retrieve product key for office 365

I lost my card. I recently had to restart my computer and Office 365 had to be reinstalled. I purchased my Office 365 at BestBuy wit a debit card, I believe in September of 2016. it was 39.99, for my laptop. Is there any way to recover my office without having to purchase another card.

Marion:

Your "account" is the email address, probably (but not exclusively) Hotmail or Outlook.com.  Probably the email address you used to post this question.

See my reply to Bart about Office 365 "subscriptions".

When you bought the computer and "activated" the Office 365 (probably "Personal", 1-computer only) subscription you had to provide an email address AND a credit card.  The subscription defaults to "autorenew". That is why you got the notice and the automatic payment deduction.  (MS loves getting money from you all of the time).  You don't get anything from MS for the payment, other than the right to continue to use Office 365.

After your HD crashed, windows had to be installed.  If you went to the manufacturer (ie warranty work) they would have installed a "standard" image that included an unactivated "free trial" of Office 365. That trial is now expiring.

The fix for your problem is simple enough (after I let you in to the secret).   Use your email address to log in to the "MyAccount" site.  Click on install.  Here you should see a list of licenses you have and the computers. Your current computer should be listed there.  What you have to do is click on the "deactivate" link. This will allow you to "install" it again on your new HD.  This is a slightly tricky part, in theory you should be able to use this "install" to link to the free trial. But I don't know for sure if it will work this way. What I know works for sure is that BEFORE logging in to the MyAccount site go to "Programs and Features" and uninstall the free trial. Then the install from myaccount will install the appropriate Office bundle and activate it on your new HD.

See my other reply for the links on "managing" your Office 365 subscription through the MyAccount site.

I purchased 365 from Del when I purchase my new Lap Top computer and they install 365 for me back in April 2014.

I just want to have the "KEY" in case I crashed and have to reinstall 365.

Bart C Hawkins

Bart:

365 is different than the "traditional" licenses you are used to:

• Once it has been activated initially, you no longer need the product key
• the Office 365 license is a "subscription", aka a rental, that you have to pay for repeatedly, either yearly or monthly (more expensive).
• if you don't pay the subscription when it comes due, Office will go into "limited function mode"
• All Office 365 license "management" is done through the "MyAccount" web page:

**http://office.com/myaccount**

• You can use the myaccount site to install Office on new machines, and to remove (deactivate) it from current machines (new function we could not do previously

Here are some links about using the MyAccount site:

Office FAQ – MS Store – Manage office 365

https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/DisplayHelpOfficeFAQPage/

• Top Questions
• Office Download and Install
• Office 365 Home and Personal subscriptions
• Managing your Office 365 subscription
• Renewing or cancelling your Office 365 subscription
• Office Home & Student, Home & Business, and Professional 2016
• About OneDrive
• About Skype minutes

Manage, download, back up, or restore Office 365 / 2016 / 2013 / 2010 / 2007

https://products.office.com/en-us/download-back-up-restore-microsoft-office-products   365 / 2016 / 2013 / 2010 / 2007 (you may have to scroll down)

Download and install Office - Video

Install Office 365 / Manage Office 365 Wiki / Install 365

See this Wiki for more detailed instructions, with pictures, and additional related links:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/wiki/msoffice_install-mso_win10/stuff-you-can-do-in-myaccount-install-deactivate/3018f88b-d838-4cbf-afa4-e40e5a4f21cc

Install Office 2016 (including Office 365)

Office Support Sub Site for Office 365 – Manage

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Renew-Office-365-for-home-58f3d0f8-15c4-4ad8-8c5f-16d682e8b545

Help with Your MS Account – Manage MyAccount**http://office.com/myaccount**

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/accounts

I purchased 365 from Del when I purchase my new Lap Top computer and they install 365

for me back in April 2014.

I just want to have the "KEY" in case I crashed and have to reinstall 365.

Bart C Hawkins