Unable to activate an old version of Microsoft office for Mac 16.77.23091003 which should be compatible with my machine

Question

I have an old Mac 2.4 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, Operating system macOS Big Sur

I have Microsoft Family 365 - my daughter is the main accountant holder

I tried using Office today on this machine after many years on our 365 account, previously I had been using a work Microsoft office account

Obviously I have to use an old version of Office and have downloaded 16.77.23091003

However although I have a valid membership I cannot activate this

What am I doing wrong ? or what should I be doing

Answer 1

If your macOS is below 12, Office products will now enter reduced functionality mode. In other words, the OS is too old to receive the licensing update the Office now requires. Sorry.

This is an update that occured on July 13th and Microsoft shared it here: https://support.microsoft.com/office/update-microsoft-365-or-office-on-your-macos-or-ios-device-f418ae5d-bb5f-4078-b3d9-9340f5dd084e?apid=ets

If your device cannot update its OS to at least 12, your options will be: Use the web version or an alternative like LibreOffice. And you want to cancel your subscriptions.