How do I move Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac?

[steve62388]

Hi,

I have a legitimate copy of MS Office 2011 for Mac with a product key. It is a digital download via the MS Home Use Program. I want to move Office from my rMBP to my riMac.

The download link in my MS email is now dead, it's linking through to Digital River who I don't think carry MS software any more.

This link here:- http://www.microsoft.com/uk/mac/office-2011-digital-download asks me to enter my Product Key but returns an error of 'The Office for Mac 2011 Product Key provided is not recognised as an eligible product for free download. Please re-enter your Product Key and try again, or check the list of eligible products.' Now it could be that Office is still installed on my rMBP but before I go through to delete it (as per here:- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2398768) I wanted to make sure I could re-install it, I don't want to lose my license because of some stupid idiosyncrasy. What shall i do?

If you don't know the answer to my specific question, do you know where I can download a digital copy of Office 2011 from? Then I can enter my product key during the install.

Thanks.

 

[firedept]

Hi,

I have a legitimate copy of MS Office 2011 for Mac with a product key. It is a digital download via the MS Home Use Program. I want to move Office from my rMBP to my riMac.

The download link in my MS email is now dead, it's linking through to Digital River who I don't think carry MS software any more.

This link here:- http://www.microsoft.com/uk/mac/office-2011-digital-download asks me to enter my Product Key but returns an error of 'The Office for Mac 2011 Product Key provided is not recognised as an eligible product for free download. Please re-enter your Product Key and try again, or check the list of eligible products.' Now it could be that Office is still installed on my rMBP but before I go through to delete it (as per here:- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2398768) I wanted to make sure I could re-install it, I don't want to lose my license because of some stupid idiosyncrasy. What shall i do?

If you don't know the answer to my specific question, do you know where I can download a digital copy of Office 2011 from? Then I can enter my product key during the install.

Thanks.

Here is a link to the digital download of MS Office 2011. I used this link about a year ago when I transferred my copy of MS Office from one iMac to another iMac. Worked fine then. I can not remember if I had to uninstall it from my other iMac first or not. I have 4 licenses so it may not have been an issue for me. Hope this helps.

 

[steve62388]

Here is a link to the digital download of MS Office 2011. I used this link about a year ago when I transferred my copy of MS Office from one iMac to another iMac. Worked fine then. I can not remember if I had to uninstall it from my other iMac first or not. I have 4 licenses so it may not have been an issue for me. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your reply. That's the Canadian link for the one I referenced above, except I'm in the UK. It doesn't work, coming up with the error message I posted.

 

[firedept]

My bad. Here is the link for the UK download, but I believe you will get the same error. It is most likely due to the fact that it is still installed on your rMBP. I had spare licenses sitting around and it was non issue. You may have to be registered with the site as well. I am registered and it shows in my download history on the site.

Like I say, it was a year ago that I had to do it and remember it being very straight forward to do.

 

[reundo]

Hi,

I have a legitimate copy of MS Office 2011 for Mac with a product key. It is a digital download via the MS Home Use Program. I want to move Office from my rMBP to my riMac.

The download link in my MS email is now dead, it's linking through to Digital River who I don't think carry MS software any more.

This link here:- http://www.microsoft.com/uk/mac/office-2011-digital-download asks me to enter my Product Key but returns an error of 'The Office for Mac 2011 Product Key provided is not recognised as an eligible product for free download. Please re-enter your Product Key and try again, or check the list of eligible products.' Now it could be that Office is still installed on my rMBP but before I go through to delete it (as per here:- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2398768) I wanted to make sure I could re-install it, I don't want to lose my license because of some stupid idiosyncrasy. What shall i do?

If you don't know the answer to my specific question, do you know where I can download a digital copy of Office 2011 from? Then I can enter my product key during the install.

Thanks.

When I installed an ssd into my macbook pro I couldn't get office to recognize my license number since I had already installed it on the previous hd. There is no way to transfer the license. After calling microsoft multiple times I finally got a hold of a higher level agent that took care of my issue in 2 minutes. Just be prepared you might need to call microsoft support.

 

[steve62388]

I have sorted this out so I am posting back in case anybody else stumbles across it in the future.

The old Digital River archives have indeed been closed but I found a page with links to Microsoft's new Azure service. You can find links to download Office 2011 here:- http://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/61-office-2011-for-mac-direct-download-links

You will still need your license key for install.

In case the link site ever goes offline in future I have saved a copy in the Internet Archive (sometimes known as the Internet Time Machine or Internet Wayback Machine).

 

[ianhart]

Microsoft wants me to pay

I had a legitimate copy of MS Office for Mac on my computer when the motherboard fried. I cloned the HD to my new Mac, but when I tried to open Office 2011, I was informed that I had reached the limit on the number of authorised computers. So I contacted Microsoft support and asked how to remove the authorisation on my old, dead Mac and move it to my new machine. The unhelpful support guy told me "It will cost you." The cheapest option is to buy a new copy of Office. I guess this is a good reason to throw this piece of bloatware away and move to another office suite.

 

[jlc1978]

I had a legitimate copy of MS Office for Mac on my computer when the motherboard fried. I cloned the HD to my new Mac, but when I tried to open Office 2011, I was informed that I had reached the limit on the number of authorised computers. So I contacted Microsoft support and asked how to remove the authorisation on my old, dead Mac and move it to my new machine. The unhelpful support guy told me "It will cost you." The cheapest option is to buy a new copy of Office. I guess this is a good reason to throw this piece of bloatware away and move to another office suite.

Keep calling. sometimes it takes a fe calls and a transfer to a higher level support.

 

[ianhart]

Success

Keep calling. sometimes it takes a fe calls and a transfer to a higher level support.

Thanks for the advice. I tried again and this time got a friendly and efficient technician who fixed the issue in minutes.

 

[reundo]

Keep calling. sometimes it takes a fe calls and a transfer to a higher level support.

I had a similar experience. See my post above. It just takes getting in tough with the right person.

 

[steve62388]

I had a legitimate copy of MS Office for Mac on my computer when the motherboard fried. I cloned the HD to my new Mac, but when I tried to open Office 2011, I was informed that I had reached the limit on the number of authorised computers. So I contacted Microsoft support and asked how to remove the authorisation on my old, dead Mac and move it to my new machine. The unhelpful support guy told me "It will cost you." The cheapest option is to buy a new copy of Office. I guess this is a good reason to throw this piece of bloatware away and move to another office suite.

I manually uninstalled Office, including the license file before installing on my new Mac. You can find the instructions on Microsoft's website.

I realise you would not have been able to do this because your previous computer fried itself, I'm just mentioning it in case anyone else is reading this in the future.

 

[hallux]

By the way, the HUP allows you to install your Office suite on TWO computers. I have my Office 2011 on my MBP and my Mini, no issues activating either one.

On how many computers can I install the software?
2 computers, either 2 PCs or 2 Macs, specific to the software that was purchased.

http://www.microsofthup.com/hupus/faq.aspx

 

[steve62388]

By the way, the HUP allows you to install your Office suite on TWO computers. I have my Office 2011 on my MBP and my Mini, no issues activating either one.



http://www.microsofthup.com/hupus/faq.aspx

Excellent tip, thanks for that. I had assumed it was only one because MS are normally pretty tight.