You can find troubleshooting steps for common installation or activation issues for Office for Mac here. If the issue you're having is not in these lists, you may also be experiencing an emerging issue. See the Mac section in Fixes or workarounds for recent Office installation or activation issues for help and updates on these recent issues.
Troubleshoot install or activation errors for Office for Mac:
Can't activate Office after installation.
- Check to make sure your internet is working on the Mac you're trying to install on. You can do this by opening your internet browser and going to www.microsoft.com. If the page loads, your internet connection is working.
- Reset your credentials:
- Open Spotlight by selecting the magnifying glass at the top right of your desktop.
- Search for and open Keychain.
- Type in Office and then delete the data license file.
- Download and run this script.
- Test your user account to rule out Local Profile corruption.
'No license found' error / Can't activate Outlook.
- Are you using the correct Microsoft Account (MSA)? Sign out and sign in again with the account associated with your Office 365 subscription. You may need to choose 'Sign in with another account' to proceed.Tip: Try searching all of your email accounts for a confirmation email from Microsoft. This might help you find the email address that is your MSA.
- Are you trying to activate Outlook with an Office Home and Student 2016 license? The Office Home & Student license does not come with Outlook. If you would like to use Outlook, you can switch to a different Office 365 home subscription. If you would like to keep the license you have, we recommend you drag the Outlook app to Trash to delete it.
- If you have an Office 365 work or school account, your license may not have been set up by your system administrator. Contact your organization's tech support for more help.
- If you don't have a current subscription, you can sign up for a trial account
Can't sign in to activate.
- Sign in to your Microsoft Account at Office.com/signin.Important: All Microsoft Accounts have access to Office Online for free. Seeing the web apps on this page doesn't necessarily mean that you have a subscription.
- Click the Install Office button on the page.
- If you have an Office license, you'll see it listed on the new page. This is the correct account to sign in with.
Installation limit reached.
Your account <email address> has been used to activate Office on the maximum number of computers allowed. Visit your account page to manage your settings and then return here to retry activation.'
Office keeps asking me to sign in / 'Authentication Expired' error
One-time purchase of Office for Mac confirmed, but still can't activate
- Open Finder, click Go (In the menu bar) > Computer.
- Go to Macintosh HD > Library.
- Find the PriviligedHelperTools folder. If there is a red dot/stop icon next to the name, it is not accessible. Fix it using the instructions in the Fix permissions for the PriviligedHelperTools folder below.Note: If your PriviligedHelperTools folder is accessible but empty, uninstall and then reinstall Office for Mac. Then activate Office again after confirming that the PriviligedHelperTools folder now has files in it.
- Open Finder, click Go (In the menu bar) > Computer.
- Go to Macintosh HD > Library.
- Find the PriviligedHelperTools folder. If there is a red dot/stop icon next to the name, it is not accessible. Fix it using the instructions in the Fix permissions for the PriviligedHelperTools folder below.Note: If your PriviligedHelperTools folder is accessible but empty, uninstall and then reinstall Office for Mac. Then activate Office again after confirming that the PriviligedHelperTools folder now has files in it.
- Right-click the file, and click Get info.
- Right-click the lock symbol in the Sharing and Permission section.
- Click the unlock symbol and enter your admin password.
- Change the Everyone's privilege to Read and Write.
- In Spotlight Search(the magnifying glass on your desktop), search for and launch Terminal.
- Type 'Cd /Library' and press Enter.
- Type 'sudo -s' and press Enter.
- Type your Mac local account password and press Enter. You will need administrator privileges for this.Note: As you type, Terminal will not display the characters.
- Type 'chmod 755 ./PrivilegedHelperTools' and press Enter.
- Quit out of Terminal and out of the Office apps. Relaunch Office and complete activation.
Error code 0xD000000C.
Error code 0x8A010101.
Error code 0xD0001043.
- Uninstall Office for Mac and then re-install Office from Office.com/signin.
- Activate again.
Error code 0xD000001c.
- In the top menu bar, select the Apple icon > System Preferences > Sharing (third row.)
- In the Computer Name text box, update your Mac's name and then close the window.
- Restart your Mac and then activate Office.
'You need to activate Office for Mac within X days' after activating already.
- In Spotlight Search (the magnifying glass) on your Mac, search for and open Keychain Access.
- In Keychain Access, delete the following files:Note: You will need local admin privileges to make changes to your Keychain Access.
- Microsoft Office Identities Cache 3
- Microsoft Office Identities Settings 3
- Microsoft Office Ticket Cache
- Restart your Mac and open any Microsoft Office app to reactivate.
Activated but still prompted to activate.
- Quit the app. For example, if you're using Word, you'll go to the upper left corner of your screen and click Word > Quit Word.
- Restart any Office app and the message should be gone.
- If this is a constant issue, reset your credentials:
- Open Spotlight by selecting the magnifying glass at the top right of your desktop.
- Search for and open Keychain.
- Type in Office and then delete the data license file.
- Download and run this script.
Activated with the wrong license
Can't download the Office for Mac installer.
- Check to make sure your internet is working on the Mac you're trying to install on. Pause any other downloads you may have active.
- If you've started a download and it's stuck, delete the download file by dragging it to Trash. Empty the Trash. Now, start the download again by going to Office.com/signin.Note: In order to activate Office for Mac, you will need a valid and licensed Office 365 account or a Microsoft Account that is associated with a one-time purchase. If you don't, you won't be able to create or edit files, only read them.
- Still not working? Open Safari and go to Preferences > Security tab and make sure Enable Javascript is selected. Then go to the Privacy tab > Manage Website Data > Remove all. Start the download again using Safari.
Can't find the installer or Office apps after downloading
Close Your Internet Connection For App Mac Download
- Look for the file in your Downloads folder, typically next to the Trash.
- If you don't see a Downloads folder, open Safari and go to View > Show Downloads.
'An error has occurred. We can't move on to the next step. Please try again later.'
Installer.pkg file downloaded but won't launch.
- Wait for the download to be complete. It may take a while, and may start and stop. The final file size should be around 1.5 gb.
- Move the Microsoft Office installer .pkg file from the Downloads folder to the desktop, and then double-click to launch.
- If it's still not working, delete the installer.pkg file and empty the Trash. Now, redownload using the Safari browser at Office.com/signin.
Unidentified developer error
Internet Connection Speed Test
- If you haven't already, upgrade your device to MacOS Sierra 10.12.
- Click OK and wait 10 seconds. Move the download file to your desktop and try again.
- Hold Control and click the file on your desktop. Click Open.
Error message 'Install Failed' when trying to install.
- The download is corrupted. Drag the installer file to Trash to delete it. Empty the Trash.
- Start the download again in Safari by going to Office.com/signin.
Unsupported operating system error/Bought wrong version
Installer stuck at 'Verifying.'
- Click OK. Wait 10 seconds and try again.
- Update to macOS Sierra (10.12).
- Restart your computer and install Office for Mac again.
Download stopping at the same size, every time.
- Check to make sure your internet is working on the Mac you're trying to install on. You can do this by opening your internet browser and go to www.microsoft.com. If the page loads, you're good to go.
- Click and drag the installer file to Trash to delete it.
- Use the Safari browser and try to download the installer again.
System requirements not met.
Still having trouble? We're listening.
This article is updated based on your feedback. If you still need help installing or activating Office for Mac, tell us about your issue in detail by leaving us a comment below and we'll try to address it in the future.
You can also contact Microsoft support to talk to a human.
Related Topics
Activate Office for Mac
Uninstall Office for Mac
Where to sign in to Office 365
Fixes or workarounds for recent Office installation or activation issues
Restart your Mac
Check your Internet connection
Free up disk space
Check CPU usage
Check memory usage
/var/vm
, and click Go.) Swapfiles can contribute to a system slowdown by using up disk space. There's no need to manually delete them. Instead....