Tip 53: Saving your Office Activation

Beginning with some versions of Office 2000, activation is required if you want to continue to use Office applications after 50 uses. You can "save" your activation and restore it without connecting to the activation servers provided your hardware does not change significantly and the installed Office applications are the same.

Office 2000: Call in and write down the code you are given. It's not date-stamped and you can reactivate using the same code.

Office 2002/2003 codes are date stamped and won't work for a later installation.

• Office 2002: Activate over the Internet and save data.dat.
• Office 2003: Activate over the Internet and save opa11.dat.

Both files are stored in the All Users folder path. In Windows XP, this is at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\OFFICE\DATA. In Windows 7, the opa11.dat file is stored at C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\OFFICE\DATA.

If you can't see the OFFICE\DATA folder, you need to show hidden files and folders in Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Options, View.

Published October 27, 2003. Last updated on November 3, 2012.

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