Getting an old PIN for Office.

Question

I purchased Office for Mac on an education discount, and was given a PIN in an old email which I no longer have access to. Since then, I've replaced the Mac, and was able to load the software but didn't have the PIN to start it. I do have a friend who is at an educational institution and able to receive the PIN for me. One of your agents told me that with such a friend's address, you could send my PIN to that friend.

Answer 1

Hi @Jeffrey C

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Based on the information you shared, I understand that you purchased Office for Mac using an education discount and originally received a PIN via an email account that you no longer have access to. After replacing your Mac, you were able to reinstall the software but cannot activate it because you no longer have the PIN.

From what I could find, Microsoft normally does not send a product PIN or activation key to a different email address that is not associated with the original purchase or Microsoft account. For security and licensing reasons, product keys are typically tied to the original account or order information used at the time of purchase.

To better understand your situation and help you further, could you please provide a bit more information?

• Which exact product did you purchase (for example: Office for Mac 2021, Office 2019 for Mac, etc.)?
• When you sign in with the Microsoft account you used for the purchase, what message or screen do you see?
• Do you still have any proof of purchase or order confirmation?

Once we have a bit more detail about the product and what appears during activation, it will be easier to determine the best next steps.

Thank you, and I appreciate your patience.

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Answer 2

For Office for Mac 2011, a PIN is not the same as the product key. The PIN is used only once to obtain the actual 25-character product key, which is then used to install and activate Office.

If the original education-discount purchase gave a PIN (not a product key) and that PIN has not yet been used, the way to get the product key is:

1. Go to https://www.microsoft.com/mac/getkey.
2. Enter the unused PIN to retrieve the Office for Mac 2011 product key.

If the PIN was already used in the past, the product key may be stored in the Microsoft account that was associated with the redemption. In that case:

1. Sign in to the Office account page that was used when the PIN was redeemed (for example, via the Office account page referenced in the documentation).
2. Check the account’s Office/Office for Mac 2011 section for the stored product key.

If the PIN or product key cannot be recovered this way (for example, the email account and associated Microsoft account are no longer accessible), the documentation indicates that a replacement purchase may be required in some scenarios.

Regarding having a friend receive a new PIN: the documented process for Office for Mac 2011 is that the PIN holder uses https://www.microsoft.com/mac/getkey to convert that PIN into a product key. The documentation does not describe a supported process where Microsoft resends or reissues a prior PIN to a different person or email address. If additional help is needed with a missing or invalid key, the guidance is to contact the seller or Microsoft Support directly, with proof of purchase, to review options.

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References:

• Find your product key for Office for Mac 2011
• Where to enter your Office product key