Nov 05, 2019 Fail to activate Office for Mac after updating to OS Catalina. Affected environment: Office 2016 for Mac. Mac OS Catalina. Suggestions: 1. Office 2016 for Mac should be activated by signing with a Microsoft account with a valid license but not using the product key directly. The license is associated with this account by finishing redeem steps. How to check if apps will work in Catalina. Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your Mac screen. Choose About This Mac. Click on System Report. Now click on Software Applications. Look to see whether the apps you use are listed as 64-bit application in the final column.

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MacMost forum question: How Do I Get Mac Excel and Word Back After Catalina Upgrade? I just upgraded my MacBook Pro to Catalina and lost my Mac Excel and Mac Word. The appstore only has apps for MS Word 365 which requires a subscription.?????. Office for Mac and Catalina. The latest or recent versions of Office for Mac are ready for Catalina (ie 64-bit): Office 365 for Mac (fully updated) Office 2019 for Mac; Office 2016 for Mac after v15.35 is also OK for Catalina. After v15.35, Office 2016 for Mac is 64-bit only. If you’ve been updating Mac Office 2016 regularly, you’ll be OK. Download the Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac August update package now. Virus-scan claim. Microsoft scanned this file for viruses, using the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to it.

Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Summary

Existing Office 2016 for Mac customers will be seamlessly upgraded to 64-bit versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote as part of the August product release (version 15.25). This affects customers of all license types: Retail, Office 365 Consumer, Office 365 Commercial, and Volume License installations.

Deployment options for the 64-bit update

AutoUpdate (MAU)

Customers who use Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) to keep their Office applications up-to-date will see a 'regular' monthly update notification when their selected channel is upgraded to 64-bit builds. Depending on which version is installed on the local computer, MAU will offer either a delta or full update. The update package size does not change between 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Also, MAU can deliver a delta update when applicable to update a user from 32-bit to 64-bit applications. Therefore, customers won't experience a sharp increase in download activity. For the release to the Production channel, customers will see '(64-bit)' in the update title to make them aware that this is a 64-bit update.

For information about how to use the MAU, see Check for Office for Mac updates automatically.

Manual updates

The August release of Office for Mac is available for manual download. The following file provides a 64-bit package to replace existing 32-bit applications with 64-bit variants during installation:

Download the Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac August update package now.

Virus-scan claim

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses, using the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to it.

Volume License Service Center

Volume License customers typically get their Office 2016 software from the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). These builds are refreshed infrequently and are typically aligned with new language editions. The VLSC will continue to offer 32-bit installers (15.23) until November 2016. However, all updater packages that are released after August will be based on 64-bit builds. Therefore, a VLSC customer who updates either manually or through AutoUpdate will be transitioned to 64-bit builds.

More Information

64-bit only

The Mac operating system has been 64-bit for several years. Unlike for Windows, there's no choice between running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of the Mac operating system. Similarly, we won't offer a choice between 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Office 2016 for Mac. After each 'channel' is transitioned per the rollout schedule, only 64-bit builds will be available.

Effect on third-party applications and add-ins

The transition to 64-bit Office for Mac was announced on the Office developer blog in April 2016. This website is the primary reference for third-party vendors to understand the change and the effect on their products. IT Pros will want to understand which compiled add-ins are deployed to the users whom they manage so that they can assess the effect of the upgrade. The following Microsoft Office website summarizes the issues that affect the more common add-ins that are used together with Office 2016 for Mac:

Tools for inspecting product architecture

To verify the architecture of an Office application (that is, to understand whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit build), start the application, open the Activity Monitor, and then enable the Kind column.

You can also use the file command in a terminal session to inspect the binary. For this use, type file -N <path of binary>.This method can be used with for any binary file, including third-party add-ins.

The file command returns one of three values.

Microsoft Office For Os Catalina

Return value	Meaning
Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64	64-bit binary
Mach-O executable i386	32-bit binary
Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64	FAT binary (compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit processes)
Mach-O executable i386	FAT binary (compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit processes)

Microsoft Word 2011 For Mac Catalina

Options for reverting to 32-bit installations

There may be situations in which the customer has to change code that's not 64-bit ready. If customers can't immediately move forward to 64-bit builds, we will make available a one-time 32-bit update for the 15.25 release in addition to the default 64-bit updates. The 32-bit updates will be available only for manual download from the Office CDN.

Microsoft Word Update For Mac Catalina Beach

The latest 32-bit release of Office 2016 for Mac (15.25.160818) can be downloaded from https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=823192.

Customers who manually install the 32-bit release won't be offered the 64-bit version of 15.25 through MAU. However, MAU will offer the 64-bit version of 15.26 in September 2016. Therefore, customers have a limited time to remain on 32-bit builds.

If a customer has already upgraded to the 64-bit update of Office for Mac 15.25 and wants to revert to the 32-bit version, follow these steps:

Exit all open Office 2016 applications.
Start Safari, and then browse to https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=823192 to start the download of the 32-bit installer.
Double-click the downloaded package, and then follow the instructions.

The 64-bit installation has a build date of 160817. The 32-bit version has a build date of 160818.