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I bought and installed Microsoft Office Home 2024 on my iMac and I can't save a file

Pam's 0 Reputation points
2026-05-19T20:23:41.9133333+00:00

I just bought and installed Microsoft Office Home 2024 on my 2024 iMac and I can't save a file. I have an old excel file that I made changes to and now I can't save the file. I tried opening a new file and entered data and it won't let me save that either. Save and save as are grayed out. Under Excel the option is to activate Microsoft 365. How do I get my new software to work

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | MacOS
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  1. John Jefferson Doyon 71,160 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-05-19T21:24:15.81+00:00

    Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

    Are you able to see your Microsoft Office 2024 under the Services & subscriptions page here: https://account.microsoft.com/services (make sure you’re signed in with the same Microsoft account you used to activate Office)?

    If you can see it there, please follow these steps below.

    If you haven't already, I’d suggest is to uninstall any existing Office apps on your Mac to avoid conflict:

    Then, to reinstall Microsoft Office:

    • Go to https://account.microsoft.com/services again.
    • Sign in using the same Microsoft account linked to your license.
    • Find your Microsoft Office 2024 and click the "Install".
    • That will download the installer for the Office apps, just run it and follow the steps.

    If anything’s unclear or the "Install" option still doesn’t show, feel free to let me know. I’ll be happy to walk you through it!

    I really hope this information is helpful! Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

    Regards,

    John J.D.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-05-19T20:24:07.6266667+00:00

    Excel is running in reduced functionality mode because it is trying to use a Microsoft 365 subscription instead of the new Office 2024 Home license, so saving is disabled and only “Activate Microsoft 365” is offered.

    Use these steps that match similar activation issues on Mac:

    1. Confirm the correct license is associated with the account
      • Sign in to the Microsoft account used to purchase Office Home 2024 and check that the product appears under Services & subscriptions.
      • If it does not appear there, the product is not correctly associated with that account.
    2. Remove old or conflicting Office licensing
      • If Office was previously installed and licensed through another source (for example, Microsoft 365 from work or school), that license can remain registered and block the new one.
      • Follow the documented “Remove Office license” process referenced in the activation guidance so that the old license is cleared from the Mac.
    3. Uninstall existing Office apps
      • Completely uninstall Office for Mac using the documented uninstall steps so that no remnants of the previous installation remain.
    4. Reinstall Office Home 2024 from the correct account
      • After uninstalling, sign back in to the Services & subscriptions page with the same Microsoft account that shows Office Home 2024.
      • Select Install from there to download the correct installer for the perpetual Office 2024 apps and run it.
    5. Start Excel and activate with the correct account
      • Open Excel from Launchpad or Finder > Applications.
      • When prompted to sign in or activate, use the same Microsoft account that holds the Office Home 2024 license (not any old work/school Microsoft 365 account).
      • After successful activation, Excel should no longer show “Activate Microsoft 365,” and Save/Save As will be enabled so files can be saved normally.

    If Excel alone still shows “No license found” or similar while other apps work, also verify on macOS that the Microsoft Office Licensing item is enabled under Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, then sign out of macOS and sign back in so the licensing helper can run correctly.

    References:

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

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