Daughter cannot access Microsoft office 365

Sign in with your daughter’s own Microsoft account in a browser; if her Microsoft 365 entitlement appears there but the Mac apps still fail, remove the Mac’s cached Office licence and reactivate with that same account.

1. Separate an account problem from a Mac activation problem

On her MacBook Air:

1. Quit Word, Excel, Outlook, and other Office apps.
2. Open a private browser window and go to https://account.microsoft.com/services.
3. Sign in with your daughter’s Microsoft account, not the account that owns the Family subscription.
4. Select Install Microsoft 365 or Office. The resulting page should list the licence available to that account. Access to free Office web apps alone does not prove that the shared subscription is attached to it.^1^

Because your dashboard already shows her as one of the people receiving the subscription, there is no need to repeat that owner-side check.

• If her account signs in and shows Microsoft 365: continue with the licence reset below.
• If her account cannot sign in: recover that Microsoft account first; resetting Office on the Mac will not fix an account sign-in failure.
• If she can sign in but Microsoft 365 is absent: check whether the dashboard shows Start sharing, Invite to family, or that benefits are already shared. Current Family sharing requires the recipient to remain in the subscription owner’s Microsoft family group.[^2^](https://support.microsoft.com/accounts-billing/subscriptions/[Subscription ID] "Manage Microsoft 365 subscription sharing")

Do not stop and re-share the subscription unless her own account lacks the entitlement. Stopping sharing immediately removes her desktop-app and other subscription benefits.

2. Clear the Mac’s cached Office licence

This removes all Office licences stored on that Mac, so have your daughter’s Microsoft account address and password ready.

1. Quit every Office application.
2. Download Microsoft’s License Removal Tool.
3. Open the downloaded .pkg file from Finder → Downloads.
   • If macOS reports an unidentified developer, Control-click the file and select Open.
4. Select Continue, follow the prompts, and enter the Mac administrator password if requested.
5. When the tool reports that the licences were removed, select Close.
6. Open Word or Excel and sign in using the same daughter’s account that showed Microsoft 365 in step 1.
7. Choose the Microsoft 365 subscription licence if prompted, restart the Mac, and reopen Office.^3^

3. If activation still fails

• In Word → About Microsoft Word, check Belongs to. If another account appears, rerun the licence-removal process and reactivate with the daughter’s account.
• If the message includes 0xD000000C, confirm she is logged into a local macOS user account rather than a network/Open Directory account. Microsoft documents that a read-only network-account keychain can prevent Office from storing activation credentials.^4^
• If Office was originally obtained from the Mac App Store and the reset does not help, uninstall those Office apps and reinstall them from the Install Microsoft 365 or Office option under your daughter’s Microsoft account.
• If her browser account shows the subscription but both licence removal and reinstallation fail, contact Microsoft Support and provide the complete error text/code, macOS version, Office version, and confirmation that browser sign-in works. The official activation article provides the support escalation route.^4^

References

1. Activation
2. [Manage Microsoft 365 subscription sharing | Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/accounts-billing/subscriptions/[Subscription ID])
3. How to remove Office license files on a Mac | Microsoft Support
4. Error 0xD000000C when activating Office for Mac | Microsoft Support