How to activate a license in Office programs (828958)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Access 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Access 2002
  • Microsoft Excel 2002
  • Microsoft FrontPage 2002
  • Microsoft Outlook 2002
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
  • Microsoft Publisher 2002
  • Microsoft Word 2002
  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Student and Teachers Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard
  • Microsoft Office XP Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer

IN THIS TASK

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to activate the different license versions of the Microsoft Office suite and of the individual programs that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

The Trial license gives you a limited-time license to use the trial versions of Office or individual Office programs that are included in the trial program. After a trial version has been activated, the license automatically expires when the expressed time period has elapsed.

The following information applies primarily to licensed product versions that do not expire. Although activation for trial products is similar, there are differences. For information that is specific to the trial version, see the Activating trial versions section.

When you start any Office program for the first time after you install Office, the Microsoft Office Activation Wizard automatically runs. You are presented with two activation options, or you can choose to activate Office later:
  • Activate by using the Internet
  • Activate by using the telephone
Note If you select the Activate by using the Internet option, the Office Activation Wizard automatically contacts the Microsoft licensing servers through your Internet connection. If you are using a valid product key that has not been used previously, the product is activated immediately.

If you select the Activate by using the telephone option, call the telephone number that is provided in the Office Activation Wizard and type the confirmation number that is provided by the customer service agent.

In either case, after you activate the product, you have a license to use Office that never expires.

You can run non expiring versions of Office products up to 50 times without activating them. If you cannot activate the product, the programs will start to run in a reduced-functionality mode. In reduced-functionality mode, you cannot save modifications to documents or create a new document and additional functionality may be reduced.

No existing Office files or documents will be harmed, and you can easily change Office out of reduced-functionality mode by following the instructions that are outlined in the screens that are presented. For more information, see the "Quit Reduced-Functionality Mode" section of this article.

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Use the Internet to activate the license

Activating Office by using the Internet is the easier of the two activation methods. To activate the product by using the Internet, follow these steps for your version of Office.

For Microsoft Office 2003, follow these steps:
  1. Start any Office program.
  2. In the Office Activation Wizard, click the Activate by using the Internet option, and then click Next.
  3. Read the Microsoft Office Privacy Policy page, and then click Next.
  4. When you click Submit, your information is sent to the Microsoft licensing servers.

    When your information is validated, the Activation Complete page appears. Then, you can use the Office programs without having to activate Office in the future. Click Finish.
For Microsoft Office XP, follow these steps:
  1. Start any Office program.
  2. In the Office Activation Wizard, click the Activate by using the Internet option, and then click Next.
  3. Read the Microsoft Office Privacy Policy page, and then click Next.
  4. On the Customer Information page, type your personal information.

    The only information that you have to complete is the Country/Region option. Select the appropriate country from the list, type any other information that you want, and then click Next.
  5. On the Special Offers page, you have three choices to obtain information and offers from Microsoft.

    None of these options is selected by default. If you want to receive the information or offers from Microsoft, select the options that you want, type your e-mail address, and then click Submit.
  6. When you click Submit, your information is sent to the Microsoft licensing servers.

    When your information is validated, the Activation Complete page appears, and you can use the Office programs without having to activate Office in the future. Click Finish.
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Use the telephone to activate the license

If you do not have Internet connectivity, or you choose not to activate Office by using the Internet, you can select the Activate by using the telephone option. To activate the product this way, follow these steps:
  1. Start any Office program.
  2. In the Office Activation Wizard, click the Activate by using the telephone option, and then click Next.
  3. Read the Microsoft Office Privacy Policy page, and then click Next.
  4. In the Select your location list, select a country or region. Call the telephone number that is listed on line 2. The customer service agent will ask you for the installation ID and will give you a confirmation ID in return. Type the confirmation ID in the boxes provided.

    Note Make a note of the confirmation ID that is provided by the customer service agent. You may be able to reuse it on the same computer if you have to reformat your hard disk and reinstall Office in the future. If the confirmation ID does not work at that time, call the customer service agent again and request a new confirmation ID.
  5. Click Next.
  6. On the Activation Complete page, click Finish.
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Skip activation

If you do not want to activate your copy of Office, you can click Activate Later on any page of the Office Activation Wizard. The wizard warns you that you have a specified number of times to run the product before you must activate it. Click Exit to close the wizard.

Note If you decide to activate the license later, the activation counter decrements each time that you start an Office program. If the counter reaches zero, the Office programs start running in reduced functionality mode.

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Quit reduced functionality mode

If you do not activate the Office license, and the Office programs start in reduced functionality mode, you must activate the license to quit reduced functionality mode. Because the Office Activation Wizard appears every time that you start an Office program (running in reduced functionality mode), you can activate the license each time you start a program. If you do not activate the license when you start an Office program, you can also click Activate Product on the Help menu inside the Office program. This starts the Office Activation Wizard.

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Activate trial versions

The procedure to activate a trial version of Office or of one of the individual programs is similar to the procedure for activating a non expiring license version of the product. Consider the following information before you install a trial version of a Microsoft Office product:
  • Trial licenses provide full functionality for a limited time after activation. The programs will automatically start in Reduced Functionality mode after this time period.
  • Trial versions of Office and of individual programs can only be activated by using the Activate by using the Internet option. The telephone option is not available. The Activate by using the Internet option operates in the same manner for trial licenses as this option operates for non expiring licenses. For steps to activate a trial version of an Office suite or product, see the Use the Internet to Activate the License section of this article.
  • If you are using Office XP Trial products, you can choose the Activate Later option five times. The programs will open in Reduced Functionality mode if you do not activate the product in the first five times you use the product.

    Office 2003 product trial versions must be activated before they can be used.
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Determine the trial expiration date

To determine when the version expires, start any Office program, and then click Activate Product on the Help menu. The expiration notice appears. Code that runs every time that you start an Office program is built into all Office programs. This code detects when the product license expires. This code automatically provides reminders about pending expiration dates, well in advance of expiration. As the expiration date approaches, the reminders increase in frequency. The following table shows the frequency of the reminders for the Product Trial Program version.
Length of time until expiration Reminder appears
10 daysOne time
7 days One time
Between 5 and 2 daysDaily
2 days before expirationEvery time that you start an Office program
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Continue to use Office

The license for the Product Trial Program version of Office is not renewable or extendable. If you want to continue to use Office XP after the Product Trial Program copy expires, you must remove the Product Trial Program copy, and then install a new version of Office.

You can convert the Office 2003 Trial version into a full retail version by purchasing a non expiring license for Microsoft Office 2003.

For more information about how to convert to the full retail version, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

831023 How to convert an Office 2003 Trial edition to a full retail edition


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REFERENCES

For more information about product activation in Microsoft Office System products, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP030829921033.aspx?Query=activation&Scope=TC%2cHP%2cHA%2cRC%2cFX%2cES%2cEP%2cDC

For more information about the Office Activation Wizard, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

293151 Description of the Office Activation Wizard

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Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:4/11/2006
Keywords:kbMSCCSearch kbPubTypeKC kbactivation kbHOWTOmaster KB828958 kbAudEndUser
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