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Installation guide

Office 2024 Professional Plus — install and activate

Office works backwards from what people expect: you install it first and type the key in afterwards, inside Word itself. There is no page to redeem anything on and no account to sign into. Read Before you start even if you skip the rest — it covers what can stop the install.

Before you start

Office 2024 Professional Plus does not install the way a Microsoft 365 subscription does. There is no website to redeem the key on: you install Office first, and then type the key into Office itself. Before you begin, remove any other Office from the computer: a leftover copy, an expired trial included, can stop the install.

What you are installing

The edition that installs is Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 — the perpetual, long-term release. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Access, installed on your machine and yours to keep, with security updates but no new features.

Two things it does not include, so there are no surprises later: Microsoft Teams, which is not preinstalled and comes as a separate download, and Publisher, which Microsoft is retiring and left out of this release. Skype for Business is offered as an optional extra while it installs.

Remove every other Office first

Microsoft does not support two versions of Office on one machine, and you should not count on the installer to remove the old one for you. Go to Settings → Apps → Installed apps, uninstall anything named Microsoft Office, Microsoft 365 or a single app like Word or Excel, then restart the computer.

The trial counts, even if you never opened it

Some new computers come with a Microsoft 365 trial preinstalled. An expired trial you never once opened still blocks the install. Uninstall it like any other program before you continue.

If the uninstaller refuses or Office reappears, Microsoft publishes a free tool called the Support and Recovery Assistant that is built to remove Office when the normal uninstaller will not. Ask us and we will point you at it.

System requirements

Light, by modern standards. One line in this table, the operating system, is worth checking before you buy rather than after.

Component Minimum for Office 2024
Operating system Windows 11. See the note below if your computer runs Windows 10.
Processor 1.1 GHz or faster, 2 cores
RAM 4 GB
Storage 4 GB of free space
Display 1280 × 768 or larger
Internet Needed to download Office, and again to activate the key

If the computer runs ordinary Windows 10

Microsoft's supported-systems list for this release names Windows 11 and the LTSC editions of Windows 10 — the long-term versions used by companies. The ordinary Windows 10 that home machines run is not on that list.

It may still install and run there, but it sits outside what Microsoft supports, which matters if you ever need their help rather than ours. If you are on Windows 10 and want to stay on supported ground, Windows 11 is the answer. If you are not sure what your computer runs, ask us before you buy and we will tell you whether this license fits it.

Install Office

Most of the time is the download running by itself, so how long it takes depends on your connection. Nothing in this chapter needs a Microsoft account.

Office 2024 Professional Plus installer

English, 64-bit: the right choice for any computer that runs Windows 11. Other languages and 32-bit are in the table under Languages, and 32-bit or 64-bit.

Download (opens in a new tab)

Do not sign in to a Microsoft account until this is finished

Install Office and put your key in first. Only then sign in to Word with a Microsoft account, if you want one at all — for OneDrive, or to carry your settings between machines.

Doing it the other way round can leave you confused: Office may greet you as a Microsoft 365 subscriber or offer to start a trial, and it stops being obvious which license is in force. Nothing is broken when that happens, but untangling it takes longer than doing it in the right order.

Where the installer comes from

The installer is a small program, which is why the file is only a few megabytes: it downloads Office itself while it runs, so keep the computer online until it finishes.

Whatever you run, check it first. Windows shows you the verified publisher before anything is installed, and for this installer it reads Technik Markt TMA e.K., the company that provides it. If that line is blank or names anything else, stop and write to us before going further.

Run the installer as administrator

Open your Downloads folder, right-click the installer and choose Run as administrator. Windows asks whether to allow it to make changes to your device. Check that the Verified publisher line reads Technik Markt TMA e.K., then select Yes.

Windows User Account Control asking to allow the Office installer, with the verified publisher Technik Markt TMA e.K. and the Yes button marked
Check the verified publisher, Technik Markt TMA e.K., then select Yes

Let Office download

From here the installer takes over and downloads Office. Leave the machine alone and connected until the window closes by itself.

Interrupting this is what produces a half-installed Office that then has to be removed and started again.

The Office installer window: Please stay online while Microsoft 365 and Office downloads
The installer doing the work — leave it until it closes on its own

Open Word

When it finishes, the installer closes without announcing anything. Press the Start button, type word, and open it from the results.

Windows search showing Word as the best match after typing word
Type word after pressing Start, and open Word from the best match

Enter your key

Office is on the machine at this point, but not yet licensed. This is what your key is for, and it takes about a minute.

Open File → Account

In Word, select File, then Account at the bottom of the left-hand column. On the right, under Product Information, select Change Product Key.

Word, File > Account, Product Information: Product Activation Required, with Change Product Key marked
Change Product Key, under Product Information

"This product is unlicensed" before the key goes in

Before your key goes in, this screen says the product is unlicensed and suggests connecting to a corporate network or contacting your system administrator. That wording is aimed at company IT departments and none of it applies to you.

It means one thing only: no key has been entered on this machine yet.

Type the key

Enter the 25-character key from your delivery email. Include the hyphens. Then continue, and give Office a moment to check the key with Microsoft — it needs the internet for this one step.

The Enter your product key dialog in Office, with the empty key field
The key goes in as XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Check it took

Go back to File → Account. The yellow box and the unlicensed message should be gone, and the product should be named as activated. If it still looks unchanged, close Word completely and open it once more.

Installing it again later

On a new computer, or after wiping this one, you need two things: the installer and the same key. The installer is the Download button in the Install Office chapter above, and the key is in your delivery email, so keep that email.

Install Office again exactly as above, then enter the same key under File → Account → Change Product Key. There is no account to sign into and nothing to redeem a second time.

One computer at a time

This license covers one computer at a time. Installing it on a second machine does not multiply it — if you replace or rebuild your computer rather than adding one, remove Office from the old machine first and activate the key on the new one.

If activation is refused after several changes, do not keep trying: send us your order number and we will take it from there.

Languages, and 32-bit or 64-bit

Office 2024 exists in both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version, and in the languages listed below. The installer button in the Install Office chapter is the English, 64-bit one. Windows 11 only exists in 64-bit, so 64-bit Office is the right choice for any computer that runs it.

Your key does not care about either. The same 25 characters activate Office in any language and in either version, so installing the wrong one costs you nothing but time — uninstall it, install the one you wanted, and put the same key in again.

If you need a different language or the 32-bit version, take it from the table below.

When 32-bit is the one you want

Two cases. One: the computer itself is 32-bit, which means Windows 11 will not run on it. Two: you depend on an old add-in, macro or database driver that was only ever built for 32-bit Office, for example in Access or an accounting package.

If neither is true, take 64-bit and do not think about it again.

If it fails

Office shows a code or a short message when something goes wrong. Look yours up below, or search the Activation Center. For a code that has no page of its own, such as 30015-4 or 0x4004F00C, send us the exact code and your order number.

Codes you may see