Repeatedly Requesting Keychain Access

Issue/Question

Whenever an Office for Mac app is open, it prompts for Keychain Access:

Microsoft [Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word] wants to use your confidential information stored in "Microsoft Identity [random characters]" in your keychain.

Do you want to allow access to this item?

Environment

• macOS
  • Office Suite

Cause

This most often occurs when the permissions for the Office suite have corrupted, making it unable to access the information stored in the keychain.

Resolution

1. Select Always Allow when prompted. The message can appear up to three times for each effected app.
2. If the prompt persists after three times, or returns when reopening the app, keychain permissions will need to be reset for the Office suite:
   1. Quit all Office apps by clicking their name in the menu bar at the top of the screen and selecting Quit.
   2. Click (Spotlight) on the far right side of the menu bar at the top of your screen.
   3. Search for and open keychain access.
   4. Click to select the login keychain group in the top left pane.
   5. Click File and select Lock Keychain "login".
   6. Launch one of the effected Office apps.
   7. You will be prompted to grant keychain access again. Enter your Mac's account credentials and click OK.
   8. You may be prompted to sign in to your Microsoft 365 account.
   9. Once signed in, you can quit and reopen the app to verify no more prompts will appear.
3. If If the prompt returns after resetting keychain permissions, the Office suite will need to be reset.