Don't remember email address used to activate Microsoft Office

Anonymous
2013-11-19T04:12:13+00:00

Hi,

After I installed the new Windows 8.1 update, my Microsoft Office 365 had to be reinstalled.  I reinstalled Office, which then asked that I activate it.  I had my product key, which I entered when prompted and got the green check to move on to the next step.  The next step was to enter the email address that Office was activated with.  I don't remember activating Office with an email address OR I don't remember what the email address was.

How can I retrieve the email address so that I can complete activation?

Side note:  I think it's absolutely absurd that requesting your email address or username for any Microsoft product is so difficult.  I have read several forums with people having the same issue and wanting one simple thing - their username/email address that is linked to the product that they paid for.  Microsoft needs to find a way for their customers to have a way to get this information without having to post in a forum.

Thanks.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2016-12-07T16:13:47+00:00

I think poor Girish has been beaten up enough.  If you carefully read his post and follow the link, http://commerce.microsoft.com/help , it does indeed take you to a very helpful site to resolve your issue, at least in 2016.

What you need to know:

  1. If you don't have an MS account created, create one.
  2. Save this account information (user name and password) so you don't have to go through this misery again.
  3. The email address you use doesn't have to be a Microsoft email address, feel free to use your standard address.
  4. If it was a retail purchase, know where you bought it and from what country.

What I found;

  1. Once on the help site
  2. Click on Manage Subscription
  3. Click on Manage My Microsoft Subscriptions
  4. Click on Contact Support
  5. On the Contact page, click Get Started
  6. Restate your problem, you'll get a bunch of stuff that's not useful.  In the chat box, scroll down and click on Talk to Someone.
  7. Surprisingly, you'll not have to restate your issue, just confirm that their understand is correct and proceed with the chat.

Just be prepared to answer what they ask and you should be good to go.

Worked for me,

Good luck

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-06-11T20:35:06+00:00

    The email address that is attached to my account is not valid ******@yahoo.com. I need to switch to my other email ******@yahoo.com. However, I have very important notes through the first email that can't be deleted.

    What should I do to switch email accounts/password and retrieve my document?

    Thanks

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-10-22T17:24:28+00:00

    I guess it just depends on who you talk to?

    You got lucky, your experience was atypical of what we see in this forum. For future reference ...

    Oh yes, it totally depends on who you talk to.  The front line "script parrots" you first talk to have very limited skills and very limited permission to do "advanced stuff".  They just walk you through a prepared script, which handles most of the "normal'/simple problems. 

    For more advanced solutions you have to get transferred to second level / "supervisor" help. They have technical skills and permission to do "bigger things".  The problem is, there are so many of them that you still have to get LUCKY and get transferred to the right individual.

    So that makes MS support very much a random event.  The key to getting MS support to work for you if the person you are talking to can't, is to ask to be transferred to a supervisor.  And keep asking to be transferred till your problem is fixed.  Plan on spending several hours talking to them. And EXPECT to have your call "accidentally" disconnected (yes, they just hang up on people).  Just call back again and start over.

    There are 2 ways to mitigate the hang up problem.

    One is to ask them to open a trouble ticket, and get the ticket number.  This way they have to record info online at MS. So when you call back, you can refer to the ticket number. That gives you a little head start, bypassing a little of the repetitive carp. 

    The other way is to use online chat rather than phone support.  The key advantage is that it automatically provides you with a timestamped transcript. That way, when you reconnect you can simply copy and paste previous questions and replies when they repeat stuff you've already done.  And the transcript is handy when you contact an ombudsman outside of MS to get help. Or when you are so P.O.'d that you publish a rant about the service you didn't get.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-09-03T22:34:50+00:00

    That is a variation of a fairly common problem people have with the Office 365 licensing "scam" <grin> .  Now People lose track of the email address they used, rather than losing the product key.  It is a better "money maker" for MS because there is no tool people can possibly use to retrieve the email from MS.  We used to be able to extract the product key, until MS broke that option with Office 2013.

    The only fix I know of is to invest several more wasted hours talking to MS support. Keep asking for transfer to a supervisor.  What you are looking for is someone who is willing to disable the current product key and issue you with a new one.  There are a (very) few support supervisors who have been reported (on this forum) to do this. The trouble is finding one ...

    Sorry, I know as advice it sucks, but that is the only fix I know of.  

    Rather than calling standard MS Support, you may have better luck trying the activation system phone support.  Try doing a phone activation, but rather than entering a product key, just wait a long time until you are offered the option of talking to a live "service" rep.  They are more likely to be able to replace your product key since they have access to the activation system.  Most other support people do not have access to the activation system.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-19T16:42:45+00:00

    Hello,

    How was Office 365 re-installed on the computer?

    Did you register the product key purchased with the Microsoft Account to download and install Office 365?

    The account associated with the product key is used to install and activate the product. So ensure you are signing in with the correct Microsoft ID. You must sign in using the Microsoft account that was used to register or purchase Office 365.

    To download and install Office 365, you may login to the My Account page on Office.com with the Microsoft account you used to associate the product key.

    http://office.microsoft.com/myaccount

    Also for issues related to forgotten password/email account which was used to purchase Office 365, refer to the following link and check if it helps:

    http://commerce.microsoft.com/help

    In the help page, select the product, under Problem type select Security, Privacyand accounts and under Category select Managing my account, further Contact Phone or Chat support for more help on this issue.

    Hope this information helps you. In case you need assistance with the Office applications, reply to us.

    Thank you

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