How to open a .dotx file in MS Word 365

Quit Office and remove the stale Microsoft Office credentials from macOS Keychain Access, because the License Removal Tool has already failed to clear the sign-in loop.

Clear the remaining Office credentials

Before deleting anything, confirm that you can access the Microsoft account that owns the Microsoft 365 subscription. This process signs Office out locally and requires activation again.

1. Quit Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote completely.
2. Open Finder → Applications → Utilities → Keychain Access.
3. Select the login keychain, if displayed.
4. Search separately for:
   • Microsoft Office
   • Microsoft Identity
   • ADAL
   • MSOID
5. Delete the entries clearly associated with Microsoft Office authentication or identity/cache credentials. Do not delete unrelated personal passwords or certificates.
6. Restart the Mac.
7. Open Word directly from the Applications folder, rather than opening the .dotx first.
8. Sign in with the Microsoft account that owns the Microsoft 365 subscription.

Clearing those Office identity entries is the documented next step when the license-removal tool does not resolve a persistent macOS sign-in loop.^1^

If a native macOS Keychain dialog appears

First distinguish between:

• A macOS Keychain dialog mentioning access to the “login” keychain; or
• A Microsoft webpage asking for a passkey.

For a native Keychain dialog:

1. Confirm that Microsoft Word.app is located in /Applications. Microsoft notes that repeated prompts can occur when an Office app was moved elsewhere.
2. Select Always Allow. The dialog can appear up to three times per Office app.^2^
3. If the dialog requests a keychain password, it is asking for the Mac’s login-keychain credential, not the Microsoft 365 account password. If that credential is not accepted, quit all Office apps and use Microsoft’s linked Apple procedure to restore Keychain permissions.^2^

If it is instead a Microsoft passkey webpage, look for Other ways to sign in, Sign-in options, or an equivalent password option. Passkey troubleshooting is separate from the native Keychain prompt.^3^

Open the .dotx after Word is activated

A .dotx is a Word template. Opening it normally creates a separate document based on that template.

1. Start Word.
2. Select File → Open, browse to the .dotx, and open it.
3. Save the resulting document as a .docx if you want to preserve your completed copy separately.

Alternatively, select File → New from Template and choose the template.^4^

Copying the file into Word’s template folder is optional. Do this only if you want it available in Word’s template gallery:

/Users/your-username/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Templates

Then restart Word and use File → New from Template.^4^

If the loop remains

1. Create or use a new local macOS user account, sign into that account, open Word, and activate Microsoft 365. If this works, the problem is confined to the original macOS profile or its Keychain.^5^
2. If Word fails in the new local account too, uninstall Office and reinstall it from the Services & subscriptions area of the Microsoft account that owns the subscription.^5^

References

1. persistent "Sign-in Required" loop - Microsoft Q&A
2. Office for Mac repeatedly requesting keychain access | Microsoft Support
3. Troubleshoot signing in with a passkey | Microsoft Support
4. [macOS](https://support.microsoft.com/word/create-a-template#word)
5. I cannot sign in to any of the office apps (excel , word and ppt) - Microsoft Q&A