Activate a single Office app with your retail key

Activation tells Microsoft that your Word, Excel or other single Office app is licensed. An app that is not activated becomes unlicensed, and Microsoft switches off most of its editing features. If the app is not installed yet, the short steps are below; the full walk-through is in Install a single Office app.

What you received

You received one retail product key, shown here as XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. You find it in your order confirmation email and in My Library in your Lizensa account.

A retail key for a single app is not typed into the app itself. You register it once with Microsoft at office.com/setup. From then on, the licence is linked to your Microsoft account. You activate the app by signing in with that account; sometimes the Activation Wizard asks for one more step. This applies to all apps this page covers:

• Word 2024, Excel 2024, PowerPoint 2024, Outlook 2024 and Access 2024
• Publisher 2021 and Publisher 2021 ESD
• Word 2019, Excel 2019, PowerPoint 2019, Outlook 2019, Access 2019 and Publisher 2019

Each licence covers one installation on one Windows PC.

Volume editions with a MAK

If your order says MAK, you have a volume edition. It activates in a different way, which this page does not describe yet. Follow the instructions in your order email and in your account, and contact our support with your order number if you are unsure.

Get the software

There is nothing to download from Lizensa for these apps. The software comes from Microsoft, through the account where you register your key. Before you activate, make sure of two things:

1. You redeemed the key at office.com/setup. If not, do it now. Sign in with your Microsoft account or create one, type the key without hyphens when asked and follow the prompts. Note which account you use.
2. Your app appears at account.microsoft.com/services under Services & subscriptions.

If office.com/setup says "This product key has already been used", the key is already redeemed. Sign in at Services & subscriptions with the account you used for the redemption and look for your app there. If the app is missing although the redemption finished, check that you are signed in with that same account. If Microsoft refuses the key, contact our support with your order number and the exact message.

Install

If the app is not on the PC yet, install it now:

1. Under Services & subscriptions, find your app and select Install.
2. Open the downloaded setup file. When Windows asks whether the app may make changes to your device, select Yes.
3. Wait for "You're all set! Office is installed now" and select Close.

If Office is already on the PC, check the combination before step 1. Microsoft requires the same architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) and the same update channel for all Office products on one PC. Different Click-to-Run versions that contain the same app are not supported. Click-to-Run and Windows Installer (MSI) products of the same Office version cannot be installed on one PC either. To check the architecture, open an existing Office app and select File > Account > About Word (or About Excel, and so on); in Outlook, File > Office Account > About Outlook. The installation guide explains the rules. Read it before you remove or change an existing Office.

Activate

Sign in with your Microsoft account

1. Select Start, type the name of the app, for example Word, and open it.
2. If the app asks you to sign in, use the Microsoft account you used to redeem the key.
3. If the licence terms appear, accept them.

The app looks up your licence in the account and activates. You need an internet connection for this step.

If the app is already signed in with a different account, change it first. Select File > Account, then Sign out, and sign in again with the right account. In Outlook, the path is File > Office Account.

The Activation Wizard opens

Sometimes the app shows the Activation Wizard instead. Choose "I want to activate the software over the Internet" and select Next. If nothing happens when you select Next, press Enter. Follow the remaining prompts.

Activate by telephone

Use this route if online activation keeps failing, for example because the PC has no internet access.

1. In the Activation Wizard, select "I want to activate the software by telephone", then Next.
2. Under step 1, select your country or region. Call the product activation centre at the number shown.
3. When asked, read out the installation ID from step 2 of the wizard.
4. Microsoft gives you a confirmation ID. Type it into step 3 of the wizard.
5. Select Next and follow the prompts until activation is complete.

If the wizard says that telephone activation is no longer supported for your product, Microsoft advises you to call the number for your country anyway.

On a new PC

Your licence covers one installation. Microsoft's licence terms for your product set the conditions for moving it to another PC. To move the app, uninstall it from the old PC first. Then install it on the new PC from Services & subscriptions and sign in with the same account. You do not enter the key again.

Check it worked

1. Open the app and select File > Account. In Outlook, select File > Office Account.
2. Under Product Information, check that your app is shown together with the line "Product Activated".
3. Look at the title bar at the top of the window. It shows no "Unlicensed Product" notice.

If you see a different product name, check that you opened the right app and that you are signed in with the account you used at office.com/setup. If the right product still does not appear, contact our support with the name shown and your order number.

If something goes wrong

The title bar says "Unlicensed Product". Activation failed and most features are switched off. Sign in with the Microsoft account that holds the app. Then check that the app is listed under Services & subscriptions for that account.

The app says "We couldn't find any Office products". The account you signed in with does not hold your app. Sign out and use the account you used at office.com/setup.

Activation fails although you used the right account. Two copies of Office can block each other. Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features and search for "office". Uninstall any version you do not use, restart the PC and open your app again. If it still fails, repair the remaining Office: in Programs and Features, select it, then Change. Choose Online Repair, then Repair, and follow the prompts.

Error 0x80070005, access denied. The app lacked the rights to finish activation. Right-click the app in Start, select Run as administrator and activate again. More in error 0x80070005.

Error 0xC004F050, the key is not valid. The key does not fit the installed app or version. A key for Excel 2024 does not activate Word 2024, and a 2019 key does not activate a 2024 app. Check which app is installed under File > Account. More in error 0xC004F050.

Error 0xC004C008 or 0xC004C003. With 0xC004C008, the key has reached its activation limit at Microsoft. With 0xC004C003, Microsoft's activation server has blocked the key. Send our support your order number and the full message. More in error 0xC004C008 and error 0xC004C003.

Publisher or a 2019 app gets no more security updates. That is expected. Microsoft ended support for Office 2019, including Publisher 2019, on 14 October 2025, and for Publisher 2021 on 13 October 2026. The apps keep working, but Microsoft no longer fixes them.

Still stuck? Contact our support with your order number, the name of the app and the exact error message.