Office Home & Student 2021 for Mac suddenly lost activationOffice Home & Student 2021 for Mac suddenly lost activation

I own a perpetual Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 license for Mac, purchased together with my iMac in 2022. The license is still listed in my Microsoft account, and the account page still offers the option to install Office.

However, on October 23, 2026, Office suddenly stopped recognizing the license. Word now reports that the product is not activated, and I can no longer edit documents.

My system and Office details:

• iMac M1 (2022)
• macOS 27.0.1
• Office Home & Student 2021 for Mac
• Office version 16.114.26101123 (16.114)
• Microsoft AutoUpdate version 4.85

The last time I used Word normally was on October 22, 2026, at around 6 PM. The next morning, the license was no longer recognized. I did not make any manual changes to the system or Office before the problem appeared.

I have already tried the official Microsoft Office License Removal Tool, signed in with the correct Microsoft account, reinstalled Office, and checked for updates. None of these steps restored activation.

I also verified that the Microsoft licensing helper is installed and correctly signed. The license itself is still visible in my Microsoft account.

There are other reports on Microsoft Q&A describing very similar activation problems with Office Home & Student 2021 on macOS 27.0.1, particularly involving Office version 16.114.1 (build 26102031). Some reports mention that Office no longer retrieves the user's legacy license entitlement.

Could Microsoft please investigate whether this is a licensing or activation service issue affecting perpetual Office 2021 licenses? In particular, could someone verify whether my Microsoft account still has the correct Office Home & Student 2021 entitlement and help restore activation?

I want to continue using the perpetual license I purchased. I do not want to switch to a Microsoft 365 subscription.

One additional point: I am completely blind and use macOS VoiceOver. Some interactive Microsoft support forms and chat interfaces are difficult or impossible for me to operate with a screen reader. I would therefore appreciate replies and troubleshooting instructions in plain text.