Fix: Restart Office to Apply Changes to Your Privacy Settings

The “Restart Office to apply changes to your privacy settings” message appears in Microsoft Office applications when a user modifies their privacy settings, but the changes cannot take effect while the app is still running.

This message typically looks like:

In most cases, restarting the application once should resolve the problem.

However, if the message continues to appear even after multiple restarts, it usually points to deeper issues such as a mismatched or expired license, conflicts between multiple signed-in accounts, or corrupted registry configurations.

1. Restart Your Computer

Even after saving the new privacy settings, hidden background processes of Office may continue running, preventing the update from being applied correctly. Restarting your computer ensures all background instances of Office are closed, allowing the changes to take effect properly when the application restarts.

1. Restart your computer.
2. Once your PC boots up, reopen the Office application and check if the “Restart required” message has disappeared.

2. Turn Off Optional Connected Experiences

If your Microsoft 365 subscription has expired or your accounts are not syncing properly, Office may repeatedly attempt to update privacy permissions in the background. These constant sync attempts can cause the “Restart required” message to reappear even after multiple restarts. Disabling the Optional Connected Experiences feature stops these background processes, allowing Office to apply your settings correctly.

1. Open the Office application where the message appears.
2. Go to File in the top-left menu.
3. Click on Account > Manage Settings.
4. Uncheck the option Enable optional connected experiences.
5. Close the Office application and restart your computer.

3. Remove Unused Microsoft Accounts

When multiple Microsoft accounts are signed in on the same device, each account may attempt to enforce its own privacy preferences. This conflict can lead to repeated “Restart required” messages. Removing inactive or unnecessary accounts helps Office apply the correct settings associated with your active account.

1. Open any Office application (for example, Outlook).
2. Go to Accounts > Manage.
3. Sign out of all accounts except the one you are currently using.