This article contains the following sections:

• Find your Capture One license key

  • If purchased through the captureone.com online store

  • If purchased through an external vendor and not through captureone.com

• Activate Capture One 22 (15.1) or newer

• Activate Capture One 22 (15.0.1) or older

• Offline activation

Find your Capture One license key

You receive a Capture One license key after purchasing a perpetual license or starting a subscription plan. If you do not have a license key yet, obtain it here.

The license key contains 16 alphanumeric characters to activate your copy of Capture One software. Example: AAAA-1234-BBBB-5678

If purchased through the Capture One online store:

Log in at captureone.com to access your account.

Click the Manage button under “Manage licenses” to see all product licenses that have already been activated in this account, whether or not you purchased them from captureone.com.

Click the View button under “Order history” to see all orders (with information) that you have placed on the captureone.com online store. You should also have received an email with your order and product information from mailer@fastspring.com.

If your order was placed using this account's email address, you will be redirected to https://captureone.onfastspring.com/

If your email address does not have a history of registered orders, you will be redirected to https://phaseone.onfastspring.com/account/ and asked to enter a different email address. This means you are looking for your order at the wrong email address.

If purchased through an external vendor and not through captureone.com

If you have purchased your license from a Capture One dealer or an external website and have not activated the software yet, contact them and ask for the license key.

Activate Capture One 22 (15.1) or newer

Note: An internet connection is necessary to complete the activation.
Note: If you have previously used Capture One in trial or Express mode, deactivate it first from inside the software (Capture One -> License/ Help -> License (macOS/Windows)) or on the website.

First-time users will see a dialog to help them get on board with Capture One. Click “Let's get started” and continue.

You will be asked to log in to your account at captureone.com to authenticate. If you don't already have an account, click Sign Up, enter the email address you want to use for your Capture One account, and click Create Account.

Once you are logged in correctly, your authentication is complete.

Select Start Trial or Use License key. You can start trial immediately without a license key.

If you select Use License Key, enter the license code if you have one. Click Activate.
If not, click on Don't have a license code to see the available options.

Onboarding adds the option to use sample images in your very first run, providing the option to start experimenting with Capture One’s tools and features without having to locate raw files first.

Additionally, you get the option to lightly customize the interface of Capture One by deciding the location of your tools and your thumbnails in two easy steps.

Click Launch Capture One to start using the application.

In case you face issues when activating Capture One, try an alternative network connection and ensure that you are not using a VPN, as this can cause communication errors with our activation server.

For more information on activation errors, see Activation Errors.

Activate Capture One 22 (15.0.1) or older

Note: An internet connection is necessary to complete the activation.
Note: If you have previously used Capture One in trial or Express mode, deactivate it first from inside the software (Capture One -> License/ Help -> License (macOS/Windows)) or on the website.

Launch Capture One after having it downloaded and installed.

The License Activation window will automatically appear once you launch the software. The run mode of the software will be determined by the license key you have.

Type in the license key in the License Code field.

Type in the email address that you use to log into your profile at captureone.com. If you do not have an account on the Capture One website yet, enter an email address you would like to use to set up your Capture One account. Click on Get Profile.

If you registered previously, you will be asked for your account password (the same you use to log into your profile at captureone.com). After verification, the rest of the form will be filled in for you. If you are a new customer, please fill in all the required fields manually.

Complete this process by selecting Activate.

Your software is now ready for use in the mode corresponding to the license key you entered.

In case you face issues when activating Capture One, try an alternative network connection and ensure that you are not using a VPN, as this can cause communication errors with our activation server.

For more information on activation errors, see Activation Errors.

Offline activation

Note: You can only activate offline with version 15.0 or earlier. If you are using a newer version, then it will not be possible to activate Capture One in an offline environment.

Note: Only perpetual Capture One Pro licenses can be activated offline. If you have a subscription, trial, or Express license – then you cannot activate your license offline.

Jump to:

• Offline activation of Capture One 21 (14.0) - Capture One 22 (15.0)
• Offline activation of Capture One 20 and older

Offline activation of Capture One 21 (14.0) - Capture One 22 (15.0)

1. Launch Capture One. In the Activation dialog box, select Manual Activation. Type in your 16-character activation key in the License Code field.

2. The Activation window will show the registration key and also the QR code.

3. Use another device that is connected to the internet.

a. Mobile/Tablet

Scan the QR code in the Activation window by opening the camera application on your tablet or mobile phone. Just navigate to the QR code without making any photos and let the camera focus on it for several seconds. Then a banner with Open "captureone.com" in [Browser] will appear in the upper part of your screen. Click on this banner. It will take you to the login page at captureone.com

Enter your e-mail and password. Then proceed to Step 8 on this page.

b. Computer

Copy the registration key from the Registration Key field. Then go to www.captureone.com and click on the Account icon.

4. Go to the Offline Activation website page and log-in if prompted

5. Paste the 24-character code into the Registration Key field.

NOTE: In case you used a mobile/tablet device during Step 3, this field will be filled in automatically.

6. Enter the computer name in the Device name field.

NOTE: If you are trying to activate Capture One offline on the computer where it was already activated online/offline some time ago, please use its exact name (specified in the License Activation history).

7. Click the Get Key button. A new 24-character key will be generated and visible in your browser. 

8. Enter the license key (generated during Step 9) in the Activation Key field. Click Activate.

Offline activation of Capture One 20 and older

1. Launch Capture One. In the Activation dialog box, select Manual Activation. Type in your 16-character activation key in the License Code field. 

2. Go to the offline activation page

3. Copy the 24-character registration key generated during Step 1.

4. Paste the 24-character code into the Registration Key field. Enter the device name in the Device Name field.

Click the Get Key button.

5. A new 24-character key will be generated and visible in your browser.

Copy and insert it in the Activation Key field of the Capture One activation dialog box. Click Activate.

8. Your software is now ready for use.