Office 365 app on mac won't activate (Apple App Store purchase) Hi there, I just paid for and downloaded the new Microsoft Office 365 suite from the Apple App Store (2018 MacBook Pro - OS 14.14.2).
It?s a frustrating scenario: You click on a regularly used application only to find that it will not launch ? either bouncing indefinitely in the Mac OS X Dock or simply providing no feedback whatsoever. There are a number of potential solutions for this problem, ranging from simple and relatively quick to more tedious.
Update prebinding Many cases of application launch-failure can be resolved easily by simply updating prebinding, via the following steps:
Log in as an administrator
Open the Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities)
Type: sudo update_prebinding -root / -force and press Return.
When prompted for a password, enter your admin password, and press Return again. The process may take a few minutes, and you may see various messages flash by. The process is complete when the Terminal returns to a normal prompt.
Type exit and press Return.
Check for the capability to launch the problematic application.
Kill process in activity monitor Killing an application-related process via Activity Monitor (click the item then press the 'Quit Process' button) can allow proper application launch. This is especially applicable in situations where a restart cures problems with application launching, as the offending process(es) will, of course, be killed by the restart process.
Launch Activity Monitor (located in Applications/Utilities), then find the process associated with the problematic application, then quit it and attempt re-launching the applications.
Delete appropriate .plist files A non-launching application can be the result of a corrupt or otherwise defunct associated .plist file (for more information on exactly what a .plist file is, see this series of articles)
Most of the preferences files that we will be talking about are stored in a folder named Preferences, and located in the Library folder of your home directory, e.g.:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist.
Go to the ~/Library/Preferences folder, and search for any .plist files that may be associated with the application you are having trouble with. Drag the .plist file(s) [many applications have more than one associated .plist file, so be careful to scour for all of them] to the Desktop, then re-attempt launching the application.
You can also use an application like Preferential Treatment to check for corrupt .plist files.
Re-install the application Try re-installing your application from its original media or download source.
If an Apple application or component is not launching properly, you might need to restore it from the Apple installation discs per the instructions in our tutorial 'Re-installing Apple applications from a Mac OS X disc/update package using Pacifist.'
Clearing caches Try using a utility like Tiger Cache Cleaner, OnyX, or Cocktail to perform series of system cache deletion routines. Go from light, to medium to deep (the ordinal levels are defined differently in each application), checking to see if your afflicted application launches properly after each.
Also, check the following folder for application-specific cache files that can be deleted, or at least temporarily removed:
/Library/Application Support (look inside the folders here for files that end with .cache, and delete them)
Make sure permissions are correct A range of permissions issues can effect Mac OS X applications, causing them not to launch.
In these cases, the first thing to try is a disk permissions repair routine using Apple's Disk Utility (located in Applications/Utilities).
Failing that, startup from your Mac OS X installation disc (insert it, then restart while holding down the 'C' key). After the startup process is complete, go to the 'Utilities' menu and select Disk Utility. Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button.
In some odd cases (usually after a backup or when transferring backed up data back to a startup device), permissions on the 'MacOS' directory (the directory that normally stores the executable binary in a Mac OS X application) can become incorrect.
In order to fix this problem, use the following steps:
Click on the afflicted application to select it in the Finder
Either click the application while holding the control key, or use the 'Action' menu (the icon looks like a gear) to access the option 'Show Package Contents'
Open the 'Contents' folder therein, and then find the 'MacOS' folder
Modify the permissions on this folder to give it 'execute' permissions for all users. Do this by opening the Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities) and typing the following command (don't press return afterward):
sudo chmod 755
After typing this, drag the 'MacOS' folder to the Terminal window -- its path should appear. Press return, and you will be prompted for your administrator password, which you should enter.
The 'MacOS' directory should now have read, write and execute priveleges for the owner, and read and execute privileges for the group and others.
Check CoreAudio As noted in Knowledge Base article #301658, some Apple applications might not open fully or at all if the Digidesign Core Audio driver has been installed as part of a Pro Tools version 6.9 installation.
Apple says to follow these steps if you are affected by this issue:
Updating your Digidesign Core Audio driver may resolve the issue. You can find the latest versions for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) and Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) at http://digidesign.com/download/coreaudio. If that doesn't help, continue to step 2.
Open Audio MIDI Setup (/Applications/Utilities).
Click the Audio Devices tab.
From the Default Output pop-up menu, choose Built-in Audio.
Check for errant plug-ins Some application launch failures can be caused by problematic plug-ins or other add-ons. Safari and other Web browsers are notorious for suffering from this issue, as are some other extensible applications like iMovie.
Check the following locations for any recently added files, or any files implicated in error messages generated when you attempt to launch the problematic application:
/Library/Internet Plug-ins
~/Library/InputManagers
Re-apply the Mac OS X combo updater Try re-applying the latest Mac OS X combo updater from Apple's software downloads page. Doing so can resolve issues with system components or delete specific files that can resolve application launching issues.
Create a new user account Try creating a new user account, and check if the application launches under it. If so, a user-specific corruption issue is likely at play -- see the above sections regarding .plist files and caches. See our tutorial 'Common workaround -- create a new user account' for more information.
Archive and Install As a last resort, try performing an Archive and Install process, which will retain some user settings but otherwise leave you with a fresh Mac OS X installation.
Also, check with the application's developer for compatibility notes regarding the version of Mac OS X you are running, and revert to an earlier iteration if necessary.
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Resources
There can be quite a few reasons for an application to fail to launch, but the most likely cause, if you're running OS X Yosemite or earlier, is a disk permissions error. Disk permissions are flags set for each item in the file system. They define whether an item can be read, written to, or executed. Permissions are initially set when you install an application, such as Safari.
If these permissions get out of whack, they can prevent an application from working correctly. The result may be a bouncing Dock icon, as you mentioned, and an application that never finishes launching. Other times an application may appear to launch normally, but then some part of it fails to work, usually a plug-in that the application uses.
Besides file permissions, there is the possibility of an apps preference files being the source for an app that is acting wonky and not starting up or working correctly. No matter which is the cause, these tips should help you fix the problem.
Fixing App File Permission Issues: OS X Yosemite and Earlier
As mentioned above, a common problem found in the earlier versions of OS X is the file permissions being set incorrectly. This can happen whenever you install a new app, update an app, or upgrade your copy of OS X. All it takes is the installer to be coded incorrectly, and an app's permissions can be set incorrectly. It doesn’t even have to be the same app being updated. You could install a new photo editing app, and it could accidentally set the permissions on a folder shared by another app incorrectly, causing the dreaded bouncing Dock icon or an app simply failing to start or work.
The first thing to try in this situation is to repair disk permissions. Luckily, you don’t need to know what the permissions should be; your Mac keeps a database of the default permissions for most applications that you’ve installed. All you need to do is launch Disk Utility and run its Repair Disk Permissions option. You can find instructions on how to do this in the About: Macs Using Disk Utility to Repair Hard Drives and Disk Permissions guide.
The other set of file permissions you may want to check are those associated with your user account. User account file settings usually won't affect applications, such as Safari, that are stored in the /Applications folder. However, some apps are placed in the user folder, so your user folder may also contain the preference files used by an application.
You can find details on fixing user account permissions in the Mac Troubleshooting: Reset User Account Permissions guide.
Fixing App File Permission Issues: OS X El Capitan and Later
With OS X El Capitan, Apple locked down system file permissions, including those in the /Applications folder. As a result, file permission issues should no longer be a concern as the cause for an app not working. That’s the good news; the bad news is that now you'll have to dig deeper to find out what's causing the issue.
One step to take is to visit the website of the app developer and see if there are any notes about compatibility with the version of OS X you're using or any known incompatibilities with other apps or services you may be using.
In many cases, updating the affected app can cure the problem you're having with an app not starting or not working correctly.
Fixing Preference Files (Any OS X Version)
The other common cause of an app not working is a corrupt file used by the app in question. In many cases, the most likely candidate for a corrupt file is the app's preference file, also known as a plist. Plist files can become corrupt when your Mac shuts down or restarts unexpectedly, or an app freezes or crashes.
Luckily, you can delete a bad preference file and the app will create a new plist file that contains all of the app's defaults. You'll need to reconfigure the app's preferences, but it's likely that deleting the preference file will fix the issue.
Locate the App’s Preference File
Most applications store their plist files at:
~/Library/Preferences
The tilde (~) character in the pathname indicates your home folder, so if you looked in your home folder, you'd expect to see a folder named Library. Unfortunately, Apple hides the Library folder so you can’t accidentally make changes to it.
That’s OK; we can get around the hidden nature of the Library folder by using any of the methods outlined in the following article:
Go ahead and access the Library folder, using instructions at the link above.
Now that you're in the Library folder, open the Preferences folder.
If you don't see the Preferences folder in your Home folder, you can hit Command-Shift-G on your keyboard (while in the Finder), then type in ~/Library/Preferences.
The Preferences folder contains all of the plist files for each app installed on your Mac. It also contains quite a few other files, but the only ones we're interested in are ones that end with .plist.
The preference file name is in the following format:
If we're looking for the preference file for Safari, the file name should be:
There should be no other name after the plist. For example, you may also see files with the following names:
or
We're only interested in the file that ends in .plist.
Once you locate the correct plist file, quit the app in question, if it's running.
Drag the app's plist file to the desktop; this preserves the preference file should you need to restore it later.
Relaunch the app in question.
The app should now start up without issues, although all of its preferences will be in the default state. You'll need to reconfigure the app to meet your needs, just as you did originally.
Should this not fix the app issue you're having, you can restore the original plist file by making sure the app in question isn't running, and then dragging the original plist file you saved to the desktop back to the Preferences folder.
As we mentioned, file permissions and corrupt preference files are the most common problems that prevent an app from working correctly. If you've tried both methods and are still having issues, I suggest contacting the app developer and explaining the problem you're having. Most developers have a support section on their website where you can request assistance.
Safe Mode
One last test you can perform is to start your Mac up in Safe Mode. This special startup environment restricts most startup items and limits the operating system to just using the basic OS core. If you can start your Mac in Safe Mode and then use the app in question without issues, the likely cause is not permissions or preference files but a conflict with another app or a startup item.