Determining Your Serial Number

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 12, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


When you first installed Excel (or Office), you were asked for a Product Key number, which should have been located on something or another associated with the product. For instance, the Product Key (sometimes called a CD Key) may have been on the outside of the CD case, or it could have been on the manual or some other piece of documentation.

If you were the one that did the installation, you may vaguely remember that once you correctly entered the information, the installation program displayed a Product ID code that you were told to write down. Chances are good that you didn't do this. (Who does? Even if I did write it down, I would probably lose the paper I wrote it on.)

The problem is, if you ever need to get technical support from Microsoft, you need to supply that Product ID code. Fortunately, there is a way you can discover the code again, without resorting to some yellowing piece of paper you may have written it on.

All you need to do is choose About Microsoft Excel from the Help menu Excel displays the About Microsoft Excel dialog box, and this dialog box contains your Product ID code. When you are done writing it down (again), click on the OK button to dismiss the dialog box.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2476) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Modifying Behavior of the Open Dialog Box

The Open dialog box is one that few of us think about, but you can control how it behaves with a little bit of macro ...

Discover More

Non-PivotTable Slicers and Timelines

When working with a PivotTable, slicers and timelines can make short work of large data sets. This tip looks at all the ...

Discover More

Jumping to a Specific Cell Using a Hyperlink

Excel allows you to define hyperlinks in your worksheets, and these can target specific cells on other worksheets. Here ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Changing the Color Used to Denote Selected Cells

When entering data into a range of cells, the cell in which you are working appears in a different color than the other ...

Discover More

Reducing the Size of the Save As Dialog Box

Dialog boxes are designed to be limited in scope, so that they cover only a portion of your screen. What if a dialog box ...

Discover More

Speeding Up Large Worksheets

If your worksheet gets large enough, you may notice a severe slowdown when it is recalculated. This tip provides some ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is nine minus 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.