SubscribeSave As PDF/XPS and Trial versions
You downloaded and installed your trial version of Office 2007 and now you want to get the Save As PDF/XPS add-in to test the PDF/XPS output of Office 2007. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to due to a “feature” called “Office Genuine Advantage” (OGA). One idea behind OGA is the same as behind its sibling “Windows Genuine Advantage” (WGA): You are only supposed to be able to download things that extend or enhance your copy of Windows or Office, if its genuine, meaning you bought a bona fide license (let’s overlook the controversy and issues surrounding WGA and OGA in general for this post).
The problem that OGA throws your way is that you cannot get enhancements or extensions for an Office 2007 TRIAL version. You can get critical and security updates, but any other kind of downloads (that are protected by OGA) are not possible. That this affects the PDF/XPS output is especially sad, because until the fallout with Adobe, this was fully integrated into Office 2007.
What can you do? Once the Office 2007 trial is installed on your machine, you will not be able to get it. That means, you need to either download the add-in before installing the trial, or use a different computer that does not have the trial installed. A genuine installation of Office 2003 e.g. will pass OGA and let you download the add-in. Or, if you have Office 2007 B2TR installed, download the add-in before removing the beta. A computer with no Office installed will not pass OGA.
Get the add-in: PDF & XPS, PDF or XPS
We can only hope that Microsoft realizes how bad the decision was to block downloading of the PDF/XPS add-ins for trial users of Office 2007, especially considering the fact that there are a lot of users among them who would buy a copy right now, if they could!
Note: Any request to post the add-in files on my website, any request for a link to a non MS-download link for them or any posting of such a link will be deleted without comment. Such activities would be violations of the license agreement.
December 8th, 2006 at 23:33
[…] Second note: If you want to use the PDF/XPS output of Office 2007 with a trial version, please read this post first before doing anything. | Posted in Office 2007 | […]
December 9th, 2006 at 0:05
This is fine, except that they refuse to sell it to me. I cannot get a legal license because they will not exist before Jan 30, 2007. So, no one can download that patch, which make Microsoft the idiots they truly are when it comes to support.
Michael
December 11th, 2006 at 19:53
Honestly speaking, I do not understand you, Michael.
You can work the way Patrick showed.
And you should not feel guilty ding so
Rainald
January 6th, 2007 at 11:44
This is the final thing that is making me turn away from Microsoft software. I had a lot of leaflets in a publisher 2003 format, and was wanting to convert them to PDF so I could put them on the internet. This is really annoying, and is very badly thought out. Why shouldnt office 2007 trial pass the oga? It is just really stupid that they wont let people try the software. I need to find a new dtp program now, that runs on linux…
April 25th, 2007 at 17:33
Has anything changed since these previous posts? Because I had the beta, but uninstalled it (including the PDF add-in, unfortunately) before installing the trial. I found these posts searching for information after I was unable to download the add-in with the trial installed. I took Patrick’s advice, found the old SaveAsPDFandXPS.exe file I’d downloaded earlier for the beta, and installed it. After installing it, saving as .pdf showed up as an option in Word, but when I selected it, I received an error message that said that the add-in wasn’t installed correctly and a link to download it again from the web. I checked Control Panel and saw that the add-in didn’t show up there at all. I thought it would be a waste of time, but in desperation I clicked the link provided by the error message and after validation was given the opportunity to download the add-in again. I did so, installed it, and now it works fine and shows up in Control Panel as well. Since I was allowed to re-download it for it to work, it seems other Office 2007 Trial users should be able to download it as well…I just don’t know how, because I wasn’t permitted to do so until I got the error trying to use my old download…Hope this info helps someone.
May 12th, 2007 at 19:15
Hallo Cathy,
I hope that You could help me,
I too had the beta2 with pdf add-in installed in it, and after trial period i uninstalled it (whole Office). After a while I purchase MS Office 2007 and i was highly disappointed when i realize that “Save as PDF” will not work. I attempt to download this add-in from the link provided in Word Help but, for some reason (althoutgh I have original copy of Office’07) cannot get thru validation process. This is really annoying, I’d attempt several times and always get refused.
May 12th, 2007 at 19:20
I had to edit the previous comment from Gricko, as it asked another user to perform something that would violate the Office EULA. Sorry.
Gricko, does it tell you for which products the validation failed?