A Tip From Kinetic Computer Services ...

"Another account from your organization is already signed in on this device" when signing in to Word or Excel, but Outlook works fine.

Description of the Problem

You are using Windows 11. You have an Office 365 subscription and are able to sign in to Microsoft Outlook and Teams, but when you attempt to sign in to Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, you get an error, "Another account from your organization is already signed in on this device. Try again with a different account." You are sure that you are not signed on with another account; in fact, the account you're trying to use to sign in to Word or Excel is the same account you've already signed into Outlook with.

Cause

Microsoft Office stores certain files on your computer to confirm that it is a trusted device. This is meant to reduce the number of password and multi-factor authentication challenges you have to enter when signing in. Sometimes, however, these files can contain settings that actively block your signin. That is what is happening in the scenario described above.

Solution

Open your file explorer and locate your %localappdata% folder. You can do this by entering %localappdata% in the address bar in the top. You can also find it by navigating to c:\users\yourUserID\AppData\Local, but to do that, you must first enable Hidden Items using the View tab of the menu.

Once you find your %localappdata% folder, look for the \Microsoft\OneAuth folder. Delete it. (If you're scared, you can rename it to something like OneAuth.old, but there is really nothing to worry about. This folder is always recreated on the fly if it is missing.)

With no OneAuth folder, your signin to Word and Excel starts with a "clean slate" and should work correctly.

This tip is a free service of Kinetic Computer Services - professional network consultants serving the Houston area since 1998.

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