Office 2016 For Mac Not Signing In

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Learning has never been so easy!

Office 2019's support for Office and Microsoft 365 services also expires in October 2023. Microsoft's matrix spells out what Office is supported until when for connecting to Office.

Simply signing into Office as another User does not change the 'Belongs to' entry in Office 2016. If the person it belongs to doesn't match the signed in person Office 2016 will start showing a licensing error.

  1. If you're not already in an Office file or document, open an app such as Word or Excel, and open an existing file, or create a new one. Select File Account (or Office Account if you're using Outlook). If you're not already signed in, click Sign In. In the Sign in window, type the email address and password you use with Office.
  2. Office 2016 for Mac is a version of Office that’s available as a one-time purchase from a retail store or through a volume licensing agreement. It will be supported with security updates and bug fixes, as needed, until October 13, 2020. The minimum supported macOS for Office 2016 for Mac is 10.10 (Yosemite).

It would be nice if there was a change owner button, or something similar, but there isn't. Luckily, it's not too hard to fix.

4 Steps total

Step 1: Open a command prompt

Use your favorite method to get a command prompt open. Winkey+R then CMD, Start then Command Prompt, etc.

NOTE - you need to run this as administrator

Step 2: Run the ospp.vbs command

Run the following command to get the last 5 digits of the product key:

cscript.exe '%ProgramFiles(x86)%Microsoft OfficeOffice16ospp.vbs' /dstatus

Step 3: Run ospp.vbs again, different options

Run the same command again, but change the options. This time you will be unpublishing the key you found in step 2. Replace XXXXX with the key from step 2.

cscript.exe '%ProgramFiles(x86)%Microsoft OfficeOffice16ospp.vbs' /unpkey:XXXXX

Office 2016 For Mac Not Signing In

Step 4: Exit command prompt, run an Office app

Once you've exited the command prompt open any Office program (Word, Excel, etc.) and you will be prompted to sign in. Whatever account you sign in with will become the 'Belongs to' account.

It only takes a few seconds to do this, but I don't know why MS made it so you have to leave the apps and go CLI for it.

References

  • PS script wrapper to automate these steps

6 Comments

  • Datil
    Josh_Cunning Oct 13, 2017 at 07:54pm

    I have this issue a lot and you might also need to check a few other places for like the Credential Manager

    Also you might need to clear this registry entries:
    HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftOffice15.0 or 16.0CommonIdentityIdentities
    HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftProtected Storage System Provider
    HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftOffice15.0 or 16.0CommonIdentity
    HKEYU(The Users SID)SoftwareMicrosoftOffice15.0 or 16.0CommonIdentity

  • Pure Capsaicin
    DragonsRule Oct 13, 2017 at 07:55pm

    I've never had to do any of that, but thanks for the info.

  • Pimiento
    tommurphy5 Oct 13, 2017 at 09:11pm

    yeah you can do this, good for non-shared activation of Office 365 2016. its worth looking into the Office Deployment Toolkit from MS, you can setup Shared-User activation for systems that have multi users.

  • Chipotle
    uberchemist Feb 1, 2019 at 08:53pm

    Running the commands alone did not affect the 'Belongs to:' entry for me, though I am running Office 365, not 2016. But the comment from Josh about clearing the registry entries DID work. Thanks guys!

  • Anaheim
    DiscordantQ Jun 20, 2019 at 01:36pm

    is there a fix for Mac for this? or will this work just as well in Terminal?

  • Pure Capsaicin
    DragonsRule Jun 20, 2019 at 01:42pm

    Sorry, I have no Apple devices so have no idea.

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Symptoms

In Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Mac, you are repeatedly prompted for authentication while you're connected to your Office 365 account.

Cause

This issue occurs because of the presence of duplicate tokens in the keychain.

Resolution

To resolve this issue in Outlook 2016 for Mac, install the February 2017 Outlook update (version 15.31.0) from the following Office website:

Office 2016 For Mac Support

Workaround

To work around this issue, delete any cached passwords for your account, and also delete any modern authentication tokens from the keychain. To do this, follow these steps.

Note

Install

Ms Office 2016 For Mac

These steps affect all Office applications that use modern authentication.

Office 2016 Mac Sign In Not Working

  1. Quit Outlook and all other Office applications.

  2. Start Keychain Access by using one of the following methods:

    • Select the Finder application, click Utilities on the Go menu, and then double-click Keychain Access.
    • In Spotlight Search, type Keychain Access, and then double-click Keychain Access in the search results.

  3. In the search field in Keychain Access, enter Exchange.

  4. In the search results, select each item to view the Account that's listed at the top, and then press Delete. Repeat this step to delete all items for your Exchange account.

  5. In the search field, enter adal.

  6. Select all items whose type is MicrosoftOffice15_2_Data:ADAL:<GUID>, and then press Delete.

  7. In the search field, enter office.

  8. Select the items that are named Microsoft Office Identities Cache 2 and Microsoft Office Identities Settings 2, and then press Delete.

  9. Quit Keychain Access.

    Note

    When you start Outlook, you are prompted to authenticate.