Microsoft Office 365 playing up

[Big_D]

A bit of a problem for me, and a heads-up for other Office users.

I use Microsoft 365 at work and there have been several issues over the last couple of weeks.

I've been using Office 365 on this Mac since work bought it when the Air M4 was released without any problems... Until now.

Since a mid October update, I have had to re-register Office after every new start or restarting an application. Sometimes they refuse to register and I can't work.

I have de-installed and re-installed and also deleted all the com.microsoft... settings, even used the Microsoft License Removal Tool. It worked for a couple of days, but I got another automatic update this morning and had to re-register again.

On or around October 29 there was yet another update and with that one, Outlook loses its display settings every time it is re-started. My layout is the mail list in the middle and the preview window on the right. After every restart, it now displays a list with 3 emails visible at the top and the rest of the (4K) display showing the preview pane beneath it. I then have to go into the settings and switch it to my preferred style every time.

This last one seems to be a common problem, according to a quick search earlier. I have added it to the Microsoft Feedback portal.

 

[maflynn]

Since a mid October update, I have had to re-register Office after every new start or restarting an application. Sometimes they refuse to register and I can't work.

Sounds like something is up with your mac, in that the install isn't fully taking. I have office on my Studio, and I'm not experiencing anything like that.

My issues are OneDrive, which is a topic for another day

 

[Big_D]

Sounds like something is up with your mac, in that the install isn't fully taking. I have office on my Studio, and I'm not experiencing anything like that.

My issues are OneDrive, which is a topic for another day

It ran perfectly for around 7 months, then just started asking me to sign into my M365 account every restart. I've done a clean install, but nothing seems to help.

It worked fine again for about 4 days, then another update today and I had to sign in again... I'll see if the problem comes back tomorrow.

 

[maflynn]

I would recommend not updating, I don't see why this suite of applications needs to be updated so much

 

[CalMin]

It might be CoPiiot. I had an issue where my personal account had CoPilot, but my work account did not and the Office apps simply couldn't cope with it being enabled on some documents and not others. I kept getting signed out etc... It was maddening.

I reinstalled the App store versions and that seems to run a bit smoother than the ones direct from Microsoft. The update process is certainly better than MS Autoupdate, although you're always a few days or even weeks behind new feature rollouts. For my work machine, i can live with that!

 

[Big_D]

It might be CoPiiot. I had an issue where my personal account had CoPilot, but my work account did not and the Office apps simply couldn't cope with it being enabled on some documents and not others. I kept getting signed out etc... It was maddening.

I reinstalled the App store versions and that seems to run a bit smoother than the ones direct from Microsoft. The update process is certainly better than MS Autoupdate, although you're always a few days or even weeks behind new feature rollouts. For my work machine, i can live with that!

It is a work Mac, with only the company M365 on it and Copilot is disabled for all users.


This morning it worked without need re-activation, so it might have been the 26.1 update to macOS yesterday that re-triggered the activation.

 

[CoMoMacUser]

I had this problem on my Studio about a month ago for a few weeks. It suddenly went away. I assume that MSFT pushed an update that fixed it, at least for my machine. It was very annoying. Wish I knew what to suggest and hope yours gets resolved soon.

 

[Big_D]

Thanks. Before the 26.1 update it had worked about a week without needing to be reactivated, I’m hoping the 25.1 update was a one off trigger.

The resetting of the preview pane position every morning is annoying, but live with it.

 

[cjsuk]

Activation and licensing is horrible on Mac. I've actually entirely dumped office (fortunately I can!) on personal stuff over this. First activation issues for 6 months after an update - same symptoms. Then they broke it and my MS account billing so badly I couldn't pay for it and support were useless. Took out my entire family including my daughter who was mid-dissertation.

Had to resort to using Massgrave's MAS to get through it then scrub all 6 computers with it on and never give them money again.

At work it's a constant PITA as well. Outlook won't even open any more and CoPilot doesn't work anyway (not that I use it) even though it's not turned off at org level.

 

[Big_D]

Yes, I've given up using M365 privately. I still have the subscription for my daughters and my wife, but I haven't used it in 2 years now.

 

[maflynn]

Yes, I've given up using M365 privately. I still have the subscription for my daughters and my wife, but I haven't used it in 2 years now.

I am in the same boat, I decided a little while ago that I'll not be renewing the subscription. With the issues I've had, and the value I'm getting, I decided to move on.