I cannot open word or excel on my mac

Kay Taylor 1 Reputation point
2021-04-18T08:32:45.267+00:00

I cannot open word or excel on my Mac.
They both worked fine until a couple of weeks ago.
I have tried deleting them and re-instaling them.
Still can't open.
I looked at trouble shooting but the instructions did not match anything on my mac.
Help

and now am trying to post it and it wants me to tag someone. WHO?

Office Mac
Office Mac
Office: A suite of Microsoft productivity software that supports common business tasks, including word processing, email, presentations, and data management and analysis.Mac: A family of Apple personal computers that run the macOS operating system.
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  1. Erin Ding-MSFT 4,461 Reputation points
    2021-04-19T07:12:52.603+00:00

    Hi @Kay Taylor

    What's the version of the Office for Mac are you using? Please firstly update it to the latest version to have a check.

    According to your description, I have the following 3 questions.

    1. Are there any error messages when opening Word or Excel? If yes, please provide related screenshots which may help troubleshoot this issue better.
    2. Does this issue occur on other Office Apps like PowerPoint?
    3. Did you update Office or your Mac or install third-party programs before the issue?

    You could try the following methods.

    1. Open your mac in safe mode then open Office for Mac to check this issue. Safe mode could help you to determine whether an issue is caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up.
      Note: Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. Please make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any suggestions from the above link.
    2. Please make sure to uninstall Office completely before reinstalling it.

    Besides, here are some official documents with regard to specific error messages, you may refer to.
    "Microsoft program cannot be opened because of a problem" error when you start an Office program
    Word for Mac error: "Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close"
    "Microsoft Excel has encountered a problem and needs to close" when starting Excel for Mac

    By the way, tag makes it easier for you to get related help from specific supporting teams and other users that follow this tag.
    More information about tag and Q&A forum, please refer to FAQ & Help page.
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    Any updates, please let me know.

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