Receiving 'View Only Your Account Doesn't Allow Editing on a Mac'


If you are seeing a "View Only Your Account Doesn't Allow Editing on a Mac" error message in Office 365 on your Mac, remove your existing license and then reactivate Office.  This is only for Office 365 obtained from office365.ncsu.edu on personal devices.  If you are using a University managed Mac, please contact your local IT support.

Download and run the license removal tool

  1. Fully Quit all open Office applications.
  2. Download the License removal tool
  3. Open the .pkg file from your Mac's Downloads folder.
  4. If you get an "unidentified developer" error, try opening the file by holding Control + clicking the file > Open
  5. Select Continue and follow the prompts in the setup wizard. **Caution**: It's recommended you double-check that you have the correct account info ready by logging into Office.com/signin and checking for the license you want to activate with.
  6. When you're ready to complete the license removal, select Install. You may need to enter your Mac's local admin account password. After the tool successfully removes licenses, select Close.

Reactivate Office

  1. Open any Office app (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint).
  2. When prompted, sign into the app with your unityid@ncsu.edu account and password to reactivate the Office suite of apps.