How To Activate Microsoft Office 2021 Or Office 365 On Windows 11

Office software has been one of the most used Microsoft products, and it is now the backbone of various activities that we carry out on our personal and professional computers. Microsoft Office 2021 is now available, and it comes with a few new features and enhanced security.

activate Microsoft Office

Most people are moving to Office 365, which is a cloud-based subscription product. The activation key is tied to your email account, and you must renew the subscription according to your plan. But if you are still not ready for the cloud and you prefer lifetime licenses over subscriptions, Office 2021/2019/2016 is the way out for you. This post covers everything about how to activate your copy of Microsoft Office on Windows 11/10. The procedure is the same for Office 365 license keys.

How to check Office Activation Status

Not sure about the version or activation status of your copy of Microsoft Office? These steps can help you find out the same.

Open any Office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc)
Go to File > Account
The program’s activation status is visible right under Product Information heading. If it says Product Activated, it means that you have a validly licensed copy of Microsoft Office. But a yellow highlighted box that reads Product Activation Required signifies that you need to activate your copy of Microsoft Office. Read on to find out how to activate Microsoft Office.
Another method to check activations status would be using CMD. Follow these steps to check activation status using CMD.

Locate the Microsoft Office installation folder (e.G., C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16).
Open a new command window.
Enter CD <office installation path> (from step 1).
Now execute cscript ospp.V bs /dstatus.
After running this script, you will be able to see the current license status. Furthermore, you can even see the expiry date, the last five characters of your product key and other similar details.

Activation is possible in a few ways, and we have tried to cover them here. All these methods apply mostly to Office 2021/2019/2016. Before we start with the process, we assume that you have an unlicensed copy of Microsoft Office installed on your computer.

Sign in to Office using Microsoft Account
If you have already purchased a license or you are just re-installing Office on a new computer, you don’t need any product keys. Instead, all you need to do is sign-in using the same Microsoft Account you used to buy the license.

Office will automatically pick up the eligible license from your account. If you have multiple Office licenses tied to your account, Office will list all of them, and you can select which license you want to use for activation.

This is a more simple and secure way of activating your copy of Office. By following this, you need not maintain product keys somewhere. Here are the steps to activate Office by signing in.