Troubleshoot Microsoft Office activations on macOS

Overview

On occasion, you may encounter activation or licensing errors when activating Microsoft Office 365 for the first time on your Mac, or even after the software has already been licensed previously. The quickest resolution is to remove any existing license files and re-activate Office.

Faculty and staff should contact the Help Desk if there is an activation error on your University Mac. Students or faculty and staff with personal Macs, if you encounter activation related errors while using Office on your Mac, follow the troubleshooting steps below.

Instructions

Please note, these instructions are only for student and personal Macs. Do not run this tool to remove the license file from your University provided or managed Mac. If there is an activation error on your University Mac, please contact the Help Desk for support.

  1. Save your work if needed, close and completely Quit any open Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, or Outlook)
  2. Navigate to https://office-reset.com/ and download the Office Reset tool
  3. Run the tool and choose Reset License and Sign-In. Please note, selecting other reset options may result in loss of data. Ensure only Reset License and Sign-In is selected:
    reset license
  4. Click Continue and Install and the license files will be reset
  5. Launch any Office app and sign in with your Richmond email address to activate Office
  6. If you still receive activation errors, please contact the Help Desk at 804-287-6400 or Submit a Ticket

See Also

Microsoft Office

What to do if you can't install or activate Office on your Mac

 

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