Microsoft Office Home and Student 2021 (One Mac) - Deactivated

Here is what I posted in another discussion.

Part 1

I had the same issue with Microsoft Office 2021 on my Mac (macOS Sequoia 15.8.1). My solution was to turn off Microsoft Update in System Settings > General > Login Items and to restore Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook from a Time Machine backup made two days ago.

I'm able to create new Excel files and edit those files. The only annoyance is that Office show you an error that it cannot update. I just dismiss the error and everything seems to be working correctly.

Part 2

To get rid of the Auto Update error message, rename the Microsoft auto update app by prefixing it with a “_”:

'/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/_Microsoft AutoUpdate.app'

Many others with the same issue below, worth reading the replies:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/6046822/office-2021-perpetual-version-no-longer-working?page=2&orderby=helpful&comment=answer-13015676&translated=false

Microsoft released versions 16.114.1 on 10/22 (which was when the issue started), 16.114.2 on 10/26 (which did not fix the issue), and version 16.114.3 on 10/27.

On 10/23, I restored version 16.114 from a Time Machine backup and disabled Microsoft Auto Update because version 16.114.1 broke Microsoft Office (see my previous reply). That made Microsoft Office work again. On 10/26, I wanted to see if the next upgrades would fix the original issue so I installed version 16.114.2 but that version had the same issues as 16.114.1. On 10/28, I installed version 16.114.3 which fixed all the issues.

Here is what I did to install 16.114.3 after restoring to 16.114. (Note that all I had done was to restore Microsoft Office in the Applications folder from Time Machine and to disable Microsoft Auto Update. I did nothing else such as removing the license or deleting files.) I removed the "_" from Microsoft AutoUpdate ('/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app'), turned back on Microsoft Auto Update in System Settings > General > Login Items, opened Excel and updated (Help > Check for Updates). Excel and Word now work as before with no error messages whatsoever. (I didn't check the other Office apps as I'm not really using them but I would assume they are working as well.)

One possible fix, by reverting to a slightly earlier version:

Microsoft Office 2021: No Save, no Edit, no Create - Apple Community

The following has links to the kits at Microsoft, or try an update as the current version fixes this:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250012581

Thanks 6x6 for linking your solution on at least a couple of threads.

Just to clarify all you did was to delete Word/Excel etc 16.114 versions then restore or move 16.113 versions of those apps, , from timemachine backup, back into the Application folder.

Other methods require deleting caches and licence files etc but you didn’t need to do that did you?

Could you please confirm?

Sorry to take so long, I've been switching to Firefox from Chrome. I successfully completed the first step (unlocking the present app files, and adding "read and write" to all, but when I tried the same on the older version from my Time Machine, after unlocking it, it insists I don't have the privileges to change read/write settings? (it's my personally purchased Microsoft Office Home and Student 2021.

WaxwingCathy wrote:

Thank you for your Nov. 7 reply -- if a later version fixes this, would it not work to re-enable automatic updates? (Nervous about deleting the apps)

Thanks for you patience

Update, and see.

It doesn’t get worse than where you are now.

There are newer Office versions.

There are fine alternatives, too.

Hello WaxwingCathy,

On 10/28/2026, Microsoft released a Microsoft Office update (version 16.114.3) that fixed the issue they introduced in version 16.114.1.

So the steps I described above are no longer relevant if you haven't deleted anything from your Mac.

Just make sure that Microsoft AutoUpdate is turned on in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions and just open Excel or Word. You should be then prompted to update. Proceed with the update and Microsoft Office 2021 for Mac should then work as it should.

Thank you!!! when I first simply tried "automatic update" Word went to 16.113.4, which seemed to work, but Excel and PowerPoint both stuck on 16.114.2, saying "licence not activated: end of support Oct. 13, 2026" etc. So I followed your instructions to Help --> "check for updates" on an opened app like Excel, and darned if they all didn't go to 16.114.4 and all is well again!!

1,000,000 thanks!

Hi 6x6

What a wonderful, easy to read and understandable reply.

Thanks.

Thank you for your Nov. 7 reply -- if a later version fixes this, would it not work to re-enable automatic updates? (Nervous about deleting the apps)

Thanks for you patience

You are most welcome!