Microsoft patches Office for Mac licensing bug

Microsoft has released an update to its Office for Mac 2011 software. The Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.3.1 Update fixes an issue that could "...cause Office 2011 applications to report a problem with Licensing even though the applications continue to run unaffected," according to the company. In other words, the bug caused several genuinely licensed copies of Office 2011 to think they were unlicensed and stop working.

The bug first appeared after Microsoft released the Office for Mac 2011 14.3 Update last week. That update delivered a number of genuine critical bug fixes and apparently spread the licensing bug. To install the latest update, users can launch any Office for Mac 2011 app and select "Check for Updates" under the Help menu. You can download the update directly here.