Migrating iWorks Trial to Retail Edition

So you gave iWorks ’09 (Keynote, Pages, Numbers) a try with the 30-day free trial then decided you loved it so much you’d go buy a copy at the Apple store.

You then try to install you new Retail copy and discover it’s asking for a serial code despite not having one as it’s not required with the Retail edition. You try all the usual things, deleting the Apps and reinstalling but with no luck.

The solution is simpler than you think, well at least it is when you know what it is. As it turns out iWorks stores some user information in the root library folder which doesn’t get removed when you simply delete the Apps from Applications.

All you have to do is delete the Apps, and the retail version also in Applications folder if you still have it installed. Then navigate to /Library/Application Support  (making sure it’s roots Library and not your user accounts Library folder), and delete the iWorks 09 folder in there. Reinstall the Retail edition and just like magic it will no longer ask for a serial.

Bootnote:

Give Microsoft Office for Mac a try. It’s much better than you think and looks and feels a lot better than the standard Windows version.