Fixes or workarounds for recent Office installation or activation issues

Last updated: April 25, 2017

ISSUE

When you select the option to activate Office by telephone, you may see the following error:

Telephone activation is no longer supported for your product.

STATUS: PARTIAL FIX

We have released a fix for this issue on March 9, 2017 for Office 2016 customers in build 16.0.7870.2020 or higher. For older versions of Office, we are continue to work on fixing this issue. In the meantime, you can call the numbers for your specific country/region listed in this article.

ISSUE

After you enter your product key and click Next, nothing happens and you cannot continue with your install of Microsoft Office Premium PIPC.

STATUS: WORKAROUND

To avoid this problem, go to https://setup.office.com/ to redeem your product key and install Office. For more information on this issue, go to Next button doesn't work during Office Premium install.

ISSUE

Microsoft AutoUpdate may offer Office 2016 for Mac updates even though you have Office for Mac 2008 installed. Upon accepting the update, Office for Mac 2008 gets automatically upgraded to Office 2016.

This can occur if you are using version 3.14.0 of Microsoft AutoUpdate.

STATUS: FIXED

This issue has been fixed in Microsoft AutoUpdate version 3.14.1. For more information on this issue, go to Microsoft AutoUpdate for Office for Mac offers incorrect version updates.

Last updated: August 2, 2017

ISSUE

After the release of Microsoft AutoUpdate version 3.9.0 (released on April 11, 2017), you are no longer receiving automatic updates for Office for Mac. When installing the latest Office for Mac updates, the update process hangs.

STATUS: FIXED

This issue is now fixed in Microsoft AutoUpdate 3.9.1. Please download MAU 3.9.1 and manually install the update package.

last Updated: March 16, 2017

ISSUE

After installing Office from the Microsoft Store, the icons of Office files are displayed as white icons.

You may also see this error when right-clicking the Windows desktop, clicking New and choosing one of the Office apps:

Error 0x8007007A: The data area passed to a system call is too small.

STATUS: WORKAROUND

This issue is being investigated. The issue affects Office 2016 Version 1802 (Build 9029.2167 Microsoft Store) in China and Japan.

You may be able to solve the problem by resetting the Office apps

1. Open the Start menu -> Settings -> Apps

2. Navigate to Microsoft Office Desktop Apps in the app list, click on it and click on Advanced options

3. Click on Fix, wait for about one minute, and then restart the device

4. If problem still exists, repeat step 1 & 2, and click on Reset

If this does not solve the problem, you can uninstall Office in the Microsoft Store, and install Office click-to-run from your Office MyAccount page

This information is also available in this article: Office icons are blank after installing Office from the Microsoft Store.

Last Updated: November 22, 2017

ISSUE

If you try to install Office from your My Account page on a Windows 10 S PC you may get the following error:

• This app can't run on your PC

STATUS: WORKAROUND

You can do one of the following to avoid this error:

• Use the Microsoft Edge browser to go to your My Account page to install Office. When you click Install, you will be redirected to the Microsoft Store page for Office and you can install Office from there.

• In Windows, click Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Click the Check for updates button and install any available updates. Once the updates are installed, restart your PC and go back to your My Account page on your browser to install Office. When you click Install, you will be redirected to the Microsoft Store page for Office and you can install Office from there.

Last updated: September 28, 2017

ISSUE

Office installed from the Windows store has garbled or incorrect characters in the ribbon and other places in the application. This issue is specific to the Japanese user interface.

STATUS: FIXED

This issue is now fixed in Version 1708 (8431.2094). To get the update immediately, open any Office 2016 app and choose File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.

ISSUE

If you have Serbian (Latin, Serbia) as your default app language in Windows you will see a mix of Serbian and English in the user interface of Office in the Microsoft Store apps.

STATUS: WORKAROUND

Add a different Serbian (Latin) variant to the Windows language list. To do this:

1. Click Start > Settings > Time and Language > Region and Language, and then click Add a language.

2. Choose a Serbian (Latin) option other than Serbian (Latin, Serbia), such as Serbian (Latin, Montenegro).

3. The language needs to be at the top of your Languages list, so click on the language you just added and choose Set as default.

This will add the language to the bottom of the Windows language list. If the language was newly added, an update from the Store may be required to download the new language. This should happen automatically, but you can manually start the download by opening the Store app, clicking on your profile picture near the top of the screen, choosing Downloads and updates, and then choosing Check for updates.

Note: This does not change the Windows UI language.