Change Product Key Of Mac Office 2008
Posted by tech onJune 13, 2008 |
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Chances are, you may want to change the product key of your Mac Office 2008 upon finishing an update from their site because the product key used to install your Office 2008 installation used an invalid product key. If after the update it does detect that an invalid product key was used, the office assistant will keep on popping up while the application that you chose to open will never be seen. To reset the product key, delete the following files and send to trash.
- /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Microsoft Office 2008 settings.plist
- /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/OfficePID.plist
[username] would be the username of your laptop. Run any Mac Office 2008 application and the office assistant will now have a textfield of the product key for you to input.
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August 14th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
many thanks..it worked..regards
August 14th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
glad this post helped you
November 9th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
This is amazing! It worked… this has been getting on my nerves for months. Whenever my dad uses office I wouldn’t be able to use it because we have the same product key. Thanks!
November 9th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
glad it helped you john
November 16th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Thanks. Huge help. Saved me so much time.
November 16th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
you’re welcome man
December 4th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Thanks, worked like magic.
December 4th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
anytime
December 12th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
worked as smooth as silk, thanks
December 30th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
this worked! thank you soooo much!
December 30th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
glad it helped ya
January 11th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Not working for me. It cleared my product key. But it won’t accept either of 2 valid keys taken right off the box.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:30 am
Worked for me. Thanks for the tip. This was very useful.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:25 am
These Destroyit shredder models handle data printouts, CD’s (strip cuts only) and entire file folders while providing centralized shredding for the whole office.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
thanks so much! saved me a whole lot of time.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
good to know
January 31st, 2009 at 12:28 pm
thanks a lot man this was real simple and fully effective….saved me a headache for sure(:
January 31st, 2009 at 8:22 pm
yeah, same here.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 am
It worked perfect for me!
February 17th, 2009 at 3:51 am
I had a similar problem installing Office Mac 2008 for the first time. During the installation I was not asked for a product key, and later it would not launch, but just stopped after running the customer experience and updates sections of the installation manager.
The solution was:
1: trash the OfficePID.list file from Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/OfficePID.list
2. trash the folder “Office 2008″ from [username]/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008
After that, running any application brought up the product key entry window normally. The installation manager asked for customer experience entry and updates timing one final time. Then, after closing installation manager and re-opening the application it worked fine, as did the others.
Thanks to microsoft tech support.
March 4th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Fantastic, thanks very much x
March 4th, 2009 at 6:21 am
welcome. do come back.
pls help support this blog by visiting
April 14th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Thanks for the help this saved me loads of time.
cheers, jim.
May 24th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Thank you…thank you…and thank you again.
Of course the MS support site was useless and Mactopia forums and blog sites were not working. Sure they had the pages where you could buy more crap working….but if you were a customer that needed support…oh well. Typical Microsoft.
Thank you so much for this. Worked perfectly.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Genius. The one voice of sense in the wilderness!
Many thanks,
R
July 17th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
So helpful, I can’t even explain. thank you for posting this.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Not working with me, still asking Product Key…dam.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
this helped a TON. THANK YOU!!!
July 29th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Yeah…it’s still not working for me. Any other ideas???
July 29th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
PERFECT! Thanks so much!
July 29th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
@barbara sorry got no other ideas. it worked for me so i did not check for any other alternative
@JD: welcome
please do rate this post
September 17th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
thanks so much who ever found this
i was scured trying t fix this problem for over a week
tnks tnks tnks
September 17th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
welcome
please don’t forget to rate the post.
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:36 am
How do I find those files? I’m not very high tech.. Thanks!!!
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
hey hanna, in the GO menu, choose GO TO FOLDER to go to the folder where the files are found
October 4th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I’m having a hard time finding the files that i’m supposed to delete. what is the GO menu?
October 4th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
@Jodi: go menu is under finder.
if you still are having a hard time, use the short cut
SHIFT + APPLE + G
make sure the finder icon has the focus.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:37 am
I did all this and everything is all well and good—except now I don’t know what product key to use or where to find it. I downloaded the software online, and there were product keys in my confirmation email, but now I am not sure how to return to the email. What do I do?
October 20th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Thanks for the very helpful information. I almost reinstalled MAC OS out of frustration. Thanks a bunch! The advice above is very effective.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:20 am
you’re welcome
please do rate my post. thank you
October 31st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
What if I don’t have a product key or my DVD or Install Guide on me?
October 31st, 2009 at 5:59 pm
can’t help you if you do not have your product key with you. sorry.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:41 am
super! worked a treat…thanks
November 13th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Adrian got it right above. Just deleting the OfficePID.list file didnt work. I had to delete the preferences folder as well.
The solution was:
1: trash the OfficePID.list file from Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/OfficePID.list
2. trash the folder “Office 2008″ from [username]/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008
November 13th, 2009 at 9:37 am
hey! thanks for that added tip!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Thanks! The other places I looked did not have all the needed file deletions. Worked great.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
thenks that is awsome
November 20th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
you’re welcome. dont forget to rate this post and subscribe to this rss. would be appreciated
December 29th, 2009 at 8:35 am
[...] [...]
December 29th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Thanks for posting this, I followed the direction precisely and Office is now running. I don’t know what I would’ve done without this. Very helpful and simple! Thank you again!
January 5th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Hey gang, I found this tip and tried it . . . but when the assistant pops up for me to input a new product key, when I click it doesn’t do anything. At all.
Idears?
Thanks!
January 20th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
This will help in imaging… we can install 2008 on a machine to be cloned to many machines and then do this trick to enter a new code. Much better than having to install office a number of times. Cool!
January 25th, 2010 at 10:18 am
hey guys…i tried it…and i couldnt find the ”microsoft office 2008 settings.plist file… so i tried it just like that and when i type on the new code and press continue ..and it doesnt do anything…it doesnt move at all .. please help
January 25th, 2010 at 10:52 am
hi alonso, did you change the string [username] to your username?
January 25th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
The same thing just happend to me. help please
January 27th, 2010 at 5:21 am
After an automatic update, my key was not recognized. Then I put the named files in the bin. After opening an office application I entered my key but after clicking continue it does not do anything!
I am desperate! What else to do?
January 30th, 2010 at 12:10 am
Get a free CD Key at http://www.premiumforfree.com/key.php
February 24th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Thank you SOOOO much. I have been trying for days to get this fixed. Your suggestion fixed it and I’m very thankful!
Michele
February 24th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
you’re welcome
please don’t forget to rate the post
March 11th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Thank you very much for the Tech Tip.
March 17th, 2010 at 9:36 am
i have done wat it says in here… after that i go and open it again and a box saying activate purchase comes up! asking me for a product key…any key i put in ut doesn’t recognize it. =[
March 17th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
perhaps your key is not recognized by microsoft office to begin with
March 18th, 2010 at 2:50 am
The whole thing with getting it to work with this link that’s supposed to provide you with working keys is just crap! Do what I did: uninstall Microsoft Office 2008 for mac, reinstall it and NEVER do an update again. Works fine for me since then!
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:40 am
Thanks, worked excellent with me
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:53 am
Same problem as gins. Removed those two files just fine. The box comes up to activate what I opened, Word, and when I put the key in, it says in red text you’ve entered an invalid product key please try again. It also says my 30-day trial version has expired. But I searched for the trial version just in case and it’s called Test, which isn’t on my computer anymore.
I tried the manual activation with the product key and it says call cust service for the activation code. That pages takes you to another page that you have to fill out and THEN it says they’ll get back to you in 2 biz days. Does anyone know any other way to contact customer service to get a real person in order to get the lousy activation code? First mac, I’ve never been so frustrated. Ever.
April 4th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Gins, I hope you’re reading! I just spoke with a microsoft tech rep, 800-936-5700, and she was the best. Did you have the 30-day trial version first by any chance? I did, and that was the problem. Yes, I searched for it with the Remove Office tool, but it doesn’t always find it apparently, and some components remain, interfering with the components of the full version. If you have a blue folder called Microsoft under Go, Home, Library, Preferences, it needs to be put in the trash. (It has confused registration components in it). Empty trash. Restart. If a Microsoft Office 2008 folder is still in the trash, empty the trash. Next, trash the W, X, P, E, messenger, and doc collection icons on the bottom. Empty the trash. Reinstall MS Office from the disc. Check for updates and first install 12.2.3, then it’ll auto check for updates again. Install 12.2.4. It should be good to go. -Tammy
April 11th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
I was pleased to read this article, keep up the good work.
April 12th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
This is a wonderful post, but I was wondering how do I suscribe to the RSS feed?
April 12th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
there is a subscribe link in the upper right portion of this page
April 16th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
i need a 2008 office product key. Does anybody have one. Hope you can give it now. Thanks in advance
May 17th, 2010 at 3:16 am
Hi i have downloaded the Microsoft office 2008, and and i have mac. and after download the installation page did not come??? any thre to help me please.. am not good with computers Thanks
May 17th, 2010 at 3:22 am
hi nas, your problem is very vague. there are many possible causes with what you just mentioned.
unless you can specify something more in detail, people here may be able to help you.
May 31st, 2010 at 8:31 am
i deleted those files but it still pops up and asks for the product key.. then when i typed the product key it says it is invalid..
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:12 am
i got the product key from microsoft… it was sent to my email… after i use it, the office worked but when my mac collapsed and restarted, suddenly that irritating product key verification pops again… then i retyped the given product key to me and it says it is invalid..
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:14 am
did you try deleting the plist files?
June 8th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Ok, I still can’t get this to work.
I deleted the plist, but apparently don’t have the other file that I need to delete. Is there anything else I can do to reset the key? I have a new product key to use, and when I enter it in with just the plist deleted nothing happens, although I don’t get an error message, which is promising.
Anywho, this is really helpful, I just need to know if there’s anything to do when I don’t have that other file to delete.
June 8th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
as far as i know, those are the only files that you need to delete
it worked for me
June 15th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
I have the same problem a lot of other people have been mentioning; that after I delete the files and start up the setup assistant, nothing happens when I paste the key and click continue. It’s pretty frustrating.
Any ideas? Help would really be much appreciated. Thanks guys.
June 15th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
I have the same problem a lot of other people have been mentioning; that when I delete the files and start up the setup assistant, absolutely nothing happens after I paste the key and click continue. It’s pretty frustrating.
Any ideas? Help would really be much appreciated. Thanks guys.