Your Office 2021 license is not supported with this version of the application

Jusmawati Jusmawati 0 Reputation points
2026-10-26T12:21:14.2366667+00:00

I own Office Home & Student 2021 for Mac. The license appears under Services & Subscriptions. Office for Mac version 16.114.1 shows: "Your Office 2021 license is not supported with this version of the application." I have already removed Office completely and reinstalled it from my Microsoft account, but activation still fails.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | MacOS

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  1. AI answer

    2026-10-26T12:21:34.6433333+00:00

    This issue matches a known Mac activation problem where Office 2021 licenses are not recognized by version 16.114.1.

    Try this exact recovery path:

    1. Remove the current Office apps again
      • Close Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
      • In Finder > Applications, move the Office apps to Trash.
    2. Remove stored Office licenses
      • Run the Microsoft license removal tool: Download the license removal tool.
      • Open the downloaded .pkg from Downloads.
      • If macOS shows an unidentified developer warning, hold Control and click the file, then select Open.
      • Select Continue, follow the wizard, then select Install to remove licenses. This removes all Microsoft 365 for Mac licenses, so have the correct account credentials ready before reactivating.
    3. Install an older Office build instead of 16.114.1
      • Install version 16.114 using this package:
      • https://res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft/mro1cdnstorage/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.114.26101123_BusinessPro_Installer.pkg?atp=ets
    4. Activate Office
      • Open Word or Excel.
      • Sign in with the Microsoft account that owns the Office Home & Student 2021 license.
      • If prompted to choose a license, select the one-time Office 2021 license.
    5. Turn off automatic updates in Microsoft AutoUpdate
      • In an Office app, select Help > Check for Updates.
      • In Microsoft AutoUpdate, clear Automatically keep Microsoft apps up to date and confirm Turn Off.
      • This prevents the apps from returning to 16.114.1, which is the version associated with this activation problem.

    If activation still fails after that, use the Mac activation support path in Activate Office for Mac and What to try if you can't install or activate Office for Mac.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. DaveM121 (2) 17,800 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-10-26T12:55:38.52+00:00

    This error is being reported with the Office apps on a Mac at the moment, follow these steps, step 3 is important.

    1

    Use the steps provided on this link to remove the Office licence from your Mac:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-activation-licensing/how-to-remove-office-license-files-on-a-mac

    2

    Uninstall the Office apps using the steps provided on this link:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/lifecycle/officeinstall/uninstall-office-for-mac

    3

    Then download and install the October 6th version of Office for Mac from this link.

    https://res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft/mro1cdnstorage/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.113.26100421_Installer.pkg

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