“We’re having trouble verifying your Office 365 account on this computer”

Have you seen this error? Read on to find out how to fix the problem.

When using Microsoft Office 365 software such as Word 2016 you may see a banner along the top of the application advising ‘Couldn’t Verify Account. We’re having trouble verifying your Office 365 account on this computer.’ This could happen if your account has lost its connection to the software or if your details such as the password or email address have changed and not synchronised.

Provided it is the account details that need to be updated then you can amend this from within Office software such as Word or Excel by choosing ‘File’ and then ‘Account’. This area should show you the account that Office has been set up with. If details such as your email address or password have changed then you can choose ‘Sign Out’ or ‘Switch User’ and then sign back in using the correct details. Once signed in, providing the account you are using has the correct license for the Office software you are using, then this should correct the issue.

If the issue persists, it may be that the problem has been caused by a license change on the account you are using. If the account does not have the correct license for the product you are using then it will need to updated within the Office 365 admin centre. You may need to get your 365 administrator to check the licensing in case it has been removed from your account or has expired.