How to activate Office for iPad

Yesterday, Microsoft released Office for iPad. The long awaited debut of the number one Office tools isn’t without hiccups, however.

What you can do with the apps depend on whether you have an Office 365 subscription or not. Subscribers get full access to all features of the apps (viewing / editing / creating documents); where people without a subscription can only view documents with the apps.

But things aren’t made easy for subscribers. When we tried to “activate” the application we were asked for our iTunes ID. After entering our info the app told us “You don’t have an Office 365 subscription. Get lost!” Okay, maybe it didn’t literally say that. But I was baffled for a second. What does my iTunes account have to do with my Microsoft Account? Nothing. Nada. Niente.

How to unlock all features with your Office 365 account

Does that mean you can’t use the full set of features, even though you’ve got an Office 365 subscription? Not if you use this “detour”…

  • When asked if you’ve got a subscription, say that you don’t, and the app will open.
  • In the bottom right corner (at least for the Word App) you’ll see an “Activate” button. Tap that button.
  • You will be asked to provide your Microsoft credentials. Enter them, and now the app will be activated.

You can now use the full set of features of the apps. Easy, once you know how.

I will try to add some screenshots when I’ve got access to my iDevice later tonight – but you should have no problems activating your app following the steps above.

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