How to Convert Microsoft Office 2013 Trial Version into Full Version without Reinstalling?

We told you earlier that Microsoft has released the final RTM version of its latest Office suite “Office 2013” which is available for download to TechNet, MSDN and a few other selected subscribers.

Microsoft is also providing an absolutely free 60-day trial version of Office 2013 RTM to public which can be downloaded using following topic:

Download Free Microsoft Office 2013 Professional Plus 60-Day Trial Version

Advertisement

This trial version is a fully functional copy. There are no restrictions or feature limitations. Many of you might be already using it in your computer systems.

But there is one small issue! Since its a trial version, it’ll expire after 60 days of use and then you’ll need to purchase the full version if you wish to continue using it. Currently final version of Office 2013 is not available for download to public but it’ll be released very soon most probably in the end of this month or first week of February as mentioned here. Microsoft has already started providing it to a few selected groups of people such as Microsoft home use program, etc. Microsoft is also providing a big discount for these groups and you can download RTM version of Office 2013 in just $9.95 if you have the subscription. But that’s another story.

What will you do when the trial version of your Office 2013 expires? If you have purchased the full license or if you are planning to purchase the license in coming days, you’ll need to uninstall existing trial version of Office 2013 and then reinstall the new purchased Office 2013 full version in your computer. Right? Actually wrong.

Did you know Microsoft Office 2013 comes with a useful feature to convert your trial version into full version? Yep, if you are using the trial version of Office 2013 and if you purchase a genuine license of Office 2013 full version, you’ll just need to enter your new product key in existing Office 2013 suite and it’ll automatically convert the trial version into full version within a few seconds.

Today in this tutorial, we’ll tell you how to use this built-in feature and how to convert trial version of Office 2013 into full version without uninstalling and reinstalling the whole Office suite:

1. First launch any Office 2013 program such as Microsoft Word and then click on FILE menu. It’ll open Office settings page.

2. Now click on Account tab and you’ll see information about the trial version installed in your system.

Advertisement

3. Click on License Options -> Convert to Full.

Convert_Office_2013_Trial_into_Full.png

4. It’ll ask you to buy a new product key of final version of Office 2013 or enter the product key if you have already purchased it. Just click on “Enter Key” button:

Office_2013_Product_Key_Information.png

5. Now enter your purchased product key. It’ll validate the key and will show a correct sign if your product key is valid. After validation click on “Install” button.

Enter_Office_2013_Product_Key.png

6. That’s it. Within a few seconds, your trial version of Office 2013 will be converted into full version. The account page in Office 2013 will show that your Office 2013 product has been activated successfully:

Office_2013_Fully_Activated.png

That’s it. So you’ll not need to uninstall and reinstall Office 2013 in your system if you decide to purchase the full version in future. You can change the trial version into full within a few seconds…

Also Check:

[Tip] Convert Windows 10 Home Edition into Pro Without Reinstalling

Published in: Microsoft Office, Troubleshooting Guides

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. One key point that you need to make clearer is the difference between the RTM Trial, which still has limited distribution and the “Preview” (better known as BETA!) trial that has been generally distributed since October.

    The 2013 Preview cannot be activated/upgraded to become a full license. You have to uninstall it and install the RTM code. But, uninstalling is not a total disaster. It will leave many of your personal customizations behind, and it definitely will NOT affect any document files you have created using the trial.

  2. Hello,

    What if I want to use Office 2013 Standard instead of Pro Plus? If I have the Office 2013 Standard License Key can I use this same method or do I have to uninstall the Pro Plus Trial and install Office 2013 Standard?

    Thanks.

  3. hi,
    i have a product key of ms office professional 2013 but it doesn’t work with visio it shows’this is ms office product key’ what should i do

  4. It does not work for me. I actually do not see license options and your pic. no.1 is not similar to mine. Am I doing something wrong?

  5. I recently purchased office 2013 but made a mistake while typing the product key. And now every time it tells me that my product key is not correct but there’s no option to re-enter it. How to activate it now??

  6. @Ashwani^^
    U could try two things:
    1)Go to any of the office product like word 2013 and open it. On the left side click on open other documents>go to account(again in the left side). U will be displayed info regarding the product and the option to change product key right below it, click it and u can change product key and then activate it via internet or phone.
    2)go to control panel>uninstall programs> highlight the office 2013(donot uninstall it)> and check u will be presented with and option to change it(its present right next to the uninstall button), clicking change will provide u with various options> chose to enter/change product key.

    Plz tell if it helped or not.

    -25th Dec. 2013, 11:02 GMT

  7. Ashwani, you are an absolute legend! Had a nightmare 24 hours trying to sort product activation problems. Your last tip solved the problem!!! Thank you so much!!

  8. I saw a couple of people with questions i can solve
    1. if you don’t see the activation under accounts you probably downloaded a copy off your live account these you cannot change keys, download the trial version from here
    technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj192782.aspx
    2. if you change the product key with a key you got in a box without a disc it will not work because its a live account key enter your key first on the office.com/setup like it tells you once you see it on your profile it will have an option to install from disc once you click that it will give you a separate key that is the one you use.
    3. if you have a key for a different version that’s fine once you install the key it will disable the other products

  9. Thanks to all who gave the different answers about the Microsoft Office trial activation,am really happy,everyday I was trying to activate it but it couldn’t work but finally I got the right answer one shot starts to work,now my stress has gone coz I used to sleep 1 am,trying thanks guys am proud of u !

  10. Interesting though, I thought I was going to see how to activate the ms office 2013. Help me with the key to activate my office professional plus. Thanks

  11. Try the new key for 5 days now,,,and haven’t been activated yet although the key has already purchases.

  12. Thanks for posting this. I did a system refresh and lost my MSO. This saved me from getting a new program (already had the disc) and allowed me to “digital download” (due to the fact that my disc drive doesn’t work).

  13. I’ve installed Microsoft office 2013 professional plus trial (60 days) iso from this site on a freshly formatted computer from a microsoft iso image and didn’t activate it yet.
    When I checked the office installed product key (Via nirsoft Product key viewer),I saw a product key that ends with 27GXM. Each time I open office program (word, excel) – I am asked to activate it.
    I bought an office 2013 pro plus license, And entered once I was asked to activate office, And it activated my office copy online.
    When I went to see if product key has changed, In nirsoft program I see the old one that ends with 27GXM.
    I followed this guideline to remove the 27GXM key from office key :
    But the 27GXM still seems to be the activation code in some programs that I check (Nirsoft product key viewer, Advanced token manager 3.5).
    When I run the command prompt Dstatus command, It does show me it is activated with the correct key.

    Any help will be appreciated in understanding why is that.

    Thank you

  14. ^^ If your Office suite has been activated successfully and all apps are working fine, you should not worry about the product key. Sometimes these product key viewer programs detect and show generic product keys which are default and built-in keys of a program. Dont worry about that.

  15. It does not work. It says activation is required. Thing is, I cannot acticate because there is a problem

  16. The link is no longer working to go to a page where I can buy the Full version of 2013. Where can I go to get a genuine Key to buy the suite?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

NOTE: Your comment may not appear immediately. It'll become visible once we approve it.