Microsoft 365 apps (Office) Installation Troubleshooting

Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (formerly called Office 365 ProPlus) is provided by Microsoft to UAlbany students as a free option to install the latest version of Microsoft Office on your personally owned computer.  The suggestions on this page may help resolve issues, especially crashes, during installation or use of Microsoft Office on personal computers.

Office Apps Launch but Cannot Edit Files

1. Restart the computer
2. Try to activate M365 per Activate Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows

Office Apps Won't Launch

1. If the Microsoft Office 365 installation completed but the program fails to launch, uninstall Microsoft 365 apps. 
   • You can uninstall from Control Panel/Settings on Windows or by deleting the Office apps from the Applications folder on macOS.
     
2. Restart the computer.
3. Download a new copy of the installation files (instructions at Install Microsoft Office 365 Apps on a Personally-Owned Device) .
4. Attempt to install Microsoft 365 apps again.

Office Apps Crash or Cannot Edit Files

Follow these steps to resolve issues with Office applications, like failing to load or crashing with an error message, or issues with Office licensing, like failing to log in or preventing you from editing documents because your account does not appear to be allowed to edit.

1. Uninstall Office as noted above, then make sure that all latest operating system updates are installed on your computer, restart it, then try to install Office again
   
   • Windows: Settings > Update & Recovery > Windows Update
   • Mac: Make sure that all latest operating system updates (App Store or System Preferences > Update) are installed
2. Uninstall Office as noted above, then completely remove Office from your computer, restart it, then try to install Office again
   • Windows: Instructions and tool from Microsoft
     
   • Mac: instructions from Microsoft
3. Try Microsoft's Office 365 troubleshooting and support (many common questions and issues).

Repair MS Office on Windows

To resolve some issues in Microsoft Office, you can run a repair operation to check that needed program files are correctly installed and referenced, in Windows.

"Something went wrong" error code CAA50024

If you cannot activate M365 per Activate Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows, and you receive an error CAA50024, try this:

1. Type Settings in Windows search > Accounts> Access work or school, select your account> Disconnect.
2. Sign in your account again in an Office app such as Word, and check whether this window pops up, and if so, uncheck the option to Allow my organization to manage my device, and click This app only:
   
   
   1. This should allow you to activate M365.
3. If that did not help, try this:
   1. Within an Office app such as Excel or Word, click File > Account.  There, click Sign out:
      
      

   2. Once that is done, try to sign in again.  

   3. If prompted to choose between "Work or School" vs. "Personal", be sure to choose Work or School. 

      It is possible you had been signed in using your actual albany.edu email address, but for a personal Microsoft account instead of your University account.  See https://albany.atlassian.net/wiki/x/qpYeAw for more information on this situation.  If this is the case, ITS recommends changing the email address associated with your personal Microsoft account to avoid confusion. You may also close the personal Microsoft account if you do not need it.

Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (SARA)

Microsoft provides an automatic troubleshooter to detect, diagnose, and attempt to resolve Office 365 (including Outlook) connectivity issues available from https://diagnostics.outlook.com. To use the tool, follow the steps at Troubleshoot Outlook and Microsoft Office 365 apps Automatically.

Check for compatibility issues

General system requirements for Microsoft 365 are available from Microsoft for Windows and Mac.

1. Uninstall Microsoft 365 if the previous installation completed but the program fails to launch.

2. Uninstall any previous versions of Office (Settings > Apps or Control Panel > Programs and Features or Uninstall a Program, find Microsoft Office and choose Uninstall).
   

   Before removing another version of Office, please make sure that you have the original installation files and license code in case you need to reinstall it later.

3. Uninstall any incompatible 3rd party software, such as those noted below (Control Panel > Programs and Features or Uninstall a Program, find the program and choose Uninstall).
   

   Before removing any software, please make sure that you have the original installation files and license code in case you need to reinstall it later.

   • "Abbyy FineReader" may cause Office to crash on launch. It often comes bundled with printer or scanner software.

   • “Fun Tools” add-in - a number of people have reported that removing it overcomes problems with Office 2013.

   • "Toshiba Book Reader" - it has been reported that uninstalling that brings Office back to working status.

4. Make sure that all latest operating system and Office updates are installed via the Windows Update program or Apple menu > Software Update on your computer.
5. Restart the computer.
6. Download a new copy of the installation files (instructions at Install Microsoft Office 365 Apps on a Personally-Owned Device).
   
7. Attempt to install Microsoft 365 again.

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