bottom and select "Contact Support”.
• When prompted to select Products & Services, select Microsoft 365 and Office – Manage my subscription (or the closest activation/licensing option offered).
• Look for and select "Chat with a support agent in your web browser". Once connect, explain your situation clearly.

Please note that the chat support team only works during certain working hours. Therefore, if the last window indicates that you are unavailable, try opening it again the next day. If you prefer phone support, you can leave a phone number. That way, they can call you and help you.

Please understand that this is a user‑to‑user support forum. Moderators, contributors, and external Microsoft staff cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back‑end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas. Still, I will do my best to assist you with everything I can.

I hope this will help with your situation. Please feel free to reach back if you have further update or more questions.

Best Regards,

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Answer 2

The purchase is valid but activation is failing on macOS, and the license is not visible in the Microsoft account portal because it was purchased through Apple and preinstalled by the Mac vendor.

For Office for Mac licenses tied to Apple purchases, activation problems and “license not found” behavior are typically caused by either:

1. Office not being able to find or validate the purchase associated with the Apple ID, or
2. The local licensing/background service on macOS being blocked or corrupted.

Use the following steps to restore and stabilize activation:

1. Verify the Apple-side purchase
   • Open the Apple subscriptions page and confirm that the Microsoft 365/Office purchase associated with the Mac is still active and tied to the correct Apple ID.
   • If the subscription or license has expired, renew it; otherwise proceed.
2. Restore the purchase from within Office for Mac
   • Follow the steps in “Restore previous purchase of Microsoft 365 Apps or Copilot Pro for Mac, iPhone or iPad” to let Office re-read the App Store receipt and re-associate the license with the apps.
   • This is the supported way to fix cases where Microsoft cannot see the purchase directly but Apple still shows it as valid.
3. If activation still fails or apps quit or show license errors
   • Quit all Office apps.
   • In macOS System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, under “Allow in the Background”, ensure entries such as “Microsoft Corporation” and “Microsoft Office Licensing” are turned ON so the background licensing service can run.
   • If problems persist, uninstall Office completely:
     • In Finder > Applications, select all Microsoft Office/Microsoft 365 apps, Ctrl+click and choose Move to Trash, then empty the Trash.
     • In Finder, use Go > Go to Folder and open ~/Library/Containers/ and remove the com.microsoft.Word, com.microsoft.Excel, com.microsoft.Powerpoint, com.microsoft.Outlook, and com.microsoft.OneNote folders if present.
     • In ~/Library/Group Containers, move to Trash the folders UBF8T346G9.ms and UBF8T346G9.Office if present.
   • Reinstall Office from the appropriate source (for an Apple-purchased copy, use the App Store or the method originally provided with the Mac) and then run the “restore previous purchase” process again so the new installation picks up the existing license.
4. If the license still does not appear or activation fails after these steps
   • This scenario (license apparently missing from the portal, but already used and tied to the Mac) has been resolved for other users only after direct Microsoft Support intervention.
   • Use the Microsoft Support contact page and request assistance for an Office for Mac license/activation issue. Support can locate the license on the back end and help re-associate it with the device or account.

These steps address both the missing-license symptom and the repeated deactivation after macOS updates by ensuring the Apple purchase is recognized, the local licensing service is allowed to run, and the Office installation and license files are clean.

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References:

• Office for Mac payment error code1007
• Office for Mac payment error codes 1001, 1002, 1003 and 1005
• Update Office for Mac automatically
• Office 2021 license does not work and ist not anymore in the portal listed - Microsoft Q&A
• Microsoft Office apps for Mac quit unexpectedly - Microsoft Q&A
• Office Home and Student 2021 issue - Microsoft Q&A