Repair an Office application

Let’s find out what you can do if updates are not installed automatically, and what factors can cause update issues. Always define a recovery email address when configuring your Office 365 account. If an incorrect password is entered multiple times, after several unsuccessful login attempts, your Office 365 account will be locked.

Microsoft 365 network connectivity test troubleshooter

In addition to the Office 365 problems explained in the blog post, you may encounter issues that cause data loss. OneDrive issues are a separate category of FixTechGuide troubleshooting blog problems with Microsoft 365. They can either be simple, like the OneDrive service not running or the missing OneDrive icon on the taskbar, or more complex, like OneDrive conflicting with Microsoft 365. Below we provide a more detailed list of issues and corresponding solutions.

OneDrive

If you’re not sure which operating system you have, see Which Windows operating system am I running? If you’re not sure how to decide between 64-bit or 32-bit, see Choose the 64-bit or 32-bit version of Office 2016.

Email and Synchronization Issues

Check POP3 and SMTP settings for connecting to Microsoft mail servers (addresses of servers, ports, encryption, authentication). If you have forgotten your password for the Office 365 account, try to recover or reset the password. If your Office 365 subscription has expired, buy a new license and extend your subscription for a new period. The steps to access the repair tool vary depending on your operating system. If a Microsoft 365 application such as Word or Excel isn’t working correctly, sometimes restarting it will fix the problem.

Common Microsoft Office 365 Issues and How To Resolve Them

You can unintentionally send an important Microsoft 365 item to the recycle bin, especially if you have too many files on your device’s hard drive. Still, the files you send to the recycle bin are not permanently removed. An internet connection is not available or a firewall is blocking network connections. Reboot your system and try to launch your Outlook app after to check if the synchronization issues are solved.

Microsoft 365 troubleshooting for admins and IT professionals

Some of them allow users to get updates before the main release while others provide updates at a later time. The update channel used by Office 365 depends on your Office 365 subscription plan and on configuration. Check the version of Microsoft Office installed on your computer and your subscription name and expiry date. Office 365 applications installed on a computer must connect to Microsoft servers over the internet at least once every 30 days for the license to be checked and validated. If you don’t connect the installed Office 365 applications to Microsoft servers for more than 30 days in a row, these applications are deactivated. Once a connection is established to Microsoft licensing servers, the license is renewed.

• If you have a disorganized folder or keep too many files, it’s easy to make the mistake of deleting the wrong file and sending it to the recycle bin.
• For example, items that you delete from SharePoint or Microsoft Teams are retained in the recycle bin for a certain period before permanent deletion.
• If a troubleshooter is available for your issue, select Start to run that troubleshooter.
• However, you can delete shortcuts to applications you don’t plan to use.
• Follow the directions at Help with the Microsoft account recovery form in order to complete this process.

The important thing here to remember is that not all problems are caused by bugs or inappropriate coding on the vendor site. The more probable option is that the Office 365 issue occurs, and can be fixed on the client-side. If you or your users find Office is taking a very long time to install, try installing using an offline installation. See Use the Office 2016 offline installer and select the Office for business tab. These steps show you how to download the installer file which you can then use to install Office offline on a PC at your convenience.

You assign licenses to new users when creating new accounts, or add licenses to existing users, see Assign licenses to users in Office 365 for business. To remove licenses from users, see Remove licenses from users in Office 365 for business. Service health is the online tool available for Office 365 for organizations (if you have work and school Office 365 accounts).

Problems while trying to install Office

For download and installation issues on a Mac, see What to try if you can’t install Office for Mac. Use the Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter to resolve Microsoft 365 subscription activation issues. Get Help has troubleshooters for Microsoft 365 you can run for many common scenarios.

You can also temporarily turn off your firewall settings or antivirus software. If it looks like the program has been installed but you can’t open it, go to Programs and Features in the control panel. You’ll see the “Uninstall or change a program” window where you have to access the list of applications, find the Office 365 program, and initiate online repair. Microsoft Office 365 is one of the essential programs that ensure productivity and collaboration across teams in an organization.