How to Fix Microsoft Office 365 Apps Not Opening After Updating

These days, it feels like every Microsoft update, whether for individual apps or Windows itself, is a 50/50 dice roll on whether it works or breaks something important. We have covered so many update-related errors at this point that it sometimes feels like Microsoft does not even properly test what it ships before pushing it out. So if Office has recently updated on your system and now refuses to open, follow along as we walk you through a list of steps that should get it working properly again.

How to Fix Microsoft Office 365 Apps Not Opening After Updating

Since it was probably a Windows update that ruined everything and not an Office update, the first place to start is uninstalling the latest Windows update that installed.

• To remove it, open Settings, then go to Windows Update, Update history, and Uninstall updates.
• Select the most recent update and uninstall it.
• Restart your computer and check if Office opens normally.

Here's a full guide on the process: How to uninstall a bad Windows 11 update. Roll back a Windows 11 update.

Repair Microsoft Office

If uninstalling the latest Windows update didn't work, you can try repairing or resetting the Microsoft Office App or whatever other app you're having issues with.

• Open Settings, go to Apps, Installed apps, and locate Microsoft 365 or Office.
• Select Modify, then choose Quick Repair.
• If the issue continues, repeat the process and select Online Repair for a more thorough fix.

Re-enter Office licensing information

If Office cannot verify your license, it will have all sorts of problems, so you should re-enter your info.

• Open Terminal as administrator and navigate to the Office installation folder, for example:

• Check the license status:

• Remove the last five characters of the product key:

• Restart an Office application and re-enter your product key or sign in with your Microsoft account.

Reset Office registry settings

If there are any corruption issues in Office, go ahead and reset everything to restore defaults.

• Before proceeding, back up your registry. Then open Registry Editor using regedit and navigate to:

• Rename the Office folder to something like OfficeBackup. Restart your system and try opening Office again.

Start Office in Safe Mode

Though it probably won't fix anything, you can use it to disable any add-ons or anything else you have added. With this disabled, you can launch it normally to see if the problem has been solve.

• Use the following commands:

• You can also hold the Ctrl key while launching an Office application. If Office works in Safe Mode, the issue is likely caused by add-ins or custom settings.

Repair System Image Files (SFC & DISM)

Most of the time, these two commands will solve the problem without any more work. They take a bit of time to action but are worth doing before anything else. How you access Command Prompt will depend on how bad the boot loop is.

• Open Command Prompt as an administrator.
• Run the System File Checker by typing sfc /scannow and press Enter.
• Run the Deployment Imaging Service and Management Tool with

Note: Do not interrupt the process, as it may take several minutes to complete.