MS Word will not update

Question

My MS word application hasn’t updated since 2018 and refuses to update

Answer 1

Which Office product do you have? It may be out of support. Also, which version of macOS do you have?

See also https://www.brandwares.com/bestpractices/2023/03/most-recent-office-you-can-run-best-practices/ .

Answer 2

On macOS, Word not updating since 2018 is typically caused by one of these:

1. Office for Mac is too old for the current macOS version and can no longer be updated.
2. Microsoft AutoUpdate is not being used or is failing.
3. The installation is corrupted and needs a full reinstall.

Try these steps in order:

1. Check for updates with Microsoft AutoUpdate
   1. Open Word (if it will launch).
   2. On the top menu, select Help > Check for Updates.
   3. In Microsoft AutoUpdate, select Automatically keep Microsoft apps up to date.
   4. Select Update (or Update All) to install available updates.
   If Check for Updates does not appear, install the latest Microsoft AutoUpdate tool from the link in the article, then try again.
2. Confirm how Office was installed If unsure whether Word was installed from the Mac App Store or from microsoft.com, run this command in Terminal:

      mdls -name kMDItemAppStoreReceiptType /Applications/Microsoft\ Word.app
   

   • If the result is MDItemAppStoreReceiptType = (null), Word should be updated using Microsoft AutoUpdate as above.
   • If it shows a receipt type (for example, "Production"), updates are managed by the Mac App Store instead, so use the App Store > Updates tab.
3. If updates still fail, fully reinstall Office If Word and other Office apps show errors when updating or won’t launch after attempting updates, a full removal and reinstall can resolve corruption:
   1. Quit all Office apps.
   2. Open Finder > Applications.
   3. Command-click to select all Microsoft 365/Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote), then Ctrl+click > Move to Trash.
   4. In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder… and open ~/Library/Containers/.
   5. Move to Trash the folders starting with:
      • com.microsoft.Word
      • com.microsoft.Excel
      • com.microsoft.Powerpoint
      • com.microsoft.Outlook
      • com.microsoft.OneNote
   6. Go back to the Library folder and open Group Containers.
   7. Move to Trash (if present):
      • UBF8T346G9.ms
      • UBF8T346G9.Office
   8. Empty the Trash.
   9. Sign in to the Microsoft account that owns the subscription at the Services & subscriptions page (link in the context article) and reinstall the Office apps for Mac.
   10. After reinstalling, run Help > Check for Updates again to confirm Word is now current.
4. If AutoUpdate shows an “Upgrade required” message If Microsoft AutoUpdate reports that an upgrade is required and will not install newer builds, the current macOS version is no longer supported for the latest Office. In that case, updating macOS (for example, to Sonoma, Sequoia, or later if supported by the Mac) is required before Word can receive current updates.

If, after a full reinstall and using the correct update mechanism (AutoUpdate or App Store), Word still cannot update and the Mac cannot be upgraded to a supported macOS version, that installation of Word will remain on its last supported version.

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References:

• Update Office for Mac automatically
• Microsoft Office apps for Mac quit unexpectedly - Microsoft Q&A
• Microsoft Autoupdate - Microsoft Q&A
• cannot install update in MAC sequoia - Microsoft Q&A