Why did my MS Excel application (not 365) disappear on my M1 Macbook Air after updating to iOS 26?

wrince wrote:

My MS Excel disappeared after updating to iOS 26 on my M1 Macbook Air. I had previous installed Office Pro 2022 (not the online 365) onto my MB Air, and have been using it until yesterday.

There is not a legitimate version of Microsoft Office 2022. On Microsoft's web site, one finds this:

"Microsoft does not offer a product called "Office 2022" for Mac. However, you can choose between two main options for Office apps on Mac:

1. 1. Microsoft 365 for Mac: A subscription-based service that includes always up-to-date versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and more, along with 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. You can learn more and compare plans here.
   2. Office Home & Business 2024: A one-time purchase that includes classic versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote for Mac. This option is ideal if you prefer not to have a subscription. The price starts at $249.99. "

So what software did you install? Did you pay for genuine Microsoft Office product? If you did, contact Microsoft for technical assistance. This makes me think you did not install a legal version of Office:

"MS will not let you do a fresh reinstall, as in using the original product key."

MS always allows a fresh reinstall of its products that are still supported. I have done it many times on personally owned Macs. We have thousands of Macs at my workplace and they do that every time an old computer is replenished with a new one.

Online one can find various versions of "Office Pro 2022" but they are not genuine Microsoft products. They seem to come from questionable sources. If you downloaded and installed a non-legitimate Office product, who knows what you really installed or what it did to your Mac.

If you don't want to pay for a genuine Microsoft Office product (standalone or 365 subscription), you can use Apple's Numbers-Pages-Keynote suite and open and save in Microsoft formats, or other options such as OpenOffice.

Log into your Microsoft account at account.microsoft.com and View your Order History. You will likely have to adjust the date range as it defaults to last three months.

You should find all of your Microsoft purchases there and you can Install from there. It let me install a 2019 version of Home & Business, so there should be no reason you cannot install 2021.

If you don't have a Microsoft account, then there is no way you "own" a legitimate copy of Excel. You have to create a Microsoft account in order to get past the licensing scheme.

Did you look in the applications folder to see if it's still there?

Sounds to me like the default handler for spreadsheets just got changed. I doubt Excel is gone. You just need to change the default for those files back to Excel.

wrince wrote:

If it were that simple, I would not have posted here.

With respect, you seem somewhat confused. For example, you stated that you updated, "...to iOS 26 on my M1 Macbook Air." iOS is the operating system for iPhones, macOS is the operating system for Macs. You also stated that you are using a product from Microsoft that does not exist. Please see the following, a post that is confusing does not typically result in helpful replies.

Writing an effective Apple Support Commun… - Apple Community

Regarding your current issue, you might try your question on the Microsoft Forums:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/tags/831/m365-office  

I agree with KiltedTim

To fix this (if the Excel application is still there)

Right/Secondary-click on an Excel file

From the drop-down, select "Open With" and see what the default "open with" application is assigned.

If it's listed as Numbers, change it to Excel:

From the same drop-down/open with, select "Other" and a file picker dialog will open

Be sure to verify the "Show Options"/"Hide Options" the bottom of the dialog (if "Hide Options" is displayed, then you are showing options). You want to be showing the available options.

Scroll through the list of application and find Excel, select it, then click on the check box to the left of "Always Open With"

Now click the "Open" button

Now future double-clicks on an Excel file will open the file with the Excel application.

And yet you still don't seem to understand that iOS and macOS are not the same thing.

You also don't seem to understand that the specific version of Office you claimed to have installed does not exist.

It is not an "obvious typo". We see posts here all the time from people who don't know what they have.

Oh... and by the way "RESTALL" is not a word.

Accuracy is important when seeking assistance to solve a technical problem.

wrince wrote:

I did not realize it was a Beta.

That seem extremely unlikely.

Thanks, I have a subscription to MS365 and the apps (which I keep updated) are working just fine for me on macOS 26.0.1.

Good luck sorting out your issues.

KiltedTim wrote:

Accuracy is important when seeking assistance to solve a technical problem.

Much better to mix inaccuracy with rudeness, and then expect additional assistance.