Retaining my old licence after upgrading from Studio 2017 (or 2019) to Studio 2021?

This is a question we often get asked and which occasionally causes confusion.

Therefore, the following 'real life scenario' should help with some of the most frequently asked questions we receive.

 Example Scenario (Applies to all applicable 'freelance' upgrades to the latest available version).

Q. I am a freelance translator and currently run Studio 2017 on a Windows 8.1/10 machine and would like to upgrade to Studio 2021 Freelance- what do I need to know?                                            

A. To ensure a smooth transitional period (project completion/migration/learning new features etc.) you can keep BOTH the old (in this case 2017) and the new (2021) versions installed on the same computer for as long as the 2017 licence is active.

If you deactivate Studio 2017, rebuild your computer, attempt to transfer the license to another machine and/or drive, upgrade your OS, the PC crashes etc. you will no longer be able to reactivate the legacy license. 

Once you have your Studio 2021 upgrade in your account (purchased or free through SMA) you will FIRST need to PROCESS the upgrade.

You can do this of course by accessing your SDL(RWS) Account > Products & Plans > Licenses and clicking the 'Upgrades Available' gold bar - and following the process below.

then....

DO NOT physically deactivate your legacy (2017) version in the software itself. Deactivated licences CANNOT be reactivated.

You can now install and activate Studio 2021 on the same machine and continue using both versions.

Please remember the legacy (2017) versions can only be used for as long as no major changes are made to the system as highlighted above.

If you are upgrading from Studio 2019 (Freelance users ONLY!) the process is slightly different.

Should you wish to retain the 2019 version (must be installed on the same machine as Studio 2021) then simply follow the upgrade process and deactivate Studio 2019.

When you then activate Studio 2021- this will also activate Studio 2019- 

The legacy licence WILL however now appear as inactive in your SDL account and cannot be used for new installations or activations.

Q. So when will my legacy version no longer work?

A. If you wish to upgrade your OS (e.g. from W7 to W10) this will be treated as a new installation, as all OS upgrades (not updates) require a significant amount of hard-drive formatting, corrupting previous written files and data.

BEFORE starting with the OS upgrade please remember to deactivate your licence in Studio itself. If you do not deactivate the licence, this will become 'lost' and will require you to log a licence reset ticket!

Q. What other actions will mean I can no longer use my legacy version?

A. Other scenarios: 

-if you try to re-activate the software either on the same machine or different one

-you need to replace the hard-drive or other essential hardware

-the software is deactivated intentionally or by accident

-local system failure

Q. My Client is demanding I use version X to complete a project which I now no longer have!

A. Many years ago it was indeed essential to use specific versions on specific projects and some users of older versions may still believe this is the case.

However, this ceased to be the case some time ago- you can now use Studio 2019 for all projects.

Q. I am midway through a project using Studio 2017, should I wait until I upgrade either my OS and or Studio version?

A. YES!

We would never recommend upgrading either your OS or Studio version mid-project.

Always finish ongoing projects before migrating to new versions as 'best practise'.