Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac

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Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac

Basic Information
Release Year	24 September 2018
Product Type	Software
In Production	No
Official Website	https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-office

Microsoft Office 2019 update 16.78.3 (23102801) was the last functional version of Office 2019 (perpetual) for Apple macOS computers, released on 31 October 2023. If automatic updates are enabled as recommended by Microsoft, Office applications will continue to update but no longer function properly. Instead of opening documents, the user is presented with a screen display informing them that Office 2019 is no longer supported and directing them to purchase Microsoft Office 365 subscription or a Microsoft Office 2021 license.

This applies to consumer perpetual (Home and Student, Business, etc.) and volume license Office 2019 which were sold as a one-time purchase (rather than the subscription-based Office 365).

Users of this application will be unable to speak with Microsoft about the issue, as the product is out of support.

Consumer impact summary

• Broken product: Automatic updating is enabled by default and typically left that way by the average user. Microsoft uses this to brick Office 2019, despite the user having paid for a perpetual license for the product, to motivate their customer to move to a newer product. This presents the user with two choices: Either pay up for an unwanted "upgrade" or troubleshoot reverting to the last version (if possible).

Possible fix

The steps below sometimes work, however one should have their original license key available in case it is required. Also note, Office 2019 update 16.78.3 is functional on Sequoia 15.2.

1. Move all Microsoft Office applications to the trash
2. Locate ~/Library/Containers and move the following to the trash:
   1. com.microsoft.errorreporting
   2. com.microsoft.Excel
   3. com.microsoft.netlib.shipassertprocess
   4. com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2
   5. com.microsoft.Outlook
   6. com.microsoft.Powerpoint
   7. com.microsoft.RMS-XPCService
   8. com.microsoft.Word
   9. com.microsoft.OneNote
3. Locate ~/Library/Group Containers and move the following to the trash:
   1. UBF8T346G9.ms
   2. UBF8T346G9.Office
   3. UBF8T346G9.OfficeOsfWebHost
4. Empty the trash
5. Visit https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac and download Office 2019 update 16.78.3
6. Install the downloaded version of Office
7. Test an office app
8. If Office still redirects to purchasing Office 365, perform all the steps again, and use the License Removal Tool (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=849815)
9. Once an Office app is verified functional, disable automatic updates
10. The Microsoft updater can also be removed by deleting the update tool located here: ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU