Why did MS Office Home & Student 2021 (on a mac) de-activate after 1 year?

Hello Andrew D, Welcome to Microsoft Community. I am a Microsoft user just like you, I hope you are doing well? I am sorry for the experience, to best resolve this issue, I will need you to remove Office apps from your device completely and reinstall Office Home and Student 2021. >> Step 1: Remove Office for Mac applications 1. Open Finder > Applications. 2.Command ⌘ + click to select all of the Office for Mac applications. 3. Ctrl+click an application you selected and click Move to Trash. >> Step 2: Remove files from your user Library folder 1. In Finder, press ⌘+Shift+g. 2. In the window that opens, enter ~/Library and then click Go. 3. Open the Containers folder and ctrl+click each of these folders and Move to Trash. Note that some of these folders may not be present. com.microsoft.errorreporting com.microsoft.Excel com.microsoft.netlib.shipassertprocess com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2 com.microsoft.Outlook com.microsoft.Powerpoint com.microsoft.RMS-XPCService com.microsoft.Word com.microsoft.onenote.mac 4. Click the back arrow to go back to the Library folder and open Group Containers. Ctrl+click each of these folders if present, and Move to Trash. UBF8T346G9.ms UBF8T346G9. Office UBF8T346G9. OfficeOsfWebHost Step 3: Remove from Dock and restart 1. If you put any of the Office applications in your Dock, go to each one and ctrl + click > Options > Remove from Dock. 2. Restart your Mac to complete the uninstall. >> Step 4: Reinstall your Microsoft Office Home and Student 2021. For more guidance with uninstalling Office on Mac: https://support.microsoft.com/help/eefa1199-5b58-43af-8a3d-b73dc1a8cae3 For more guidance with installing Office on Mac: https://support.microsoft.com/help/4414eaaf-0478-48be-9c42-23adc4716658 Please let me know if you need any more assistance. Give back to the Community, Help the next person who has this issue by indicating if this reply solved your problem. Click Yes or No below. Warm Regards

Hi Raymond,

If you read my post you will note that I already did this, including the library folders.

I still have the same problem...

AD.

Thank you for your feedback. Open any Office app and click 'File' -> Account section. You will see what Office you have installed, please confirm to me what Office version you have installed. If ou can share a screenshot, it will be helpful. Also, please sign in your Microsoft account Services and subscriptions page and confirm if you can see Office Home & Student 2021 License for Mac Looking forward to your response.

Here is the MS Office version

...and here is the Office Home & Student 2021 that I purchased last year:

Since you have already uninstalled and reinstalled Office apps for Mac and you are still experiencing the same issue, I recommend you contact Microsoft support via live chat to assist you check your account and activate Office on your Mac. Kindly go to Microsoft Contact Us website: http://support.office.com/home/chat 1. Type the issue and click Get Help. 2. Click Login and Contact Support at the bottom of the page. 3. Log in with your Microsoft account. 4. Make appropriate selections 5. Click "Chat with a support agent".

Yes, I tried that too.

Below is the chat screenshot.

I only have to wait for 7,147 other people to be helped.

And guess what, the number doesn't actually move.

So it will still say 7,147 an hour from now.

Any other suggestions...?

All account related issues will require Microsoft support via live chat for resolve. In the Community, we are all users just like you and cannot activate Office for you. I will encourage you to be patient and get the issue resolved.

Looks like I was wrong earlier.

My position in line has actually moved further up now...from 7,147 to 7,144.

In about an hour, they have helped 3 people.

So at this rate they should get to me in 2,381 hours, which is 99 days, which is 14 weeks...

Hopefully you won't have to wait that long.

Well the problem is now solved but it wasn't by waiting in the Chat Room.

I left the window open - 24 hours later, my wait number is now 7,139.

Obviously there is some glitch with that but it doesn't matter because I resolved the issue by using the good old telephone.

The number to use is (877) 696-7786. But when you are prompted, don't ask for technical support.

An automated voice just tells you to go back to the support site and you land in the same useless loop.

Ask for Sales! Yup, Microsoft loves a sale. And the MS sales team is actually very helpful.

I'm on a Mac so I had to wait a little while for Mac Help but it was worth it.

The above directions were correct but missing a critical element.

Move all MS apps to the trash and re-install them using your original order.

But before opening any of them, you need to download and run the MS License Removal tool.