KB0010: The thinkcell license key window pops up

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thinkcell requires a valid license key to run. thinkcell checks the license key every time that you start PowerPoint or Excel. If thinkcell doesn't find valid license information on your system, or if the license key is about to expire, the thinkcell License Key dialog appears.

thinkcell license key dialog

The thinkcell License Key dialog will display one of the following messages:

  • The license key of this thinkcell product will expire soon… (valid until…): The license key is valid but will expire soon.
  • (not valid): thinkcell didn't find a license key, or if thinkcell found a supposed key, the key was not issued by thinkcell.
  • (expired after…): The license key is expired.

Solutions

I have a valid new license key

Enter the license key and select OK.

My company has a valid license key but I do not know it or should not have to enter it

Please contact your company's help desk or equivalent.

I have no valid license key or it is about to expire

Please refer to the purchasing information page.

I have entered a valid new license key but PowerPoint continues to show the license key dialog

When entering thinkcell's license key manually, it is saved when successfully closing the thinkcell license key window with OK. Follow these steps to ensure the license key can be saved correctly:

  1. Make sure that no hanging processes prevent thinkcell from writing the license key Read more

    1. To ensure that no hidden or hanging PowerPoint or Excel processes remain stuck on your machine, please restart your computer.

      Alternatively, close all respective processes. Read more

      If using Windows:
      1. Open the Windows Task Manager and check for remaining POWERPNT.EXE or EXCEL.EXE processes.
        • Windows Vista and Windows 7: Task Manager → Processes.
        • Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10: Task Manager → More Details → Details.
      2. End these processes.
      If using Mac:

      Right-click the PowerPoint and Excel icons in the dock and select Quit. Alternatively, open PowerPoint and Excel and press Cmd ⌘+Q.

    2. Open PowerPoint.
    3. Enter a valid license key in the thinkcell license key window.
    4. Close PowerPoint.
    5. In the Windows Task Manager, ensure that the POWERPNT.EXE process was terminated successfully.
  2. Check if you have sufficient permissions to write into thinkcell's user profile folder Read more
    1. Open thinkcell's user profile folder:
      Press Start or the Windows key → type %APPDATA%\think-cell → Enter.
    2. Right-click into the folder > New > Text Document > ENTER.
    3. Are you able to open, modify, and save this file? If not, ask your internal IT to give you sufficient permissions to modify and save files in your thinkcell user profile folder.
  3. If the license key dialog appears again when you open PowerPoint, contact our support team and send us the following files:
    • Open thinkcell's user profile folder (%APPDATA%\think-cell) as described in point 2. Check if you have sufficient permissions... You should see the settings.xml file in this folder. Please send this file and a screenshot of thinkcell's license key window to our support team.

    • Please send us the thinkcell log files. To do so, on the PowerPoint or Excel ribbon, select Insert > thinkcell > Tools Tools Menu icon > Help > Request Support. A new email will open with the log files automatically attached.

      If Request Support works neither in PowerPoint nor in Excel, follow these steps: Read more

      1. Open a new File Explorer window.

      2. In the address field, enter %LOCALAPPDATA%\think-cell. Select Enter.

        Alternatively, you can open the think-cell folder by browsing the directory: Read more

        The full default filepath is C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\think-cell. Replace USERNAME with your username.

        If you can't find this folder, it's probably hidden. To show hidden items, in File Explorer, select one of the following:

        • Windows 7: Organize > Folder and search options > View > Show hidden files and folders
        • Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10: View > Show/hide > Hidden Items
        • Windows 11: View > Show > Hidden Items

      3. Send all the files in the think-cell folder that end in log to our support team. These files may include any of the following:

        • EXCEL_log.log
        • POWERPNT_log.log
        • ppttc_log.log
        • setup_think-cell_VERSION_log.log
        • tcasr_log.log
        • tcindex_log.log
        • tcmail_log.log
        • tcrunxl_log.log
        • tcupdate_log.log

          • Additionally, if thinkcell is active, please send us a screenshot of the About thinkcell dialog. To open the About thinkcell dialog, on the PowerPoint or Excel ribbon, select Insert > thinkcell > Tools Tools Menu icon > Help > About.

Note

In the thinkcell License Key dialog, you can always select Cancel and continue to use PowerPoint without thinkcell. When you have a valid license key, you can activate thinkcell again in PowerPoint by selecting Insert > thinkcell > Activate thinkcell.