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Recently I'm unable to edit Excel or Word documents on my iPad Air (5gen) or iPad Mini (A17 Pro). I still can on my iPhone16 Pro.

Anonymous
2025-03-30T11:02:24+00:00

Recently I'm unable to edit Excel or Word documents on my iPad Air (5gen) or iPad Mini (A17 Pro). I could do so last year. I am still able to do so on my iPhone16 Pro. When I go to use Excel or Word I get the report "To edit and save, sign in with a subscription" and a Sign-in link. The link only allows me to choose a paid subscription, however I am on the "Free" plan, and there doesn't appear to be an option to sign in on that plan (see images). The only difference I am aware of is that I used my iPads as BYOD for work. I have recently retired and no longer need to use the devices as BYOD. I have tried deleting the work Entra account, the email app, Hub and Citrix VIP. I have also tried deleting Excel, Word, Authenticator, and OneDrive, reinstalling and logging in with my personal account but I get the same problem. Do you have any advice please?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | Other | iOS

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-03-31T09:27:15+00:00

    Hi PeterJal

    On tablets, if your screen size is larger than 10.1 inches, you must have a licence to subscribe to Microsoft 365 Personal or Family under your account in order to use it.Otherwise you will be shown as not having a subscription to use it.

    So if you want to use Office apps on your iPad Air (5gen), you need to have a paid subscription to use them.

    On the iPad Mini (A17 Pro) you can use it for free as per the instructions and we recommend you try again with a new Microsoft account.

    Unfortunately, we've been getting feedback since last year that Office doesn't activate properly on the iPad Mini, so if you're still unable to activate it with a different Microsoft account, then you're affected by this hotspot issue.

    Would you like to consider a free one-month trial of Microsoft 365?

    Or you can try the Office web side to handle your work temporarily, and you can try Office for free on the web side.

    Free Trial - Try Microsoft 365 for a month - Microsoft Store

    Best Regards,

    LucyW-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-07-04T16:28:45+00:00

    What has changed to where this has started happening? I have used the free version for years. I have an iPad mini and now I can’t get past the sign up for 365. I don’t need all of those extra features. I do I edit and remove that link

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