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Can I still activate Office for Mac 2011? Or download Office for Mac 2016 somewhere?

Anonymous
2022-11-27T01:00:33+00:00

The hard drive in my mid-2012 MacBook Pro recently failed. It was running OS X 10.11 and Office 2011. I replaced the hard drive and restored its contents with a clone backup. However, Office (before and after reinstalling from the official DVD) seems to recognize that it's on a new hard drive, so it thinks it's a new installation and requires activation again. However, the activation process (online or by phone) for Office 2011 no longer works, as far as I can tell. Is there some way to do that any more?

Alternatively, I have bought Office Home & Business for Mac 2021, but that requires macOS 10.15 or later. I'm willing to upgrade the MBP to macOS 10.12 for now but not higher yet. I think Office for Mac 2016 will run on macOS 10.12 (but I'm not positive). Can I download Office for Mac 2016 somewhere, preferably free, and use my Office 2021 license to activate it? I see Office for Mac 2016 packages for sale ($15-30) listed by Google Shopping, but it's not clear if those include copies of the installer or just licenses to activate it if you have it already.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For business | MacOS

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-12-04T23:26:06+00:00

    Dear Mia,

    Thanks for that suggestion, but it did not work. I upgraded my MBP to macOS 10.12, and I had a slightly older installer for Office 2019 for Mac (Microsoft_Office_16.27.19071500_Installer.pkg). That did install Office correctly, but the activation step said that my Microsoft account did not have a purchase of that version, although it does show my purchase of Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac. Should that license be good for some different version of Office 2019 for which an installer is available somewhere, or is it just not good for older versions?

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-11-27T01:53:11+00:00

    Hello.

    Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you. 

    Generally to install the Office apps on the Mac, you can directly download the Office apps from the Microsoft release notes Update history for Office for Mac - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn and install it, but to activate the installed Office apps a license required. Moreover, Office 2016 for Mac is out of support and can't be activated with Office 365 or Office 2021 licenses.

    As a workaround till you upgrade your macOS, you can try downloading the older version of Office apps which is 16.29 and try to activate using your Office 2021.

    Thanks for your cooperation.

    Sincerely,

    Mia | Microsoft Community Moderator

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