I have Microsoft word 365 on a mac and its not allowing me to edit. its asking me if i want a free trial but i have paid for lifttime use

Question

I have Microsoft word 365 on a mac and its not allowing me to edit. its asking me if i want a free trial but i have paid for lifttime use

Renee Okuefuna 0

I bought ms word 365 in 2021 and paid for lifetime use but now i cannot edit or use word as it says i have to buy a new word

i dont know what to do i have tryed to imput the key code buy it wont accept it

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Answer 1

EmilyS_726 32,310 Volunteer Moderator

Hello

Please uninstall your Office apps.

Then install this slightly older version 16.114: https://res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft/mro1cdnstorage/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.114.26101123_BusinessPro_Installer.pkg?atp=ets

Or 16.113 version: https://res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft/mro1cdnstorage/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.113.26100421_Installer.pkg?atp=ets

After that, open any Office app, such as Word or Excel. From the top menu, select Help > Check for Updates. When Microsoft AutoUpdate opens, uncheck Automatically keep Microsoft apps up to date, then confirm by clicking Turn Off.

That should work.

Joanna Steinhardt 0 Reputation points

2026-10-23T20:52:50.5633333+00:00

that fixed it for me as well --- thank you!!
Richardson Family 0 Reputation points

2026-10-24T15:32:31.9033333+00:00

24 Oct 2026 - Thank you. The 16.113 version fixed it for MS Word but did not for MS Excel or MS Powerpoint. Any suggestions would be welcomed because fixing this is wasting a lot of my time and MS do not seem to want to connect me to a human being who could help.
EmilyS_726 32,310 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-10-24T15:39:58.39+00:00

@Richardson Family When you uninstalled, did you uninstall all office apps, or did you only uninstall Word?
Richardson Family 0 Reputation points

2026-10-24T16:16:13.3166667+00:00

Thank you so much for replying EmilyS. I uninstalled everything several times and, eventually, went back a version further than the one you recommended. However, what seems to have triggered my ability to reuse the apps seems to have been the removal of MS Teams (I'm not sure how it got onto my Mac in the first place since I don't use it). Once that was removed, the main apps (Word, Excel, PPT) all worked correctly again...though for how long I wonder (even though I have removed the auto-update functionality)?!
EmilyS_726 32,310 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-10-24T16:38:20.6166667+00:00

@Richardson Family If you stop the auto update, it should stay working. 2021 has reached end of support, it just cannot be using versions that are released after the end of support.