Verifying "Microsoft Word"...

An alternative location to tell the operating system that the applications are ok to use is in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General panel. Visit that panel after you launch each Microsoft application and see if it allows you to override the verify process. I used to have a screen shot to better clarify this but it is apparently gone.

WhyOhWhyOhWhyOhWhy wrote:

I have a 2019 iMac (model iMac19,1) with a 6-Core Intel Core i5 CPU running at 3GHz, 8GB RAM and a 1TB HDD (APPLE HDD ST1000DM003). I'm running MacOs Monteray (12.0.1). I have Microsoft Office for Mac installed and mostly use Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Pretty much every time I try to launch any of the Microsoft Office apps I get a message: Verifying "Microsoft ...." with a progress bar that does not correctly indicate any real progress of the task reportedly being executed. The time it takes for this progress bar to disappear and the app to launch varies from about a minute to 15 mintues (when I usually give up and restart in Windows using Bootcamp).

There has been a similar thread with many user users complaining about this problem but after 8 pages of comments there still does not seem to be any indicatiopn of the cause nor any real attempt by Apple to solve this. The thread has since gone stale and I was wondering if anyone had any resolution?

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/b2c99b47-f27c-49a9-8688-e4ed70b099e2

I would verify your third party software is up to date and compatible with the macOS

Microsoft Corporation/Customer service

https://support.microsoft.com

1 (800) 642-7676

Big Sur compatibility—Microsoft recently announced that it was officially ending support for Office 2016 for Mac on October 13, 2020. Apple Silicon compatibility in Office 2016 is questionable. Office 2019 no issues.

The current Office for Mac; Office 365 or Office 2019 (One-time purchase) are OK with Catalina/Big Sur/Monterey

Monterey—

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/upgrade-macos-to-continue-receiving-microsoft-365-and-office-for-mac-updates-16b8414f-08ec-4b24-8c91-10a918f649f8

Big Sur/Monterey—Microsoft 365 for Mac apps that run natively on Macs with M1.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/12/15/4-ways-microsoft-365-is-improving-the-experience-for-mac-users/

On each Microsoft application, right-click on it and choose Open from the secondary menu. This will open a dialog essentially telling you that MIcrosoft ___ is an application from a third-party developer. Click the OK/Open button, and the familiar GateKeeper security verification will run. Again, a dialog will appear, and you click Open again.

Microsoft ____ will launch and subsequent launches will do so normally without the Gatekeeper verification process.