Switching from Retail License to Office 365 License

Updated March 20, 2020

I had an issue before where I couldn’t access my Comments on one computer but could at another, which eventually led to me switch my license (longer story). This entry is about my not so pleasant experience switching from a retail license of Microsoft Office (perpetual) to an Office 365 license (subscription), and how easy it is to do IF you know what to do.

Problem

I inevitably needed to switch from a retail license to a 365 license on my personal computer. Contacting Office Support is a hit or miss (mostly miss). I mean, I’ve sent them my issue months ago and never got a response. I also became more dependent on my personal computer, which happens to be a laptop. So I decided to transfer my Office 365 license on my office desktop to my laptop. In other words, I wanted to use my Office 365 license on my laptop instead of my currently installed retail license. Attempting to do this was not an intuitive process at all. I jumped from one forum to another with people asking the same question, “how to change the license from Retail to Office 365?” all with crappy answers that ranged from your typical uninstall/install, or installing Excel through the Office 365 Portal. Here’s a list of some of these links with useless suggestions:

1. Change license from Retail to Office 365
2. Retail license – 365 license
3. Move from retail license of office to O365 license

Solution

Don’t try any of the above! They do not work. I’ve done all of it only to have the same retail license applied. Merely uninstalling and reinstalling MS Office won’t get you to switch from retail license to Office 365 license. It doesn’t work. That’s only one of the several steps required to remove the associated license/product key and to apply the new one correctly.

1. Uninstall all copies of MS Office.
2. Download the License Removal Tool from Microsoft if you’re on a Mac or the Office Licensing Diagnostic Tool if you’re on a Windows PC, run the tool and follow the instructions/steps. Note: The links provided also contain the download link to their tool.
3. Restart your computer.
4. Install Office 365 and sign in to your account within the app/program.
5. Quit Office 365 (don’t log off).
6. Restart your computer again.

Done deal. Thank you, Microsoft, for making this process as difficult as possible and for also making this valuable piece of information difficult to find.

Conclusion

I feel that Microsoft should provide clarity on how to switch from one license to another. I mean, it was pretty easy to do with the tools mentioned – but did it have to be that hard to find or even mentioned on the various forums where people were going through the same problem? What a total waste of time and energy for something that should be easy enough to do.