Licensing and Your Account
Petroleum Office functions need a valid licence. The licence is tied to the account you sign in with, not to the machine, so signing in on a new computer is all that is normally required.
Signing In
The Settings group at the right-hand end of the Petroleum Office ribbon holds the account controls. Which one you see depends on your state:
| Control | When it appears | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Sign In | You are not signed in | Starts sign-in for your Petroleum Office account |
| Profile | You are signed in | A menu — My Profile, Manage Account, Sign Out |
| No License | Your licence is missing or invalid | Opens the place to activate or update it |
Profile → My Profile opens your profile page on the website. Manage Account goes to account settings, billing and subscription. Sign Out ends the session on this machine.
The No License button only appears when something is wrong, so if you can see it, start there.
Checking Your Licence Status
- Go to the Petroleum Office tab
- In the Settings group, click Settings
- The Licensing panel is the first one in the dialog
It shows the account you are signed in as and the state of its licence.
What the Status Means
The panel reports one of these. The distinction matters because the fix is different in each case.
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not signed in | No account session on this machine | Click Sign In in the Settings group |
| No license found for this account | Signed in, but no licence could be found | As below — check you used the right account |
| Subscription, valid until date | Active subscription | Nothing — you are licensed until that date |
| Trial, valid until date | Trial licence, still inside its term | Nothing yet; subscribe before the date to avoid interruption |
| Valid, no expiry | A licence with no end date | Nothing |
| Expired on date | The licence ran out | Renew, then reopen Excel |
| Expired | The same, where no end date is recorded | Renew, then reopen Excel |
| No license for this account | Signed in, but this account has never been entitled | Check you signed in with the account that holds the subscription |
| All seats in use for this license | The subscription's seats are all taken | Free a seat, or add one from Manage Account |
| This organisation's license is inactive | A domain licence that is no longer active | Contact whoever administers the licence for your organisation |
A plan name appears in brackets when the subscription has one, for example Subscription (Professional), valid until March 14, 2027.
Two of these are commonly mistaken for each other. Expired on date means you had a licence and it lapsed. No license for this account — and its near-identical sibling No license found for this account — means this particular account is not entitled, usually a sign-in with the wrong email, especially where a personal address was used to buy and a work address to sign in.
When Functions Stop Working
A licence problem and a loading problem look different in the sheet, and telling them apart saves a lot of time.
Cells showing License required for this function — the add-in is loaded and working, but the licence is not valid. The functions are registered; they are simply refusing to calculate. Go to Settings → Licensing and read the status against the table above.
Cells showing #NAME? — Excel does not recognise the function name at all, which usually means the add-in is not loaded rather than not licensed. Check whether the Petroleum Office tab is on the ribbon, and see Troubleshooting Common Errors for the recovery steps.
The No License button appearing in the Settings group is the quickest confirmation that the problem is licensing — it only shows when the licence is missing or invalid.
Academic Licences
Students and faculty at participating universities can use Petroleum Office free through the academic program. Eligibility and the current list of participating institutions are on the Academic Program page.
Frequently Asked
Can I use one licence on more than one machine? The licence follows your account, so signing in elsewhere works. Concurrent use is bounded by the seats on the subscription — exhausting them produces All seats in use for this license.
Do I need to be online? Sign-in does. Once licensed, the add-in keeps working offline until the licence needs rechecking.
I renewed but Excel still says expired. The add-in reads its licence at startup. Close Excel completely and reopen it.
Who do I contact? Support — include the status line from the Licensing panel and the account email you signed in with; those two answer most questions immediately.