How Do I Get a Product Key for Microsoft Office Trial?

By Chris Lewis

Software license key
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As an inducement for people to buy their Office software product, Microsoft offers a free trial for a limited time period. During that time the product has full functionality, but at the end of the trial it will only work with a reduced set of capabilities. The trial is available on a CD, by download of the software from Microsoft's website or it may have been pre-installed by the supplier of a new computer system. However it was obtained, a Product Key must be supplied and entered in the registration screen to activate the trial.

Step 1

Install the software following instructions on the screen. These will go through a series of steps until reaching a screen requesting the entry of a Trial Product Key. If the trial copy of Microsoft Office was installed from a physical CD the product key is printed on the CD case. It may also be printed on a Certificate of Authenticity (CoA) that was included with the product.

If the trial software was downloaded directly from the Internet, the key was given on both the "Download" and "Thank you" pages. As part of the downloading process it was recommended that both of these pages be bookmarked for later reference if the key was mislaid. The key was also sent in an e-mail following registration for the trial.

If a trial version of Microsoft Office was pre-installed on the computer the trial key was included with the literature enclosed with the instructions and manuals.

Step 2

There are limited options available to the user if the original Trial Product Key has been mislaid. If the software was pre-installed on the computer it is an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) version of Microsoft Office and it is the responsibility of the supplier to provide a replacement key. In this case you must contact the customer service support function of the supplier and request their help: Microsoft will not be able to help.

If the product was obtained directly from Microsoft, either as a CD or as a download, the advice offered by Microsoft is to contact their customer support team and request a replacement key.

Step 3

If an activated trial product needs to be reinstalled and the product key is not available, you can contact the customer support function of either the supplier or Microsoft, or you can purchase a key recovery software product that will scan your hard drive and identify keys for all the products you have activated.

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