Why This Happens
Sometimes Office for Mac shows your license as activated on account.microsoft.com/services, but Word, Excel, and other Office apps still ask you to activate or sign in. This usually means the Office licensing helper process on your Mac isn't running or doesn't have the right permissions, so the app can't confirm the activation locally even though Microsoft's servers already have it recorded.
Step 1: Reload the Office Licensing Helper
This fixes the issue in most cases without needing to reinstall Office:
Open Terminal (search for it in Spotlight).
Run this command to reload the licensing helper:
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plistThen run this command to fix its permissions:
sudo chmod 4755 /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helperRestart your Mac.
Both commands will ask for your Mac's administrator password. This is normal since they modify system-level files.
Step 2: Open Office Again
After restarting, open Word or another Office app. It should now recognize the activation without asking you to sign in again.