Office,Word and Excel on your Mac
Word suddenly doing strange things with tabs, an Office licence demanding activation, Excel refusing to open a file that arrived by email: these are everyday problems, and they are all fixable.
What is actually going on
On a Mac, Office comes in two forms: the version bought outright and the Microsoft 365 subscription. They install differently and they are troubleshooted differently. A licence that “no longer works” is most often a licence installed on the wrong Microsoft account.
As for awkward documents, the cause is nearly always the same: a file that has travelled between Windows and Mac, or formatting built with spaces where tabs belonged. That can be put straight.
What we do
- Install Office properlyBought outright or by subscription, on the right Microsoft account, kept up to date.
- Put a licence back in orderWe find which account it is attached to and reactivate it — without buying again what you already own.
- Repair a document that misbehavesTabs, styles, numbering, tables that drift: we put the formatting back on its rails.
- Point out the alternatives when they sufficePages, Numbers and Keynote come free with your Mac and open Office files. Sometimes that is all you need.
Before we arrive
What helps
- Find the email address of the Microsoft account used at purchase.
- Keep a copy of the document before we work on it — we always work on a copy.
What is better avoided
- Buying a new licence because the old one “stopped working”: it can very often be recovered.
- Downloading Office from a third-party site — a classic doorway for unwanted software.
Your questions
Do I really need to pay for Office on a Mac?
Not always. If you write letters and keep simple accounts, the software already on your Mac is enough and reads Word and Excel files. We say so plainly rather than sell you a subscription.
Will my old .doc files still open?
Yes, in the vast majority of cases. And if one resists, we have ways of getting it back.
This topic is part of My email has stopped working. The main page gathers the neighbouring cases and the full process.
See the main pageWe call you back
Leave your number. We call back within the hour during opening hours — otherwise, as soon as we reopen.