How to convert an Office 2003 Trial edition to a full retail edition

When your Microsoft Office 2003 Trial version expires, you may have the option to convert the trial edition to the full retail perpetual license version of the product. This article describes how to determine if your Office 2003 Trial version is eligible for conversion to the full retail perpetual license version and how to convert it.

Note Not all Office 2003 Trial version products can be converted to the full retail perpetual license version of the product. An Office 2003 Trial version product that cannot be converted to the full retail perpetual license version of the product does not have an option anywhere on the user interface to convert it to a full retail perpetual license version.

The following Office 2003 Trial version products may be eligible for conversion to full retail perpetual license versions:

• Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
• Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
• Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003
• Microsoft Office Visio 2003

When you decide to convert your Office 2003 Trial version product to a full retail perpetual license product, you must first purchase a perpetual license product key from Microsoft or purchase a full retail version of the product from either Microsoft or from any authorized retail store.

Conversion Methods

There are three methods that you can use to convert your Office 2003 Trial version product to the full retail version of that product:

• Pre-activation: Trial Activation Wizard dialog box
• Post-activation: Expiration Reminders
• Maintenance Mode Conversion

Pre-activation: Trial Activation Wizard Dialog Box

When you are prompted to activate your Office 2003 Trial version, you may click I do not want to activate my copy of the trial. Instead, I want to convert to the full product now, and then click Next. This will take you through the conversion process that is detailed later in this article.

Post-activation: Expiration Reminders

After you activate the Trial version product, when the Activation Wizard Expiration reminders appear, you will have the option to convert to the full retail perpetual license for the product. On the Activation Wizard Expiration reminder, you can click Convert to start the conversion to the full retail perpetual license for the product. You can open the Activation Wizard reminder whenever you want. To do so, on the Help menu, click Activate Product.

Maintenance Mode Conversion

When you insert an Office 2003 Trial version product CD in your CD-ROM or DVD drive, the CD explorer window appears. Click Setup. This starts the Trial version product Setup program in Maintenance mode. To convert the Trial version product, click Convert License, and then click Next.

Note You can also reach Maintenance mode by using Add Remove Programs in Control Panel.

Note If the Trial version is installed with a product ID code that does not permit conversion, the Convert License option still appears in Maintenance mode. However, if you select that option and then click Next, you receive an error message that lets you know that the option is not valid for the currently installed product. When you close this error message, you return to Maintenance mode.

Convert to Full Retail Perpetual License

After you choose to convert your Office 2003 Trial version product to a full retail perpetual license, complete the conversion process. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Click Enter Product Key.
2. Type your 25-character product key in the five Product Key boxes.
3. Click Next.
4. Click to select the I accept the terms in the License Agreement check box, and then click Install.

Your Office 2003 Trial version will now be updated to the full retail perpetual license version.

Note If the Trial product is not convertible, you must remove the Trial product, and then install the Perpetual License product.