Activating Office for Mac 2008

[michellec]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hello,

I'm a newbie on here and would appreciate any help offered for this infuriating problem of trying to activate my Office for Mac 2008 software. I bought a new MacBook and ordered the software from Digital River as I work for the NHS.

I downloaded and installed the software no problem. When I tried to open Word or any other program, I get the activation screen. At that point it says that my product key is invalid!!

I have emailed microsoft (who advised me on how to download??) countless times and spent a couple of hours on the phone to Tech Help at MS. No luck and software I can't use.

Any ideas? anyone else had this problem? I can't get a refund to top it off!

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hello,

I'm a newbie on here and would appreciate any help offered for this
infuriating problem of trying to activate my Office for Mac 2008 software. I
bought a new MacBook and ordered the software from Digital River as I work
for the NHS.

I downloaded and installed the software no problem. When I tried to open Word
or any other program, I get the activation screen. At that point it says that
my product key is invalid!!

I have emailed microsoft (who advised me on how to download??) countless
times and spent a couple of hours on the phone to Tech Help at MS. No luck
and software I can't use.

Any ideas? anyone else had this problem? I can't get a refund to top it off!

MacOffice doesn't *have* activation, unlike WinOffice.

What you're seeing is a registration screen. All registration does is
allow you to sign up for an electronic newsletter, which you can instead
do at MacTopia.com, if you're interested.

Just dismiss the dialog and forget it.

 

[Diane Ross]

I downloaded and installed the software no problem. When I tried to open Word
or any other program, I get the activation screen. At that point it says that
my product key is invalid!!

This sounds like the Setup Assistant and not the registration/activation
screen.

Any ideas? anyone else had this problem? I can't get a refund to top it off!

This does not sound right. If you get defective software or key then you
should be able to get a refund.

Personally, I would never download an installer for an application like
Office for Mac.

We are your peers here and there is nothing we can do to help with a bad CD
key or a refund. You will have to call Microsoft.

(866) 474-4882

Hope this helps!

 

[Diane Ross]

I bought a new MacBook and ordered the software from Digital River as I work
for the NHS.

OK, I got some info back from a source at Microsoft.

Troubleshooting steps:

Step 1: Verify that the user is using a product key purchased from Digital
River. If they're getting an activation window, it's the Digital River
version of the software, but it won't work with product keys from retail box
Office for Mac, or with volume licensing keys.

Step 2: Check how the product key is being entered into the activation
window.

The easiest solution to the user's problem is usually to ask the user to
cut-and-paste the 5x5 key into the activation window (not type by hand)
making sure that they're not catching any spaces around the key.

This solves it 99% of the time.

The activation issues can usually be boiled down to 1 of 4.5 issues:

1. Lower-case letters in the product key. The activation window allows lower
case letters, but valid product keys are capital-only.
2. Spaces in, or around, the product key. (a real problem, especially with a
cut-and-paste of the product key)
3. Dashes in the product key. The main installer adds dashes for you. The
activation window requires the user to type the dashes.
4. The user isn't connected to the network. They can manuualy activate by
emailing DR.
4.5. A bad product key. Extremely, extremely rare. (i.e. I've never verified
a case of this in the wild.) But still possible. If this is the case, DR
customer service can give her a new one.

Step 3: Contact Digital River customer support. There should be a link in
to support in the confirmation email the customer received when they
purchased from Digital River.


Let me know if this helps.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

MacOffice doesn't *have* activation, unlike WinOffice.

What you're seeing is a registration screen. All registration does is
allow you to sign up for an electronic newsletter, which you can instead
do at MacTopia.com, if you're interested.

Just dismiss the dialog and forget it.

The boxless versions that are sold online do have activation.

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[JE McGimpsey]

The boxless versions that are sold online do have activation.

Ah, true. Thanks for the correction.

 

[michellec]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Diane - I have now had some kind of response to this problem from DR - they said that they are working on it and will give me an activation code so that I can activate the software manually.

I think the refund thing is a bit rubbish, but I checked again and the policy says they don't do refunds because there are too many admin/shipping costs involved.

Apparently, this is a recurring problem for the DR software, maybe because it is a download, not a CD. I just wondered if anyone else on here had had the same problem/experience, if it is indeed a wider issue and not just an isolated case.

Will update with the final outcome

 

[Diane Ross]

Apparently, this is a recurring problem for the DR software, maybe because it
is a download, not a CD. I just wondered if anyone else on here had had the
same problem/experience, if it is indeed a wider issue and not just an
isolated case.

I had never even heard of DR selling a downloadable copy of Office. It's
just a bit risky to me to get an application like Office that wasn't on a
DVD/CD.

Will update with the final outcome

Let us know. It might help someone in the future. BTW, how much did you have
to pay and which version did you get? Home & Student or Standard?