This is why people hate greedy, unethical @Microsoft. They’ve just installed an update on the computer of every user of Mac @Office 2021 that bricks Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc. We all have perpetual licences for Office 2021 but apparently Microsoft decided it was time to try to make everyone pay them money, even though the licence was supposed to be a one-off purchase. After some trial and error, this fix worked for me – posting here for anyone having the same problem: 1. Delete the Office apps (Word etc.) from the Applications folder 2. Download and run the Microsoft licence removal tool: go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?lin… 3. Download and install the version of Office for Mac from 6th October 2026: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/of… 4. Enter your original licence code for Office to activate it 5. In the Finder, go to Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > Microsoft and delete the MAU2.0 folder 6. Open Word, then go to the Word menu, then About Microsoft Word and check that it shows your licence 7. Still in Word, go to the Help menu, and make sure that the Check for updates option isn’t there 8. Don’t update Office for Mac and it should keep working – you need to keep updates off or Microsoft will install an update that bricks Office all over again What a waste of time.