Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac Will Soon Stop Letting You Edit Documents

Microsoft will prevent Office 2019 for Mac owners from editing their documents from July 13, a restriction the company is attributing to the productivity suite's expiring digital certificate. The Office 2019 apps affected include Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, and One Note. Once the certificate used to confirm the suite's license expires, these apps will drop into what Microsoft is calling "reduced functionality mode." In other words, users will still be able to open, view, and print existing documents, but creating, editing and saving documents will be disabled. The same restriction will apply to iPhone and iPad apps that can't be updated, according to Microsoft. Microsoft has actually renewed the suite's certificate, but the fix can only be delivered through a software update. That means users of Microsoft 365 and Office 2021 are in the clear – they'll receive the update, so neither will be affected. However, Microsoft stopped offering support for Office 2019 on October 10, 2023, and the suite has received no updates since. As such, it won't be updated to version 16.83, which is the release that includes the renewed certificate. Microsoft says the problem can't be fixed by reinstalling Office 2019. Instead, it suggests affected users turn to the company's free Microsoft 365 web apps, take out a paid Microsoft 365 subscription, or make a one-time purchase of Office 2024. Users running newer supported versions of Office on macOS 12 Monterey or later simply need to update to build 16.83. For users on iPhone and iPad running iOS 17 or later, it's build 2.93. You can check which version you have by opening Word and selecting Word ➝ About Word, but most suites will be automatically updated in the background. Office 2021 will only receive updates until October 13, 2026, when it too reaches the end of support. Microsoft says the apps will continue to function after that date, but they will no longer receive security or feature updates. Some critics have argued that Micr