4 Best Fixes for ‘Your Account Doesn’t Allow Editing on a Mac’ Error in Microsoft 365

The Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) subscription gives you access to all the Microsoft Office apps for your Mac. You can choose between the Premium or Essentials plan of Microsoft 365 to start using apps like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook on your Mac depending on your needs.

But some users report they cannot edit new and existing files with Microsoft apps on their Mac. The error ‘Your account doesn’t allow editing on a Mac’ appears in the apps like Word and Excel. If you are encountering the same, here are the best troubleshooting methods to fix the ‘your account doesn’t allow editing on a Mac’ error.

1. Check Microsoft 365 Subscription Status

The first solution that we recommend to get rid of this error on your Mac is checking your subscription status. A Microsoft 365 subscription is required to use apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more on your Mac. You can download the apps, but you will only use them if you sign in. Here’s how to check your subscription status.

Step 1: Open the Office Website in a web browser on your Mac.

Visit Microsoft 365

Step 2: Sign in with your Microsoft account credentials.

Step 3: Click the profile icon at the top-right corner.

Step 4: Click on My Microsoft Account.

Step 5: Select Manage Microsoft 365 under Subscriptions after the page loads.

Check if your subscription is active.

You can also check for your payment method. Click on Change to add a new payment method to your Microsoft 365 account.

Step 6: After you confirm the subscription status, open any Microsoft app on your Mac and check if the problem is solved.

2. Sign In Again to Microsoft Account

If your Microsoft account still doesn’t allow editing on Mac, you can try logging in again in your Microsoft 365 apps. This is a basic solution but it can help to fix this error.

Step 1: Open any Microsoft 365 app on your Mac. We are taking Microsoft Word as an example.

Step 2: Click on your profile picture at the top-left corner of the Microsoft Word window.

Step 3: Click on Sign Out.

Step 4: Click on Sign Out again to confirm.

Step 5: Click on the profile picture icon again at the top-left corner.

Step 6: Enter your Microsoft account credentials to sign in.

Open any file and check if you can edit it now.

3. Clear Cache Files for Microsoft 365 Apps

This is an advanced solution if you still see the error of ‘Your account doesn’t allow editing on a Mac.’ The app cache on your Mac helps improve the responsiveness of apps you prefer using frequently. But with time, this app cache gets corrupted and can cause issues like these. We suggest clearing the cache files for Microsoft 365 apps on your Mac.

Step 1: Launch all the Microsoft 365 apps installed on your Mac and sign out from your account using the steps mentioned above.

Step 2: On the home screen of your Mac, click on Go at the top Menu Bar.

Step 3: Select Go To Folder from the list of options.

Step 4: Type ~/Library in the search bar and press Return.

Step 5: In the Library folder window, scroll down and open the Group Containers folder.

Step 6: Search for the following files in the Group Containers folder and delete them.

UBF8T346G9.ms
UBF8T346G9.Office
UBF8T346G9.OfficeOsfWebHost

Step 7: Close the window and empty the Recycle Bin to delete those files permanently.

Step 8: Launch the apps again and check if the problem is solved.

4. Update Microsoft 365 Apps

The last resort if none of the solutions have worked for you is to update the Microsoft 365 apps installed on your Mac. There can be a bug in the current version of the apps that’s causing this issue.

Step 1: Press Command + Spacebar keyboard shortcut to open Spotlight Search, type App Store, and press Return.

Step 2: Click on Updates from the left menu.

Step 3: Press Command + R keyboard shortcut to check for updates.

Step 4: If an update is available, download and install it.

Step 5: After that, open the app and check if the problem is solved.

Edit Your Files

These solutions will fix the error ‘Your account doesn’t allow editing on a Mac.’ You can also read our post to learn the best practices for securely using your Microsoft 365 account.