How to use a product key to license Microsoft Office

Written By: Taylor Dixon

Comments: 1

How to use a product key to license Microsoft Office

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

Time Required

5 minutes

Introduction

Microsoft goes out of their way to hide the fact that you can still buy Office with a product key (instead of a subscription). Here's how to license Office with your product key.

This guide assumes

you have a microsoft account
you have already downloaded microsoft office
you have a microsoft office product key

Step 1

Open any Office product from the start menu.
If you have more than one version of Office installed on your machine (e.g., Office 2007 and the latest version of Office), you must open the latest version of the app to follow this guide.

Step 2

If you are signed in to Microsoft on your computer, the prompt you see when you open the app will give you the two options shown here.

Step 3

If you don't see a prompt window when you open your Office app:
1. Click the Account button at the lower-left corner of the Office app window.
2. Click the Activate Account button in the yellow highlighted field telling you your account requires activation.
These steps will bring up a prompt identical to the one shown in the other steps.

Step 4

Once you see the prompt, select Use a different account

Step 5

The use a different account option will take you to a new screen, where you will see an option to enter your product key.
Click I have a product key to enter your product key.

Step 6

Now you can finally enter your product key. :)

Conclusion

Enjoy your licensed Microsoft Office products!

One comment

Thank you for providing this information. I'm now keenly interested in Microsoft Office 2021. Could you also direct me to a reliable source where I can download this version? I would greatly appreciate your assistance.

Helen Barton -