Office 2007 Bible

Activating Microsoft Office

One crucial action in keeping Office running well is to activate your Office installation. Microsoft requires activation as part of its system to verify users of properly acquired Office programs versus those who may have obtained the suite fraudulently.

When you start an Office application the first time, you will be prompted to activate your installation. If you decline to activate the software, Microsoft provides a “grace period” of 25 uses of Office, after which Office enters Reduced Functionality mode.

If you need to start the activation process manually, you can follow these steps from one of the main (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access) Office programs:

1.	Choose Office Button (Program Name) Options. The Options dialog box for the program appears.
2.	Click Resources in the list at the left.
3.	Click Activate. (See Figure B-1.) Figure B-1. Activate Office via program Options. [View full size image]
4.	Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the activation.