Renewed subscription on wrong account / Online Service credential has expired

Question

I'm getting an error message on all Microsoft applications every time due to "Online Service credential has expired".

Applications on my laptop were installed using another of my emails / Microsoft account. Unfortunately when came time to renew the subscription, I used another email. Now, all my documents and apps don't recognize that I do have a valid Microsoft account.

Answer 1

Sorry to hear about this. The account originally used to install Office does not have to be the account used to activate it.

First, sign in to the following page with the account used for the renewal and confirm that Microsoft 365 appears as active:

https://account.microsoft.com/services

Then open Word and go to File > Account > Product Information > Switch License (or Update License) and sign in with the account that has the active subscription. Close and reopen all Office applications afterward.

Your documents will not be deleted by changing the activation account. However, files stored in OneDrive remain associated with the account where they were saved, so you may need to keep the former account listed under Connected Services to access them, as mentioned here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-activation-licensing/office-install/change-your-office-product-key