If you bought Dorico Pro 3.5 or Dorico Elements 3.5, either from the Steinberg online shop or from one of our reseller partners, during the End of Summer Sale promotion and activated your software between 25 August 2021 and 20 September 2021, you are entitled to a free update to Dorico 4. Due to a technical misconfiguration on our side, you are unfortunately unable to use the regular grace period mechanism to obtain your Dorico 4 license.
This post describes how to obtain your grace period update. Please read the appropriate section below, based on whether you purchased from the Steinberg online shop, or from one of our resellers.
I bought from the Steinberg online shop
First, go here and sign in if prompted. (Remember, the log-in details for the Steinberg Online Shop are not the same as your Steinberg ID. If you need to recover or reset your AskNet password, go here.)
Go to the page in your account that lists your orders, and find your qualifying Dorico 3.5 order. View its details and you will see something a bit like this:
The lower of the two DACs shown in the order will be the code you need to enter into Steinberg Download Assistant to claim your Dorico 4 update. It may also be labeled “Activation Code”, but provided it has the expected format of 5 blocks of 5 letters and numbers, it is in fact a Download Access Code.
I bought from a Steinberg authorized reseller
If you bought Dorico 3.5 during the End of Summer Sale promotion, but you bought from one of our reseller partners rather than from the Steinberg online shop, and have not yet received your free update, please send me a direct message here on the forum including proof of purchase, and I will take care of you right away.
I have my Download Access Code for Dorico 4, now what do I do?
Once you have your Download Access Code, run Steinberg Download Assistant. (If you have not previously installed Steinberg Download Assistant, you can download it from here.) Sign in with your Steinberg ID (note: not the account details you use for the Steinberg online shop, but rather the account details you use to access e.g. this forum or MySteinberg.)
Click Enter your Download Access Code at the top left corner of the window, and paste in the DAC you found in the Steinberg online shop. You will be prompted to upgrade your existing Dorico 3.5 license: confirm that you wish to do so. Your existing Dorico 3.5 license will be marked as (Not Upgradeable) in eLicenser Control Center as part of this process, to indicate that it cannot be used to update to Dorico 4 or a later version again in future.
Now you should see Dorico 4 (either Pro or Elements, as appropriate) appear under My downloadable products in the left-hand side of Steinberg Download Assistant. If you already have Dorico 3.5 installed on the computer where you want to install Dorico 4, choose the Dorico 4 Update product. If you are installing Dorico 4 on a different computer that has not had a previous version of Dorico installed, choose the Dorico 4 product (without the word Update in its name).
Click the Install All button in the top right-hand corner of the SDA window, and wait for all of the required and recommended components to be downloaded and installed. When that is complete, run Dorico 4. You will be prompted to sign in with your Steinberg ID (the same credentials you used to sign in to Steinberg Download Assistant).
Check your Dorico 4 license is fully activated
Check in Steinberg Activation Manager that your license reads as activated and does not say verification pending.
If it does say verification pending, this may be because you have not successfully updated your Dorico 3.5 license. Make sure the eLicenser containing this license is available (if it is a USB-eLicenser, plug it in to your computer; if it is on a Soft-eLicenser, run SDA on that computer, even if that is not the computer on which you want to install and run Dorico 4), then enter your Download Access Code into SDA again. Once you have successfully updated your eLicenser-based license, to ensure you have a permanent license on your computer, do the following:
- Run Steinberg Activation Manager.
- From the account menu at the top right-hand corner, choose Sign Out.
- Quit Steinberg Activation Manager.
- Wait 20 seconds. (This allows the background process required when licensing operations are performed to quit.)
- Run Steinberg Activation Manager again and sign back in.
If you still see verification pending at this point, please go here and raise a support ticket with our team. Please include the following information:
- Your Steinberg ID email address
- The eLicenser serial number for your qualifying Dorico 3.5 license (you can find this in eLicenser Control Center)
- The Download Access Code you received from the Steinberg online shop