Documentation / Licence / When activation cannot reach us

When activation cannot reach us

Activating Gantt Excel needs one short connection from your computer to our licence server. This page helps you find what is stopping it, and tells you what to send your IT team if you are on a work computer.

When you click Activate, Gantt Excel contacts our licence server at shop.ganttexcel.com to confirm your code, then records the licence on your computer. This page helps when that connection fails. Start by choosing which kind of computer you are activating.

HOME COMPUTER

“Is this your own computer, with no IT team to ask?”

Read sections 01 to 03. They take you from the message you saw to the settings to change on your computer.

Start at section 01 →

WORK COMPUTER

“Is this a work computer that your IT team looks after?”

Check the message in section 01 first. If it is the connection message, send your IT team the link below. It opens a page written for them.

ganttexcel.com/documentation/it-network-requirements/

01 Check which message you saw

While Gantt Excel tries to reach us, the window shows Checking License…. If the connection fails, you then see this message under the title Activation Error:

This is the message this page is about. Your licence code is fine: the request never reached us, and something on the computer or the network stopped it. On a home computer, carry on with section 02. On a work computer, go to section 04.

Messages that are not connection problems

These three come back from our server, so the connection worked. Your IT team cannot help with them.

Message	What it means	What to do
Invalid license code or incorrect email address.	We received the request but the code and email do not match an order.	Use the email address you bought with, and paste the code with the window’s Paste button.
This license code has reached the maximum number of activations allowed.	The licence is already active on 3 computers.	Free one with Deactivate This Computer in Settings on a computer you no longer use, or raise a ticket on our support page.
Update Period Ended (title)	This version was released after your year of updates.	See Activating your licence, section 03.

If the Gantt Excel tab does not appear at all, or clicking its buttons does nothing, macros are switched off and activation never started. That has its own guide: Enabling macros in Excel.

02 Two quick tests

These show whether the network or the computer is stopping the connection, before you change any settings.

Open the server in your browser. Go to https://shop.ganttexcel.com on the same computer. If the page does not load, your internet connection, your router or your network is blocking it. If it loads, your network can reach us, and section 03 covers the remaining causes.

Try a different network. Connect the computer to your phone’s hotspot and click Activate again. If it works there, the first network is what blocked it.

03 On a home computer

On a home computer, activation almost always goes through the first time. When it does not, the cause is usually one of these:

A VPN. Disconnect it, activate, then connect again. A work VPN on a home computer sends everything through the company network, so treat it as a work computer and see section 04.
Router filters and parental controls. Some block shopping sites as a category, and our licence server shares our shop’s address. Add shop.ganttexcel.com to the allowed list. The same applies to a family-safe DNS service or a network ad blocker.
The firewall in your antivirus software. Many antivirus products include their own firewall. If it asks whether Microsoft Excel may connect, choose to allow it. If you blocked it earlier, change that answer in the firewall’s settings and try again. On a Mac, outgoing blockers such as Little Snitch or LuLu work the same way; allow both Microsoft Excel and curl, which Excel uses to connect.

Very rarely: security software blocks Excel without asking

This is very rare. If the browser test in section 02 loaded the page and none of the above applies, open your security software’s firewall settings and look for program control, application rules or a list of blocked programs. Allow Microsoft Excel to connect to the internet. If it asks for the program file, open Task Manager while Excel is running, right-click Microsoft Excel and choose Open file location. With Microsoft 365 it is usually C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE. Windows Defender Firewall lets programs connect out unless an outgoing rule has been added. If one has, allow Excel under Windows Defender Firewall → Advanced settings → Outbound Rules. Close Excel completely and open it again before you click Activate License.

04 On a work computer

On a computer your company manages, the settings that block activation belong to your IT team, so the fix is theirs to make. Send them this link:

If you are from the IT team and were sent to this page, that page is the one written for you.

It helps them to know three things: the message you saw, whether the computer is Windows or a Mac, and whether the browser test in section 02 loaded the page.

05 Common questions

Can you activate the file for me from your end?

No. The licence is registered on your computer rather than inside one workbook, so the activation has to be made from that computer. If nothing on this page gets it through, raise a ticket on our support page with the message you saw, whether you are on Windows or a Mac, and what the browser test in section 02 showed.

The website opens in my browser. Why can’t Excel reach it?

Excel does not connect the way your browser does. On Windows it uses a separate connection library that ignores the browser’s proxy setting, and on a Mac it uses the curl tool, which ignores the Mac’s proxy setting. Security software can also allow the browser and block Excel. Section 03 covers this on a home computer. On a work computer, your IT team will find the details on their page.

Do failed attempts use up my activations?

No. An attempt that never reached us is not counted. Trying again on a computer we have already activated does not use a second activation either.

Does Gantt Excel need the internet every time I open a file?

No. Only activation needs the connection. After that it checks in about once a week in the background, and if it cannot reach us you carry on working with no message.

Can two people use Gantt Excel on the same computer?

Yes, as long as each person has a licence of their own. Activation is tied to the computer and the user account signed in to it: the Windows or Mac user name. So each person signs in to their own user account and activates their own licence there, and the two never affect each other. One licence cannot be shared between two people, even on the same computer. A licence is for one person, and its 3 activations are for that person’s own computers, such as their office computer, a laptop and their computer at home. The second person can buy a licence here.