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How do I save Office 2019 license

P

pkw

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2025
15
1
Hi all. I bought a 2015 MacBook pro which came with Monterey and pre installed Office 2019 (volume license).
I have since updated it to Sequoia (OCLP).
Now I would like to install Sonoma to see if it performs better and overheats less.
If it's ok I may keep it.
If not, I want to go back to Monterey and sell it on.
In both cases, I'd like to keep the Office on it, so I would have to reinstall and reactivate it.
How do I go about this and is it possible at all? DO I need some tool to back up the license?
Thanks!
20251118_120419-EDIT.jpg
 
You can buy a stand alone license of office for 150, you may find discounts, especially during black friday. that may be an option

I would assume migration assistant will transfer everything over from your old mac to your new mac. Regarding the upgrade, you should be fine, but as usual have a back up
 
Thanks. I don't know much about how the migration assistant works, but it's the same mac, and between different OS versions I'll have to do a complete wipe, hence my question about saving the license
 
I don't think you can transfer a volume license.
"Activate volume licensed versions of Office for Mac...your Mac users won't see any activation prompts when they first open their copy of Office."
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-apps/mac/overview-of-activation-for-office-for-mac
By the way
"Microsoft Office 2019 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide security patches, bug fixes, or technical support for this version. Users are recommended to migrate to the subscription-based Microsoft 365 service to avoid security risks."
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/2019/overview
 
The current version of standalone Office for Mac (without 365) that still receives updates is Office 2021. I believe you should be able to find a licence for below $50, especially if you take advantage of Black Friday sales, as @maflynn said above.
 
Yes, you're right. I should have said the oldest version that still receives updates.
 
I don’t think you can. I bought a perpetual license for the windows version of Office 2024 on Groupon recently. These are volume licenses that they resell. It came with a product key that I had to enter. However this key isn’t shown anywhere in the program once activated.

The real account that owns it (presumably Groupon) would have this key in their Microsoft account and viewable on the website. It doesn’t appear under my account.

I own a personal license of Office 2019 for Mac that I bought from Microsoft when it was new. This license does appear in my Microsoft account website under subscriptions. I can download the latest installer from Microsoft and just put this key in and it is recognized.

So basically I think you need the product key that activated office on your Mac. You won’t have it if you acquired the Mac with it already setup.

That said are cheap to get on Groupon if you want one yourself. The Mac versions were under $40 and Windows were under $20 when I got it.
 
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