And incidentally, in the setup process for the installation I found on my copy (as with my previous edition) that I could select/deselect various of Office's components. Initially, I had no problem in installing the app and then activating it. I recall also that you have to look in your e-mail inbox for a confirmation message from Microsoft.
Don't know if yours is similar but with mine (the H & S version) you have to sign in to the MS account in order to manage it, and there's a setting for that on the Office menu bar at top of screen.
I too recently purchased much the same retail version of MS Office for Mac2019 - at enormous expense I might add, reckoning that, once installed, it'd probably serve me well for around three years minimum.
