Trying to activate my excel and continue getting error message /hitting roadblocks

Martin Lane 0 Reputation points
2026-07-13T20:17:13.35+00:00

I have a student version from 2021. on a 2015 macbook pro running Big Sur - had this issue last week and it activated fine. It will not activate from the app (get error ms "an Unknown error has occurred - the error code is :0x0") Tried from the Microsoft web page - no luck Customer service line says "all activation support is now online" tried every online option i could

is there no way to reach an agent at all from MS?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | MacOS
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  1. Kai-H 21,805 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-07-15T07:22:36.4166667+00:00

    Hi, Martin Lane

    Sorry for this frustration. In order to fix this issue, ensure that your Office 2021 is updated to the latest version (16.111). You can install the newest packages from this link: Most current packages for Office for Mac

    About reaching out to a support agent, please feel free to visit Microsoft Support - Contact Us. Choose Home support - type in live chat - choose your Products and Category and you will be able to connect with an agent via live chat.

    Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators and contributors, including external Microsoft employees, are not allowed to directly interfere with Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited solely to providing technical guidance on reported incidents, requests, or ideas. 

    Thank you for your patience in reading, I hope this information has been helpful to you. 

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