What Does "Unlicensed Product" Mean in Word? Causes and Fixes Explained

 When you are working on your document in Microsoft Word, and you all of a sudden see the warning sign ‘Unlicensed Product’ or similar, you may be confused as to what that means and how can one fix it. This is a very serious problem, more so when you are in the inconveniencing hand of an important document. In the present article, we will discuss what is meant by the error message ‘Unlicensed Product’, explain the causes of the problem and suggest ways in which you can solve it.

What Is the Unlicensed Product in Microsoft Word?

In Microsoft Word, “Unlicensed Product” means that the application can no longer confirm that your version of Microsoft Office is activated or licensed. This happens most of the time when your software license has expired, been invalidated, or there is a problem with the activation.

To put it simply, Word is trying to inform you that there are no verifiable grounds upon which you are entitled to use that particular software and that in turn, some of its functions would be limited. The programme may still launch; however, there may be limitations on availability, such as:

Reduced editing capabilities: Creating or modifying blank documents may not be possible.
Watermarks: Your document may contain the word “Unlicensed” as a watermark.
Prompting: Several prompts will be given to you to either activate or sign in to the application.

What Is The Reason For The Occurrence Of This Error?

There are several reasons that may be responsible for the occurrence of “Unlicensed Product” in Word. The most important reasons are described below:

1. Subscription Or License Has Expired

In the case where you are using a Microsoft 365 (previously called Office 365) subscription, that particular subscription may have expired or even your license was not renewed. After noticing that the subscription was allowed to expire, this notice will appear when Office is opened.

2. Activation Error

In the case of individual Office applications, for instance Office 2019, Office 2021, etc. The error message may appear in case of any issue with activation of Office. In order to activate, a product key, or a Microsoft account is necessary. In case of failure of both, subscription will remain inactive and Word will not be able to check if any license exists.

3. Microsoft Account is Not Correct

Office applications are associated with Microsoft accounts. If you are not using the right account, or that account has no license for Offce, then Word will not recognize the product as activated.

4. Office suite is not installed properly

Issues with activation might stem from installation problems with Office or corrupted operating system files. This may lead to inability of Word to determine if a certain license is active.