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Demo/Test Drive

Office for Mac 2008 Trial

Following info is for Office 2004 test drive.

Office Test Drive cannot be upgraded to the full version. You must remove the Test Drive and install from the purchased CD.

Removing Office Test Drive

Special Bulletin: Before you install your retail version of Microsoft Office, you must first remove the Office Test Drive from your computer. Use the "Remove Office", application to completely remove all Office files if you have used the test drive. You'll find "Remove Office" in the Office Additional Tools folder.

Note: You can drag it to the trash if it has NEVER been used. Remove Office won’t properly find and remove it if it has never been run. (Yes, I know this is confusing. Complaign to MS. Send Feedback under Help in the menu bar.)

Note: Remove Office does not remove your Microsoft User Data folder. (this is the folder where all your mail/data is stored). It does remove any registration keys and preferences for Office.

Known Issues listed in MS KB articles:

  1. You may need to run the Remove Office application more than once.
  2. "Successfully Removed" is not always true.
  3. Problems can occur using the installer. The installer cannot overwrite certain files. Use the drag-and-drop method of installation.

Demo Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Will Office 2004 Demo overwrite my Entourage X data?

  2. Convert from Demo to full version concerns

  3. Forced to leave mail on server

  4. Office is still showing as demo after I have run "Remove Office".
  5. You receive error messages that test drive expired even though you purchased and installed Office.
  6. Can a test drive installation be turned into a legitimate copy? If so, how?
  7. After running a system update, Leopard wants to run the demo version of Microsoft Office instead of the registered version.
  8. After updating to Office 2008, "Test Drive User" is showing as my name. I removed the test drive months ago.

Demo Questions

1) If I install the Office 2004 Demo on a computer with Office v.x installed, will it overwrite my Microsoft User Identities folder ?

No. The importer will leave your X identities alone in the Office X Identities subfolder of the Microsoft User Data folder. When you first launch 2004 Test Drive, it will make a brand new Office 2004 Identities subfolder in the same Microsoft User Data folder, and will start off with a totally different, brand new, fresh empty identity. If you wish to import your X identity to continue with your current contacts, calendar, mail, etc. go to File/Import/From Entourage X. You can even choose to exclude Mail if you wish, or anything else. It will take a copy of your main identity from X and convert it to a 2004 database. This will still be totally separate from your X identity's database. Any time you choose to go back to X, you can. And, if and when you upgrade to 2004, the full install will be able to go on using your Test Drive's 2004 database.


2) I am using the demo version now. I am concerned I am going to lose my projects when I purchase the full version. I have already changed my entire calendar and school project management systems to work in Entourage and I am completely hooked. When I buy the full version will all the projects/ contacts/emails/events/tasks I've created carry over? Will I still have access to the project folders with the files I have placed in them? I will be buying the education version, if that matters?

The Microsoft User Data folder (which is where all your Entourage data is stored) will be untouched by uninstall of the demo and install of the full version. There is no difference with the educational version. It should just work.

Note: Any documents you stored in the Microsoft Office 2004/Office folder will be deleted when you run "Remove Office". Office X users: If you made changes to the toolbar or default settings that you want to keep be sure to save your Normal Template.

The Normal Template contains toolbar customizations for Word as well as the default settings for every new Word document not based on another template. The Normal Template is located in the "Templates" folder in your "Microsoft Office" folder.

Office X: The Normal file is located in the "Templates" folder in your "Microsoft Office" folder. Tip: Put your Normal file in your Microsoft User Data folder, where it won't be touched if you use "Remove Office", and place an alias back in the Office folder. Otherwise, “Remove Office” will delete the file.

Office 2004 moves the Normal Template to live in the Microsoft User Data folder by default.

Both versions: put the Templates file in the Microsoft User Data folder and set the Project Gallery to find them there.


3) Do you know why Entourage 2004 Demo is forcing mail to be left on my server? Under the "Account Options" tab, the "leave a copy of each message" checkbox is checked but is greyed out so I cannot uncheck it.

It's enforced on the Test Drive so that you won't lose any mail should you decide not to buy the full version and go back to your previous mail client, where all accumulated mail will download to update it.


4. Office is still showing as demo after I have run "Remove Office".

Did you have administrator privileges when you ran "Remove Office"? Log on to the computer by using an account that has administrative permissions.

If Office v. X was installed by a user without administrator privileges, and later another user with administrator privileges runs the Remove Office application from the Microsoft Office 2004 folder to remove Office v. X, the following message appears:

You do not have permission to remove Office. Log in to the same Mac OS User account that you used to install Office and then try again.

And then the Remove Office application displays the message, "Remove Office has successfully removed the Office components you specified," which is not true. To remove Office v. X, you must delete the Microsoft Office X folder from your hard disk, or log on as a user without administrator privileges and then run the Remove Office application

Verify permissions:

  1. Click on the Microsoft Office X or 2004 folder
  2. On the File menu, click Get Info.
  3. Expand Ownership & Permissions, and then expand Details.
  4. Click the padlock icon. In the Owner box, click the account that you used to log on.
  5. In the Access box under Owner, click Read & Write.
  6. In the Group box, click the group that you want. Typically, this is the admin group.
  7. In the Access box under Group, click Read & Write.
  8. In the Others box, click Read & Write.
  9. Click Apply to enclosed items.
  10. In the Microsoft Office xxx folder, double-click Remove Test Drive to remove Office v.xxx Test Drive and all preference files.

When you run the Remove Office program, files are not removed until you click the Remove button on the Remove Microsoft Office screen. To remove the Test Drive, on the Results screen, click the Microsoft Office 2004 (including Test Drive) check box to select the Test Drive, and then click Continue. In the Choose which components to remove screen, click the Remove the Microsoft Office 2004 Test Drive folder check box to remove the Test Drive, and then click Continue.


5. You receive error messages that test drive expired even though you purchased and installed Office.

After you install Microsoft Office v. X for Mac, when you try to start any of the programs, you may receive the following message:

The Office v. X Test Drive has expired. To order your copy of Office v. X click Buy Now. For more information about what features have been disabled please see the Read Me. If you click Buy Now, a Web page will appear where you can purchase Office X. If you click OK, the Office X program will start in disabled mode.

CAUSE: This issue occurs when you install Office X by using the Microsoft Office Installer. It does not occur if you use the drag-and-drop method of installation. The installer cannot overwrite certain files in the Microsoft Office X folder on your hard disk if Office v. X Test Drive is already installed.

RESOLUTION To resolve this issue, you must first remove Office v. X Test Drive, and then install the Microsoft Office X program.


6) Can a test drive installation be turned into a legitimate copy? If so, how?

No, the test drive has to be uninstalled and a full copy installed from scratch.


8) After running a system update, Leopard wants to run the demo version of Microsoft Office instead of the registered version.

Your launch services database could be changed.

Try launching from the applications not the documents.

Do a Get Info on the app that is launched, and see if the version ends in
the letters TD.