Ugh! Didn't see this one coming. Upgraded to SSD, now my Office for Mac 2011 won't work

[TonyBen]

I've got my old office for mac 2011 key and everything. I keep getting a "Server unavailable" error when I re-enter my product key.

Any suggestions?

Tony.

 

[dtravis7]

I am sure someone else will disagree but I recently had a simliar issue. I have friends who INSIST on still using Windows XP. Well MS dropped it years ago. The persons XP was dead due to the hard drive dying so I put in a new drive. XP installed but gave me that same message when trying to activate it with the key. Guess what? Activation servers are gone for XP. Got it on many MS forums on the net. If you call MS they will tell you XP is no longer supported and not help you.

I have a feeling since yours is Office 2011 that you might be running into the same issue. I HOPE I am wrong.

Does your Mac with the new install on the SSD get on the internet? Is that part working?

 

[dtravis7]

Read this and try what the person suggested. I hope it helps.

Office 2011 activation server unavailable? Here's the fix - Wiser Coder

 

[TonyBen]

Oh yeah, everything else has been working great! It's just when trying to use my Microsoft package. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and get an updated version.

Tony.

 

[dtravis7]

Before you give up try that url I just posted.

 

[chscag]

Oh yeah, everything else has been working great! It's just when trying to use my Microsoft package. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and get an updated version.

Tony.

If you can't contact the activation servers over the net, all you really need to do is call MS direct and they will activate it for you by giving you a key set over the phone. Just because Office 2011 is no longer officially supported, does not mean that MS has completely abandoned it. There are many businesses who still use it and are MS customers - including the federal government.

 

[dtravis7]

Tony, did you ever try what that person in the URL I gave suggested? It seemed to work for them.

My first post here was about issues with XP and that will not activate any longer. I was just wondering on office as it's getting old but after doing a lot of reading it can still be activated.

 

[Rod]

I know it's a real PITA but if you use the whole suite as I do and also use the iOS versions as I do it really is worth the cost in the end. I made do with MS Office for MacOS 2011 up until a year and a half ago when I lashed out a bought MS Office for MacOS 2018. That purchase was for 64bit compatibility new features and updates that I wanted.
I know its a big layout but honestly after 7 years it's worth it. I don't expect to ever have to buy it again but who knows.

 

[TonyBen]

I ended up purchasing the monthly office subscription that allows 5 or 6 devices. I may not have even had the right disk from before. I'm planning on upgrading the wife's SSD too so I'll have the same problem so I just killed 2 birds with one stone using the monthly subscription.

Later on, I'll purchase a 3-computer license, if one still exists.

Tony.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I've got my old office for mac 2011 key and everything. I keep getting a "Server unavailable" error when I re-enter my product key.

Any suggestions?

Microsoft Office has copy protection built-in. After three installs (the number of installs may vary by version) the product won't activate anymore. The solution is to call Microsoft. Give them any decent explanation that says that you aren't using the product on too many computers, and they will give you a code to activate it.

Alternately, you can go with:

FreeOffice (free)
www.freeoffice.com - FreeOffice for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android

Very similar to Microsoft Office; with a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application included. Excellent compatibility with Microsoft format files! Softmaker makes two commercial versions of this office suite, but the free version is all that many people might need. Not a crippled or demo product.
Comparison chart of the features and costs of each version of this product from Softmaker:
Comparison: FreeOffice and SoftMaker Office

I've been using FreeOffice on my new laptop, and I'm really surprised by how good it is! Especially the compatibility with Microsoft Office. If you are tired of being held up by Microsoft, FreeOffice is worth a try.

 

[Rod]

Oh yeah, everything else has been working great! It's just when trying to use my Microsoft package. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and get an updated version.

Tony.

Well at least you get all the bells and whistles of the current version.


Sent from my iPhone using Mac-Forums

 

[Slydude]

Once gain I find myself channeling Randy.

I recently tried FreeOffice based on recommendations in another thread. Eventually I settled on SoftMaker Office although I don't remember why. I pass documents to MS Word all the time with no problems although none of the documents have reall complex formatting beyond section breaks. I haven't had any issues doing that so far.

 

[NSMacGuru]

I've run into the same problem, and went with LibreOffice (the frequently updated OpenOffice branch, now that OpenOffice is no longer being updated). Home | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Fun Project - Fantastic People

I'm a Mac user from before there were Macs... back in the Apple ][ days... and I've never heard of "FreeOffice". Apparently it was primarily a Windows product for much of its existence?

In any case - LibreOffice is a worthy alternative, and features file compatibility with MS-Office (the only caveat is that the Save settings have to be set to Word / PowerPoint / Excel once, and it sticks).

 

[Slydude]

I've used OpenOffice and each of its variants from time to time. As I recall I stopped using LibreOffice because I found it a bit slow to load.

 

[chscag]

Eventually I settled on SoftMaker Office although I don't remember why.

Probably because the FreeOffice version does not save the older *.doc format. Also, I found it rather limited opening older Word documents and preserving formats. Actually SoftMaker Office (pay version) does not do too much better with Word documents that have complex formatting. And both versions are short on fonts. However, SoftMaker Office is way better than OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

 

[Rod]

Not to forget Apache OpenOffice, I believe its still up and running for macOS. Apache OpenOffice - Official Site - The Free and Open Productivity Suite

 

[chscag]

Apache OpenOffice is in fact the OpenOffice referred to above. It's no longer being developed. I would avoid it.

 

[Slydude]

I think you are right about the document format issues Charlie. I don't have problems with recent documents. There are also several things that the paid version supports that the free ones don't.

 

[chscag]

I purchased the paid version primarily because it was offered on special sale. While it does edit and save older Word documents, the formatting is not always compatible. I have several older Word docs that we publish into booklets for the work we do. When using the paid version of SoftMaker Office to open and edit them, it totally messed up the formatting to the point where the documents had to be redone. Also, the paid version like the free version does not support many of the fonts that are used in those documents and other Word documents that I have.

With that happening, I may as well use Pages instead. Pages also totally messes up the formatting but at least it supports all the fonts. All in all and not to get too carried away here, we wound up having to buy a subscription to Office 365 Word from the Mac App Store. I'm not exactly pleased we had to do that but the Office 365 version of Word works great. It supports dark mode, all our fonts, and very nicely lines up all the old formatting just as the original documents have.

Microsoft wins again!