Office error 'Something went wrong' on sign-in

Quick answer

Open Windows Credential Manager, delete all entries under Windows Credentials that start with MicrosoftOffice or OneDrive. Then restart Word or Excel, sign in again.

Why this happens

That vague error — just says 'Something went wrong' — pops up when Office can’t verify your subscription. Usually it’s because the credentials stored in Windows Credential Manager are stale or corrupted. It happens a lot after a password change, or if you’ve switched Microsoft accounts. The Office client tries to use the old token, the server rejects it, and instead of telling you the real problem, Microsoft just shows that useless message. I’ve seen this on Office 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) on Windows 10 and 11. It’s not a license issue — it’s a handshake problem.

Fix steps

1. Close all Office apps — Word, Excel, Outlook, all of them. Even Outlook running in the background can hold onto the bad credential.
2. Open Credential Manager. Press the Windows key, type 'credential manager', click the result that says 'Credential Manager' (the Control Panel thing, not the settings app).
3. Click 'Windows Credentials.' You’ll see a long list of saved logins and server addresses.
4. Delete the Office entries. Look for any entry that starts with MicrosoftOffice or OneDrive or Microsoft.Teams. There might be three or four of them. Click each one, click 'Remove,' confirm. Also remove anything that says Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin if you see it.
5. Close Credential Manager. Open any Office app — say, Word. It’ll probably make you sign in again. Do that. You should see the Microsoft sign-in window, not the error.

After you sign in, give it a few seconds. Office should activate. You might see a 'Welcome back' message. That means it worked.

Alternative fixes

Clear Office activation cache manually

If deleting credentials didn’t work, the token cache itself might be broken. Here’s how to wipe it:

1. Close all Office apps.
2. Open File Explorer and paste this into the address bar: %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Licensing
3. You’ll see several files and folders. Don’t delete the folder itself, but delete everything inside it. If it asks for permission, say yes.
4. Restart Office and sign in again.

That forces Office to grab a fresh license token from Microsoft’s servers.

Use the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (SaRA)

Microsoft has a free tool called SaRA. Download it from aka.ms/SaRA. Run it, choose 'Office' then 'Office sign-in issues.' It’ll walk you through the same steps above automatically. I usually skip this because I don’t trust automated tools to delete only the right things, but for beginners it’s safer.

If you’re on a Mac

Mac users get the same error. The fix is similar: clear the credential from the Keychain. Open Keychain Access (in Applications > Utilities). Search for 'Microsoft Office' or 'Microsoft AAD.' Delete everything you find. Then restart Office, sign in again.

Prevention tip

When you change your Microsoft account password, before you open Office, clear the old credentials manually. Don’t wait for the error to appear. Go to Credential Manager, delete all MicrosoftOffice entries, then sign in with the new password. That saves you the headache. Also, avoid using the 'Sign out' button in Office — it often leaves leftover cache. Instead, use the 'Switch account' option if you need to change users. That’s cleaner.