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DanLes's avatar
DanLes
Copper Contributor
Jul 05, 2021
Solved

using Office on a replacement computer

So I have two identical iMacs. I installed Office 2016 on one of them, and that's the one I use routinely. Yesterday, the power supply on that iMac blew out. No prob, I said, I'll just grab the second iMac, and boot on my backup from the first one. Everything is identical to what it used to be, and works fine EXCEPT Office products don't work. In Word, I am unable to type into any document. I have to assume it's because Office doesn't recognize the machine as the one that I installed Office on.

 

Can I get around this?

  • DanLes 

     

    Perpetual (one-time purchase) licenses are for one user and one computer, only. In other words, if you want to use Office Home & Business 2019 (for example) on a different machine, the older machine must be de-activated first. See https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/can-office-2019-single-device-be-transferred-from/2a8b547c-d9ca-4994-bb6f-92b8fd47e201.

     

    Subscription versions are different; the limit is the number of users, not the number of devices. (There is a limit to the number of devices that can be activated at the same time, though.)

  • DanLes's avatar
    DanLes
    Copper Contributor
    I have to assume that the answer is NO. The lesson here is that if Office products are important to you, you should ALWAYS have it available to you on two machines. I have older versions on other machines, and those will serve until the power supply is replaced.

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