How to Solve the Office 365 Mac Editing Errors

Office 365 Mac Editing Errors

Last updated on December 31st, 2024 at 3:06 pm

Office 365 for Mac allows users to access a variety of tools and features. You can use it to create word documents, emails, and projects and take quick notes. The tool allows storage of 1TB in OneDrive and syncing across different devices. When using Microsoft 365 on Mac, you may experience some editing errors. The most common one is “Your account does not allow editing error. Sometimes you might see an error that says, “Activate Office to Create and Edit.” This is a common error and it is possible to solve it.

Why “your account does not allow editing on Mac” error appears?

The error often appears when you start to edit a Word document. No matter how hard you try, editing fails to work and you could get frustrated. Instead of feeling frustrated and wasting your time, the best solution is to fix it. The error might happen due to issues with your Office 365 license. If your license is not proper, Word might remain in view mode only after you open it. Your license might be proper but other issues in the software could cause the error.

Office 365 might sometimes have bugs because you have not been updating it. The tool might be full of caches that disrupt its normal functioning. There might be issues in the setting files in Office 365 which corrupts its applications. If Office experiences such issues, it might fail to recognize your license as genuine. It is possible to fix the errors and continue editing your document on Word.

How to fix Office 365 Mac editing errors?

Update your license

Before you try fixing other issues like bugs, the first issue you should fix is your license. Find out if your license is expired and if it is, renew it to allow editing. Your license might be valid and what you need to do is to verify it. Follow these steps to fix your account doesn’t allow editing on a mac error.

  • Sign in to your account on the office.com website
  • Click on your profile logo or photo to open a drop-down menu
  • Click on My Microsoft account
  • Go to Subscriptions and choose your plan
  • Click Manage to make changes to your account
  • If you have not activated your account, open office.com/setup and sign in, then type the product key and click activate.

Sign out and open Office 365

You might find out that your license is already active and valid. Try to sign out and then sign in again.

  • Open any Office 365 app such as MS Word
  • Click on your profile photo or logo to open a drop-down menu
  • Go to sign out and click on it and then close the app
  • Open it and then sign in

Clear caches

The sign-out option might still fail to work and you continue experiencing the error. The other option is to clear junk files in your Office tool. When the cache fills your tools, it affects their behavior and functionality. MacOS Ventura and Monterey have a special clean feature that helps you to find and clean all your junk files in one click. To clear the cache manually, follow these steps.

  • Go to Finder and open the Go menu
  • Click Go to folder
  • Type the command /Library/caches/ and then choose Go
  • The command will display all caches contained in your library and system
  • Open each folder and drag the caches into the Trash folder and then empty it

Reset Office defaults or reinstall the software

You might have changed Office default settings, especially on MS Word. Consider restoring it to its original settings. You will lose your customized settings but it can help fix the problem. Your other option is to remove Office 365 from your Mac and reinstall it. To remove,

  • Close all Office apps
  • Go to finder and click Applications
  • Go to Office 365 and drag it into Trash
  • Go to office.com and sign in to download the app
  • Allow download when prompted
  • Go to Finder and locate the Office app
  • Double-click to install and follow the prompts
  • After installation is complete, launch Office and begin to edit your documents.

When using Office 365 on Mac, you may experience editing errors. It could be caused by a license, bug, or other app issues. There are different methods to fix the error. Update your license or remove and reinstall the app to get an updated version. Try to remove caches or reset Office to the original defaults.

Author Bio:

Dinesh Lakhwani

Dinesh Lakhwani, the entrepreneurial brain behind “TechCommuters,” achieved big things in the tech world. He started the company to make smart and user-friendly tech solutions. Thanks to his sharp thinking, focus on quality and the motto of never giving up, TechCommuters became a top player in the industry. His commitment to excellence has propelled the company to a leading position in the industry.

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