Does Office 2021 (non subscription) work on Mac OS 12

Question

Does Office 2021 (non subscription) work on Mac OS 12

Kevin Hayes 0

Hi

My purchased product Office 2021 as of July is no longer activated on my mac with OS 12.6

When I try to activate I get the 0x0 error message.

Does Office 2021 (non subscription) still work with OS 12.6?

If so how do I reactivate?

Thank you.

Kevin

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1 answer

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Answer 1

EmilyS_726 24,635 Volunteer Moderator

For macOS Monterey 12, Microsoft 365 is no longer supported for current updates.

The August 2024 release, version 16.88, was the final Office build supporting Monterey. An existing installation may continue to work, but it will not receive security updates, fixes, or new features. Current Microsoft 365 and Office 2024 installations require macOS Sonoma 14 or later.

You will need to uninstall it. And install the downgraded version (16.88) here: https://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.88.24081116_Installer.pkg?apid=ets

Kevin Hayes 0 Reputation points

2026-08-02T01:56:32.4666667+00:00

Okay but this is Office 2021 not a subscription and not concerned about updates etc.

So why did it stop working in July all of a sudden? I own it.
EmilyS726 256.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-02T02:03:24.5433333+00:00

Sorry I misspoke there but it doesn’t change what I would suggest you do.

Solution remains the same.

This is due to a digital license certificate update on all Mac devices on July 13th. See Microsoft release below -

https://support.microsoft.com/office/update-microsoft-365-or-office-on-your-macos-or-ios-device-f418ae5d-bb5f-4078-b3d9-9340f5dd084e?apid=ets
Kevin Hayes 0 Reputation points

2026-08-02T02:21:17.23+00:00

Hi.

Thanks.

On that link it says the following:

"Prior to updating your Office apps, you need to ensure that you are running macOS 12 (Monterey) or later on your Mac, or iOS 17 or later on your iPad/iPhone."

So it says it should work on macOS 12.

I tried updating the Word application on my Mac to get it to 16.83 (currently 16.67) but when I try to update it says "update error" and to try later.

Any work arounds for this?
EmilyS_726 24,635 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-02T02:39:21.3766667+00:00

I wish it wasn't written like that. This whole article is honestly not written well and a lot needs to be unpacked from there.

Update will work better if you are running an office version that's still supported. But the problem is, neither 16.83, or 16.67 is supported. This is why I went ahead and gave you the uninstall and reinstall method, and reinstall the 16.88 version, that's what your macOS can handle. I wouldn't waste time on trying to update instead.
Kevin Hayes 0 Reputation points

2026-08-02T02:55:13.14+00:00

Hi.

I solved it.

I found this install and got it to update to 16.88 and working perfectly. I did not have to uninstall just updated with this.

Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.88.24081116_Installer.pkg
EmilyS_726 24,635 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-02T03:23:03.9133333+00:00

Cool cool, that's actually the same one I gave you, glad it let you do an inplace update.
Stefan Blom 348.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-02T07:31:15.2766667+00:00

@Kevin Hayes

See also John Korchok's article at https://www.brandwares.com/bestpractices/2023/03/most-recent-office-you-can-run-best-practices/ .