MS Word and Excel have disappeared from my Macintosh HD

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Sign in to download and install Microsoft 365 or Office 2024

Update history for Office for Mac

To restore Word and Excel on macOS when they have disappeared from Macintosh HD, reinstall the Office apps from the Microsoft account that holds the license.

1. Uninstall any remaining Office apps to avoid conflicts:
   • Quit all Office apps.
   • Open Finder > Applications.
   • Use Command + click to select any Microsoft 365/Office apps that are still present (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote).
   • Ctrl+click the selected apps and choose Move to Trash, then empty the Trash.
2. Remove leftover Office data (if needed, for a clean reinstall):
   • In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder and go to ~/Library/Containers/.
   • Move to Trash any folders starting with:
     • com.microsoft.Word
     • com.microsoft.Excel
     • com.microsoft.Powerpoint
     • com.microsoft.Outlook
     • com.microsoft.OneNote
   • Go back to the Library folder and open Group Containers.
   • Move to Trash (if present):
     • UBF8T346G9.ms
     • UBF8T346G9.Office
3. Reinstall Office (Word and Excel) from the Microsoft account portal:
   • Sign in to the Microsoft account dashboard at the Services & subscriptions page using the same Microsoft account that the Office license is associated with.
   • Locate the Microsoft 365/Office product.
   • Select Install to download the Office installer for Mac.
   • Run the downloaded installer and follow the prompts to reinstall Word, Excel, and the other Office apps to Macintosh HD.

After installation completes, open Word or Excel and sign in with the same Microsoft account to activate if prompted.

References:

• Microsoft Office apps for Mac quit unexpectedly - Microsoft Q&A
• I just bought Office for Home and Business and now "No license found" - Microsoft Q&A