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#1
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MS Office programs locked.
I wish I could suggest a solution to this, but unfortunately I can't - I
have the same problem: I recently (about 45 days ago) bought a new laptop with "Microsoft Office 2003 60-day trial" version pre-installed (no CD provided). Yesterday it switched itself into reduced-feature mode (no editing allowed, greyed-out menu bars, error messages on typing) quite without warning. My 60-day period certainly isn't up, and I haven't recieved any reminders to upgrade to the perpetual license version on opening any of the applications. Furthermore, 'Activate Product' in the Help menu doesn't bring up any window at all. I want to convert to the full version and get my functionality back! I have looked at the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages on activating/converting Office products, but they are not helpful at all, and as the telephone helplines are not open until Monday (Friday evening now), what can I do online (or to my system) to fix the problem asap? Thanks "goodforagiggle" wrote in message ... You know, I have the same problem and it's bugging me big time as I need some of the documents. I can open word, but I cant type on a new document and as for activate product, that doesn't work either. Do i need to install Microsoft office then to get it working again? I have windows xp home. Thanks "garfield-n-odie" wrote: Sounds like "reduced functionality mode" because you haven't activated Office or because you have an Office trial version that has expired. What happens if you open Word or Excel and click on Help | Activate Product? "jung" wrote: Problem: Dell laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003 Small Business loaded. System had been running fine for months. All of a sudden on Monday I could access word, excel, powerpoint, etc files, but I could, not make any changes what-so-ever to any of them. I could launch a new document in any of the programs, but I could not make any changes (ie open a new word doc but as soon as I tried to type a letter I got an error message saying the document was locked). I'm baffled. The system was working fine the previous evening. |
#2
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When you click on Help | Activate Product, there should be an option to
purchase a product key online. See http://www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial/convert.mspx for details. "Roland Young" wrote: I wish I could suggest a solution to this, but unfortunately I can't - I have the same problem: I recently (about 45 days ago) bought a new laptop with "Microsoft Office 2003 60-day trial" version pre-installed (no CD provided). Yesterday it switched itself into reduced-feature mode (no editing allowed, greyed-out menu bars, error messages on typing) quite without warning. My 60-day period certainly isn't up, and I haven't recieved any reminders to upgrade to the perpetual license version on opening any of the applications. Furthermore, 'Activate Product' in the Help menu doesn't bring up any window at all. I want to convert to the full version and get my functionality back! I have looked at the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages on activating/converting Office products, but they are not helpful at all, and as the telephone helplines are not open until Monday (Friday evening now), what can I do online (or to my system) to fix the problem asap? Thanks "goodforagiggle" wrote in message ... You know, I have the same problem and it's bugging me big time as I need some of the documents. I can open word, but I cant type on a new document and as for activate product, that doesn't work either. Do i need to install Microsoft office then to get it working again? I have windows xp home. Thanks "garfield-n-odie" wrote: Sounds like "reduced functionality mode" because you haven't activated Office or because you have an Office trial version that has expired. What happens if you open Word or Excel and click on Help | Activate Product? "jung" wrote: Problem: Dell laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003 Small Business loaded. System had been running fine for months. All of a sudden on Monday I could access word, excel, powerpoint, etc files, but I could, not make any changes what-so-ever to any of them. I could launch a new document in any of the programs, but I could not make any changes (ie open a new word doc but as soon as I tried to type a letter I got an error message saying the document was locked). I'm baffled. The system was working fine the previous evening. |
#3
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That is the problem. When I select Help | Activate Product, no window
appears at all; the program just acts as if it hadn't been selected. It is only the Activate Product selection which does that; the rest of the options on the Help menu behave as expected. I had previously been through the instructions on the page you pointed me to, but they do not solve the problem. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... When you click on Help | Activate Product, there should be an option to purchase a product key online. See http://www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial/convert.mspx for details. "Roland Young" wrote: I wish I could suggest a solution to this, but unfortunately I can't - I have the same problem: I recently (about 45 days ago) bought a new laptop with "Microsoft Office 2003 60-day trial" version pre-installed (no CD provided). Yesterday it switched itself into reduced-feature mode (no editing allowed, greyed-out menu bars, error messages on typing) quite without warning. My 60-day period certainly isn't up, and I haven't recieved any reminders to upgrade to the perpetual license version on opening any of the applications. Furthermore, 'Activate Product' in the Help menu doesn't bring up any window at all. I want to convert to the full version and get my functionality back! I have looked at the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages on activating/converting Office products, but they are not helpful at all, and as the telephone helplines are not open until Monday (Friday evening now), what can I do online (or to my system) to fix the problem asap? Thanks "goodforagiggle" wrote in message ... You know, I have the same problem and it's bugging me big time as I need some of the documents. I can open word, but I cant type on a new document and as for activate product, that doesn't work either. Do i need to install Microsoft office then to get it working again? I have windows xp home. Thanks "garfield-n-odie" wrote: Sounds like "reduced functionality mode" because you haven't activated Office or because you have an Office trial version that has expired. What happens if you open Word or Excel and click on Help | Activate Product? "jung" wrote: Problem: Dell laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003 Small Business loaded. System had been running fine for months. All of a sudden on Monday I could access word, excel, powerpoint, etc files, but I could, not make any changes what-so-ever to any of them. I could launch a new document in any of the programs, but I could not make any changes (ie open a new word doc but as soon as I tried to type a letter I got an error message saying the document was locked). I'm baffled. The system was working fine the previous evening. |
#4
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Some trial versions cannot be converted to retail... you probably have
one of those. I suspect that Microsoft wouldn't be able to help you even if this weren't the weekend. You will have to buy a retail copy of Office from your favorite vendor, and install it after you uninstall the trial version. Roland Young wrote: That is the problem. When I select Help | Activate Product, no window appears at all; the program just acts as if it hadn't been selected. It is only the Activate Product selection which does that; the rest of the options on the Help menu behave as expected. I had previously been through the instructions on the page you pointed me to, but they do not solve the problem. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... When you click on Help | Activate Product, there should be an option to purchase a product key online. See http://www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial/convert.mspx for details. "Roland Young" wrote: I wish I could suggest a solution to this, but unfortunately I can't - I have the same problem: I recently (about 45 days ago) bought a new laptop with "Microsoft Office 2003 60-day trial" version pre-installed (no CD provided). Yesterday it switched itself into reduced-feature mode (no editing allowed, greyed-out menu bars, error messages on typing) quite without warning. My 60-day period certainly isn't up, and I haven't recieved any reminders to upgrade to the perpetual license version on opening any of the applications. Furthermore, 'Activate Product' in the Help menu doesn't bring up any window at all. I want to convert to the full version and get my functionality back! I have looked at the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages on activating/converting Office products, but they are not helpful at all, and as the telephone helplines are not open until Monday (Friday evening now), what can I do online (or to my system) to fix the problem asap? Thanks "goodforagiggle" wrote in message ... You know, I have the same problem and it's bugging me big time as I need some of the documents. I can open word, but I cant type on a new document and as for activate product, that doesn't work either. Do i need to install Microsoft office then to get it working again? I have windows xp home. Thanks "garfield-n-odie" wrote: Sounds like "reduced functionality mode" because you haven't activated Office or because you have an Office trial version that has expired. What happens if you open Word or Excel and click on Help | Activate Product? "jung" wrote: Problem: Dell laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003 Small Business loaded. System had been running fine for months. All of a sudden on Monday I could access word, excel, powerpoint, etc files, but I could, not make any changes what-so-ever to any of them. I could launch a new document in any of the programs, but I could not make any changes (ie open a new word doc but as soon as I tried to type a letter I got an error message saying the document was locked). I'm baffled. The system was working fine the previous evening. |
#5
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Ok I went and did that today - I bought a retail copy, uninstalled the trial
version, installed the retail copy...and there was no change at all! I wasn't prompted to activate the product during the setup process, and the editing and activation issues still remain. Hmmmph. I suspect there is something in the registry which wasn't deleted in the uninstall process, and it still thinks it is a trial version. I have submitted a query to the Microsoft Assisted Support site, so hopefully they will find a solution. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... Some trial versions cannot be converted to retail... you probably have one of those. I suspect that Microsoft wouldn't be able to help you even if this weren't the weekend. You will have to buy a retail copy of Office from your favorite vendor, and install it after you uninstall the trial version. Roland Young wrote: That is the problem. When I select Help | Activate Product, no window appears at all; the program just acts as if it hadn't been selected. It is only the Activate Product selection which does that; the rest of the options on the Help menu behave as expected. I had previously been through the instructions on the page you pointed me to, but they do not solve the problem. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... When you click on Help | Activate Product, there should be an option to purchase a product key online. See http://www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial/convert.mspx for details. "Roland Young" wrote: I wish I could suggest a solution to this, but unfortunately I can't - I have the same problem: I recently (about 45 days ago) bought a new laptop with "Microsoft Office 2003 60-day trial" version pre-installed (no CD provided). Yesterday it switched itself into reduced-feature mode (no editing allowed, greyed-out menu bars, error messages on typing) quite without warning. My 60-day period certainly isn't up, and I haven't recieved any reminders to upgrade to the perpetual license version on opening any of the applications. Furthermore, 'Activate Product' in the Help menu doesn't bring up any window at all. I want to convert to the full version and get my functionality back! I have looked at the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages on activating/converting Office products, but they are not helpful at all, and as the telephone helplines are not open until Monday (Friday evening now), what can I do online (or to my system) to fix the problem asap? Thanks "goodforagiggle" wrote in message ... You know, I have the same problem and it's bugging me big time as I need some of the documents. I can open word, but I cant type on a new document and as for activate product, that doesn't work either. Do i need to install Microsoft office then to get it working again? I have windows xp home. Thanks "garfield-n-odie" wrote: Sounds like "reduced functionality mode" because you haven't activated Office or because you have an Office trial version that has expired. What happens if you open Word or Excel and click on Help | Activate Product? "jung" wrote: Problem: Dell laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003 Small Business loaded. System had been running fine for months. All of a sudden on Monday I could access word, excel, powerpoint, etc files, but I could, not make any changes what-so-ever to any of them. I could launch a new document in any of the programs, but I could not make any changes (ie open a new word doc but as soon as I tried to type a letter I got an error message saying the document was locked). I'm baffled. The system was working fine the previous evening. |
#6
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It is fixed now - MS support worked out what was wrong. The uninstall
program didn't remove the Office keys from the registry, so it still thought it was a trial version. "Roland Young" wrote in message ... Ok I went and did that today - I bought a retail copy, uninstalled the trial version, installed the retail copy...and there was no change at all! I wasn't prompted to activate the product during the setup process, and the editing and activation issues still remain. Hmmmph. I suspect there is something in the registry which wasn't deleted in the uninstall process, and it still thinks it is a trial version. I have submitted a query to the Microsoft Assisted Support site, so hopefully they will find a solution. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... Some trial versions cannot be converted to retail... you probably have one of those. I suspect that Microsoft wouldn't be able to help you even if this weren't the weekend. You will have to buy a retail copy of Office from your favorite vendor, and install it after you uninstall the trial version. Roland Young wrote: That is the problem. When I select Help | Activate Product, no window appears at all; the program just acts as if it hadn't been selected. It is only the Activate Product selection which does that; the rest of the options on the Help menu behave as expected. I had previously been through the instructions on the page you pointed me to, but they do not solve the problem. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... When you click on Help | Activate Product, there should be an option to purchase a product key online. See http://www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial/convert.mspx for details. "Roland Young" wrote: I wish I could suggest a solution to this, but unfortunately I can't - I have the same problem: I recently (about 45 days ago) bought a new laptop with "Microsoft Office 2003 60-day trial" version pre-installed (no CD provided). Yesterday it switched itself into reduced-feature mode (no editing allowed, greyed-out menu bars, error messages on typing) quite without warning. My 60-day period certainly isn't up, and I haven't recieved any reminders to upgrade to the perpetual license version on opening any of the applications. Furthermore, 'Activate Product' in the Help menu doesn't bring up any window at all. I want to convert to the full version and get my functionality back! I have looked at the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages on activating/converting Office products, but they are not helpful at all, and as the telephone helplines are not open until Monday (Friday evening now), what can I do online (or to my system) to fix the problem asap? Thanks "goodforagiggle" wrote in message ... You know, I have the same problem and it's bugging me big time as I need some of the documents. I can open word, but I cant type on a new document and as for activate product, that doesn't work either. Do i need to install Microsoft office then to get it working again? I have windows xp home. Thanks "garfield-n-odie" wrote: Sounds like "reduced functionality mode" because you haven't activated Office or because you have an Office trial version that has expired. What happens if you open Word or Excel and click on Help | Activate Product? "jung" wrote: Problem: Dell laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003 Small Business loaded. System had been running fine for months. All of a sudden on Monday I could access word, excel, powerpoint, etc files, but I could, not make any changes what-so-ever to any of them. I could launch a new document in any of the programs, but I could not make any changes (ie open a new word doc but as soon as I tried to type a letter I got an error message saying the document was locked). I'm baffled. The system was working fine the previous evening. |
#7
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I've got the same problem. I uninstalled the trial version, installed the new
Office disc and initially it was ok. Now it's locked everything again. Please can you let me know what MS support suggested? Thankyou "Roland Young" wrote: It is fixed now - MS support worked out what was wrong. The uninstall program didn't remove the Office keys from the registry, so it still thought it was a trial version. "Roland Young" wrote in message ... Ok I went and did that today - I bought a retail copy, uninstalled the trial version, installed the retail copy...and there was no change at all! I wasn't prompted to activate the product during the setup process, and the editing and activation issues still remain. Hmmmph. I suspect there is something in the registry which wasn't deleted in the uninstall process, and it still thinks it is a trial version. I have submitted a query to the Microsoft Assisted Support site, so hopefully they will find a solution. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... Some trial versions cannot be converted to retail... you probably have one of those. I suspect that Microsoft wouldn't be able to help you even if this weren't the weekend. You will have to buy a retail copy of Office from your favorite vendor, and install it after you uninstall the trial version. Roland Young wrote: That is the problem. When I select Help | Activate Product, no window appears at all; the program just acts as if it hadn't been selected. It is only the Activate Product selection which does that; the rest of the options on the Help menu behave as expected. I had previously been through the instructions on the page you pointed me to, but they do not solve the problem. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... When you click on Help | Activate Product, there should be an option to purchase a product key online. See http://www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial/convert.mspx for details. "Roland Young" wrote: I wish I could suggest a solution to this, but unfortunately I can't - I have the same problem: I recently (about 45 days ago) bought a new laptop with "Microsoft Office 2003 60-day trial" version pre-installed (no CD provided). Yesterday it switched itself into reduced-feature mode (no editing allowed, greyed-out menu bars, error messages on typing) quite without warning. My 60-day period certainly isn't up, and I haven't recieved any reminders to upgrade to the perpetual license version on opening any of the applications. Furthermore, 'Activate Product' in the Help menu doesn't bring up any window at all. I want to convert to the full version and get my functionality back! I have looked at the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages on activating/converting Office products, but they are not helpful at all, and as the telephone helplines are not open until Monday (Friday evening now), what can I do online (or to my system) to fix the problem asap? Thanks "goodforagiggle" wrote in message ... You know, I have the same problem and it's bugging me big time as I need some of the documents. I can open word, but I cant type on a new document and as for activate product, that doesn't work either. Do i need to install Microsoft office then to get it working again? I have windows xp home. Thanks "garfield-n-odie" wrote: Sounds like "reduced functionality mode" because you haven't activated Office or because you have an Office trial version that has expired. What happens if you open Word or Excel and click on Help | Activate Product? "jung" wrote: Problem: Dell laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003 Small Business loaded. System had been running fine for months. All of a sudden on Monday I could access word, excel, powerpoint, etc files, but I could, not make any changes what-so-ever to any of them. I could launch a new document in any of the programs, but I could not make any changes (ie open a new word doc but as soon as I tried to type a letter I got an error message saying the document was locked). I'm baffled. The system was working fine the previous evening. |
#8
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I've had the same problem too. I'm using a version of office 2003 under a
university licence that means the Microsoft won't support it (although I've spent a lot of time trying to get them to), and the IT department haven't a clue what to do. If Roland Young was able to tell us what Microsoft Office Support told him it would be very helpful.......or anybody else. "goodforagiggle" wrote: I've got the same problem. I uninstalled the trial version, installed the new Office disc and initially it was ok. Now it's locked everything again. Please can you let me know what MS support suggested? Thankyou "Roland Young" wrote: It is fixed now - MS support worked out what was wrong. The uninstall program didn't remove the Office keys from the registry, so it still thought it was a trial version. "Roland Young" wrote in message ... Ok I went and did that today - I bought a retail copy, uninstalled the trial version, installed the retail copy...and there was no change at all! I wasn't prompted to activate the product during the setup process, and the editing and activation issues still remain. Hmmmph. I suspect there is something in the registry which wasn't deleted in the uninstall process, and it still thinks it is a trial version. I have submitted a query to the Microsoft Assisted Support site, so hopefully they will find a solution. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... Some trial versions cannot be converted to retail... you probably have one of those. I suspect that Microsoft wouldn't be able to help you even if this weren't the weekend. You will have to buy a retail copy of Office from your favorite vendor, and install it after you uninstall the trial version. Roland Young wrote: That is the problem. When I select Help | Activate Product, no window appears at all; the program just acts as if it hadn't been selected. It is only the Activate Product selection which does that; the rest of the options on the Help menu behave as expected. I had previously been through the instructions on the page you pointed me to, but they do not solve the problem. "garfield-n-odie" wrote in message ... When you click on Help | Activate Product, there should be an option to purchase a product key online. See http://www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial/convert.mspx for details. "Roland Young" wrote: I wish I could suggest a solution to this, but unfortunately I can't - I have the same problem: I recently (about 45 days ago) bought a new laptop with "Microsoft Office 2003 60-day trial" version pre-installed (no CD provided). Yesterday it switched itself into reduced-feature mode (no editing allowed, greyed-out menu bars, error messages on typing) quite without warning. My 60-day period certainly isn't up, and I haven't recieved any reminders to upgrade to the perpetual license version on opening any of the applications. Furthermore, 'Activate Product' in the Help menu doesn't bring up any window at all. I want to convert to the full version and get my functionality back! I have looked at the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages on activating/converting Office products, but they are not helpful at all, and as the telephone helplines are not open until Monday (Friday evening now), what can I do online (or to my system) to fix the problem asap? Thanks "goodforagiggle" wrote in message ... You know, I have the same problem and it's bugging me big time as I need some of the documents. I can open word, but I cant type on a new document and as for activate product, that doesn't work either. Do i need to install Microsoft office then to get it working again? I have windows xp home. Thanks "garfield-n-odie" wrote: Sounds like "reduced functionality mode" because you haven't activated Office or because you have an Office trial version that has expired. What happens if you open Word or Excel and click on Help | Activate Product? "jung" wrote: Problem: Dell laptop with Windows XP and MS Office 2003 Small Business loaded. System had been running fine for months. All of a sudden on Monday I could access word, excel, powerpoint, etc files, but I could, not make any changes what-so-ever to any of them. I could launch a new document in any of the programs, but I could not make any changes (ie open a new word doc but as soon as I tried to type a letter I got an error message saying the document was locked). I'm baffled. The system was working fine the previous evening. |
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