Office 365 - Re-Enable Editing on a Mac

Introduction

In some cases, when opening Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) on MacOS, you may encounter the following error message:

"View Only Your account [username]@pima.edu doesn't allow editing on a Mac. To learn more, contact your admin about your Office plan."

This article covers the process of re-enabling editing of Office 365 files on MacOS.

Instructions

Reactivating Office 365

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. On the Menu Bar at the top of the screen, click "Word" to open the dropdown menu.
3. In the Word dropdown menu, select "Activate Microsoft 365".
4. Sign into your account using your Pima email and password.
5. Once logged in, restart your computer for the activation to take effect. 

Microsoft Office License Removal Tool

If you are still unable to edit documents after reactivating your Office account, there may be invalid files that are preventing the computer from updating your license. To refresh these files, you can use the official Microsoft Office Removal Tool:

1. Download the Microsoft Office Removal Tool from Microsoft’s website and run the .pkg file on your Mac.
2. Follow the steps in the Setup Wizard.
3. If prompted to, enter your local account password to complete the license removal process.
4. Follow the steps in the “Reactivating Office 365” section above to refresh the license files after the Setup Wizard finishes.

Additional Troubleshooting

In rare cases, you may encounter an issue with the Office 365 installation itself. If the previous steps do not resolve the issue, follow these additional steps:

1. Sign Out of Office 365:
   • Open any Office 365 application installed on your Mac.
   • Click on the application name menu (e.g., Word) and choose "Sign Out."
   • Quit the Office application.
2. Navigate to Library Folder:
   • Open Finder.
   • Click on the "Go" menu and select "Go to Folder."
   • In the search field, type: "~/Library" (tilde, then forward slash, then 'Library').
3. Locate and Delete Files:
   • Click on the "Group Containers" folder to open it.
   • Locate the following three files and delete them:
     • UBF8T346G9.ms
     • UBF8T346G9.Office
     • UBF8T346G9.OfficeOsfWebHost
4. Restart your Mac:
   • Restart your Mac then launch any Office application to check if you can now edit documents.

These steps should prompt Office to recheck the license used to access your Office products, potentially resolving any issues with editing capabilities on your device.

If you encounter any difficulties or require further assistance with Office 365 on Mac, please submit a request for prompt resolution.