When your computer gives you a tough time and you think of using a new PC, the biggest confusion that you may face is how you would transfer the paid programs from your current PC to the new one. And, Microsoft Office is not an exception especially when you need to use it regularly on another device. Fortunately, office.com/setup allows you to move your Office products from one computer to another quite easily.
Although there are several ways to achieve this, here we are going to discuss the standard way of transferring your Microsoft Office license from one computer to another. Before you begin, there are a few things that you need to keep handy so that you do not face any challenges during the transfer process. Primarily, you should have your Microsoft account login details handy. In addition to that, if you have activated the subscription using the Microsoft Office product key, then you shall need that too. However, in most cases, the product key is not required. In case you have installed it through a disk/file that would also be required. To know more browse Office.com/Setup.
office.com/setup lets you manage your office account with all the features that you will require to manage your subscriptions, renewal, billings and make new purchases.
Go to www.office.com/myaccount and select Sign In.
Enter the email address and password. This might be your personal Microsoft office myaccount, or the username and password you use with your work or home and business account.
Choose the App Launcher and then choose any Office app to start using it.
Method 1: Transfer Microsoft Office To Another Computer with Office 365 Subscription
If you have got a Microsoft Office subscription, then it would have been linked to your account instead. This is a smarter approach and lets us move our Office suite from one system to another. You simply need to deactivate your Office 365 subscription from your first computer, install it on your new system, and activate the subscription there. Here is a stepwise solution on how to transfer Microsoft Office to another computer via Office 365 subscription.
Step 1: Deactivate the subscription on your old computer
At first, we need to unlink your previous computer with your Office 365 subscription. For this, you can go to the Microsoft Office website and log-in to your linked account.
Once you sign-in, go to the “My Account” section from the top (by exploring its more options). Now, browse to the “Install” section to get more options related to your account. From here, you can just select to deactivate MS Office on your system and confirm your choice.
Afterward, you can go to Control Panel > Add or Remove a Program and simply uninstall MS Office from your first computer.
Step 2: Install MS Office on your new computer
To learn how to transfer Microsoft Office to another computer, you need to first download its installer. For this, go to its website on your new computer, visit your Microsoft Account > Install and download the installer file on your system.
Now, launch the installer and go through a simple click-through wizard to install MS Office on your computer. Make sure that you sign-in to the same Microsoft Office account that was previously linked to your computer.
Step 3: Authenticate your Office 365 subscription
To complete the setup, you need to enter your product key so that it can be linked to your account. If you don’t remember the product key, then you can just go to your Microsoft Account > Services & Subscription and view your product key from here.
In the end, simply enter this product key while installing MS Office on your new system. This will authenticate the software and you can use it without any complications on your new computer now.
Method 2: How to Transfer Microsoft Office 2010 to Another Computer?
If you have a Microsoft Office 2010 or 2013 license instead that is not connected to Office 365, then the process would be slightly different. Before you start, make sure that the license of MS Office that you own allows the transfer of the product to another system. Also, in some versions, the number of times we can transfer MS Office is restricted. Therefore, to learn how to transfer Microsoft Office 2010/2013 to another computer, you need to check its license type and version in advance.
Step 1: Check the license type of MS Office
This is the most important thing that you need to do before you transfer your MS Office on any other computer. Firstly, go to the Start Menu and look for “Cmd” to launch Command Prompt as an administrator on your first computer.
Once the Command Prompt is opened, type the “cd \” command to change the directory of your system. This would be followed by “cd” and the path where MS Office is installed on your computer. Mostly, it is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office in Windows PC.
After moving to the respective folder, enter the “cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus” command and check the license type you own. As of now, Retail, FPP, PKC, HUP, ESD, and POSA are the license types that can be transferred to another system.
Step 2: Uninstall MS Office from your old PC
If the license type you have allows the reinstallation of MS Office, then you need to first uninstall it on your first computer. To do this, you can go to the Start menu and look for the “Add or remove programs” option.
Alternatively, you can go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features to get this. From the list of the programs installed on your system, select MS Office, and choose to uninstall it.
This will open a user-friendly wizard that you can follow to quickly remove MS Office from your old computer.
Step 3: Install and authenticate MS Office on your new PC
Great! Now you just need to install MS Office 2010/2013 on your new computer. If it already has a trial MS Office version, then you need to delete it first. Later, you can use the MS Office installer (or its CD) on your new PC to perform its setup.
In the end, you can launch any MS Office application (like MS Word) and go to its Menu > Account to enter your product key. This will activate MS Office on your new computer and you can access it without any hassle.
Regards, Bruce