Office Home & Business 2021: Mac Purchase for Faculty/Staff for Personally Owned Computers

Microsoft 365 (free to current students, faculty and staff) includes the latest version of Office and other productivity apps, and is updated automatically. Go to download page 

Use Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac, a productivity suite of software for editing documents, creating spreadsheets, making computer slide shows, reading email and more.

Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac contains Excel,, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word.

Step 1: Uninstall Existing Versions of Office

Step 2: Purchase Office

Faculty and Staff may purchase this version of Office for $19.99, or may download Microsoft 365 for free.

Last updated: 8/23/2023

Step 3: Install Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac

Open your download folder and double-click the download, then install.

Step 4: Run Office Updates

Set Office to check for updates automatically. Updates will only be checked when you are connected to the Internet:

  1. Launch a Microsoft Office application
  2. From the Help menu select Check for Updates
  3. Under How would you like to check for software updates select Automatically Download and Install
  4. Click Check for Updates

Common Questions

Why am I being prompted for a product key?

Remove or uninstall trial or demo versions, or versions you installed with a license key before you download and install Office from UB. Installing over a trial or demo or a version licensed with a key prompts you for a product key for the UB version.

When I go to open the download, why does it just keep opening a new file instead of installing the software?

Sometimes Chrome says the file has finished downloading, but it hasn't. When you go to install the software, the download is incomplete and won't install. Try downloading Office with a different browser, like Safari, and then installing it.

If I delete a previous version of Office, do my files get deleted?

No.

Can I keep an older version of Office and install Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac?

No.

Can I request a physical copy of Office media?

No.

How long can I use Office?

Your Office download will continue to work the entire time you are at UB. When you are no longer a current student, faculty or staff member, you must remove Office from your computer.

Still need help?

Contact the UBIT Help Center.