Office for Mac keeps asking you to activate or sign in
Clearing old licences with Microsoft's License Removal Tool and running the serializer again
Internet Interests
Last Update hace 10 días
A sign-in or activation prompt after you've run the serializer means Office is reading a different licence, or the serializer hasn't taken effect. That happens when the Mac still holds a licence from Microsoft 365 or an earlier Office, or when the apps are older than version 16.89, where Office LTSC for Mac 2024 versions begin. Clearing the old licences and running the serializer again sorts it out.
Steps
- Update the apps. Open Word, choose Help > Check for Updates and install everything Microsoft AutoUpdate offers. Then check Word > About Word for version 16.89 or later.
- Quit every Office app.
- Download Microsoft's License Removal Tool. Microsoft warns that "This will completely remove all licenses for Microsoft 365 for Mac," and that includes any other Office licence on the Mac.
- Open the .pkg file from your Downloads folder. If macOS says it's from an unidentified developer, hold Control, click the file and choose Open.
- Select Continue, then Install, and enter the Mac's administrator password. Select Close when it finishes.
- Run the Volume License Serializer again, as described in Activate Office for Mac.
- Restart the Mac and open Word.
- Drag the Microsoft_Office_License_Removal file from Downloads to the Bin.
Microsoft's page How to remove Office license files on a Mac describes the tool.
If you also use Microsoft 365 on this Mac
The removal tool clears a Microsoft 365 licence as well. If you use a subscription alongside Office LTSC on the same Mac, you'll need to sign in to it again afterwards.
If the prompt comes back
Contact us with the macOS version from Apple menu > About This Mac, the Word version from Word > About Word, and a screenshot of the prompt.