License

The License settings card is the single place in PrimeTask where you see what kind of license you have, how many days are left in your trial, how many devices you can activate on, and what you need to do next - whether that's activate a key you just bought, upgrade from Standard to Pro, transfer your license to a new computer, or contact support because something went wrong.

What the card shows depends on your current state: a fully activated user sees a tidy license summary; a trial user sees a countdown and an upgrade prompt; someone who hasn't activated anything yet sees an Activate License button front and centre. All of those variants are described below.

Your data is never tied to the license

Activating, deactivating, upgrading, or downgrading your license only changes which features are available to you - it never deletes your tasks, projects, notes, CRM records, or custom fields. Your data lives on your device and stays there through any license change.

What you can do

See your license at a glance

tier, expiration, device allowance, and how you obtained it

See your trial countdown

with progress and days remaining, if you're on trial

Activate a license

you've already purchased

Upgrade Standard → Pro

without reinstalling

Purchase a license

directly from the card (trial users)

Transfer your license

to another computer by deactivating on this one

Compare Standard vs Pro

side by side, with pricing, in a built-in comparison view

Re-import your license

if the local file goes missing after a restore or migration

Update your license details

if your email or other account info changes in your customer portal

How to open License settings

Settings card: Open Settings from the sidebar, then open the License card.
Settings search: Open Settings and type license, activate, upgrade, or pro.
Command palette: Press ⌘+K (or Ctrl+K), type license, and pick the entry.

Things worth knowing

The card adapts to your state

Depending on where you are with your license, you'll see one of a few different views:

Activated (Pro, Standard, or Beta) - a full license summary with your tier, device allowance, expiration, and buttons for upgrading or transferring.
Active trial - a countdown showing how many days are left in your trial, colour-coded to get more prominent as the end approaches, plus buttons to purchase a full license or compare plans.
Expired trial or missing license file - an alert state telling you what's happened and offering to re-import a license or take you to purchase.
Not activated - the simplest view, with an Activate License button as the main call to action.

The card updates the moment your state changes - activate a license and the card refreshes to the licensed view right away.

Your license details

When you have an activated license, the card shows:

Licensed to - the email address your license is registered to
Tier - Standard, Pro, or a program-specific label (Beta, Full License)
Acquired via - how you obtained the license (Purchased, Upgraded, Gift, Beta Reward, and so on)
Devices - how many devices this license can be activated on at once
Expires - typically Never for lifetime licenses, or a date for time-limited ones
Issued - when your license was created

If anything on that list looks wrong to you, visit your customer portal to verify your account details, or contact support through the website.

Trial - what the countdown means

If you're on a trial build, the card shows a progress bar with how many days you've used out of your trial and how many are left. As the trial gets closer to the end, the card shows a warning and then a more urgent reminder so you don't lose access without realising it. You can Buy License straight from the card at any point, or use Already have a license? if you've purchased one separately and just need to activate it.

Once you activate a paid license, the trial countdown view is replaced with the full licensed view. Your tasks, projects, notes, and everything else you built during the trial are kept - you don't start over, and nothing is wiped. The only thing that changes is which features are available going forward.

The trial countdown starts when you activate it

You don't lose trial time just because you installed PrimeTask; the countdown only starts once you complete the trial activation flow. If you install the app and sit on the download for a week before activating, you'll still get the full trial when you do activate.

Activating a license

The Activate License button takes you to the activation screen, where you enter the email your license is registered to and the device code the app displays. PrimeTask checks the license with your account and, if everything lines up, imports it onto this device. The card refreshes to the activated view and you're done - no restart required.

Activation needs an internet connection. If the check can't reach the server (because you're offline, or the connection is unstable), PrimeTask tells you and lets you try again once you're back online.

Upgrading from Standard to Pro

If you're on Standard and want to move to Pro, the card has an Upgrade to Pro button. Clicking it takes you through a shorter activation flow that imports your upgraded license directly - no need to uninstall or start over. Once your Pro license is imported:

Your device allowance increases
Pro-only features unlock immediately across the app - custom statuses and priorities, custom fields, CRM, automations, Gantt, and everything else the Pro tier adds
Your existing data stays exactly where it was

You can keep using PrimeTask continuously through the upgrade - no data migration, no re-setup.

Comparing Standard and Pro

Anywhere you see the Compare Plans button, clicking it opens an in-app comparison showing Standard and Pro side by side: which features are in each tier, how many devices each one allows, and how much each one costs. This is the right place to figure out whether Pro is worth it for your workflow - the comparison is the single source of truth for what the two tiers include, and it always matches what your license actually unlocks.

Transferring your license to another computer

If you're moving PrimeTask to a new computer, or you want to deactivate one device to free up a slot, use the Transfer License button. PrimeTask asks you to confirm, then deactivates the license on this device. After transfer:

This computer drops back to Not Activated and Pro features are no longer available on it
Your tasks, projects, notes, and all other data stay on the device - deactivation only removes the license, not your content
The license is released back to your account, so you can activate it on another machine straight away

To move to the new machine: install PrimeTask there, sign in to your account on the website if you need to download the license file, and run the activation flow - the card will show the full licensed view once it finishes.

Transfer is reversible, but plan ahead

Transferring is designed for moving to a new machine or freeing a seat. Each license has a set number of devices it can be on at once (shown in the Devices field), so transferring cleanly is the right way to rotate - don't deactivate on a device you need to keep working on.

Re-importing your license

If your license file goes missing (after a restore, a migration, or an OS reinstall), the card shows a License Not Found alert state with a button to re-import. Click it, and you're taken back to the activation flow where you can point PrimeTask at your existing license again. Your account still has the license attached - re-import doesn't count against your device allowance or consume a new seat.

Updating your license details

If you change your email address (or other account details) in your customer portal - or support corrects something on your license - the licence file on this device shows the old details until you refresh it. Use Update License on the card to drop in a fresh licence file you've downloaded from the portal.

This is purely a refresh of what's shown on the card. Your activation isn't touched, the device slot you're on doesn't change, and PrimeTask keeps working through the whole process without any reactivation step.

To do it:

Step 1

Open your customer portal on the website and download the latest licence file for this device.

Step 2

Open Settings → License, then click Update License.

Step 3

Drop in the new licence file (or click to browse). PrimeTask verifies it and confirms the update straight away.

When this applies

Update License is for licences you've downloaded from your customer portal. If you're on a trial, this option doesn't apply yet - once you activate a paid licence, it appears on the card automatically.

The build channel badge

If you're on a non-Stable build (a trial or a beta channel release), PrimeTask shows a small channel label next to the version number in the What's New card. Your license tier in the License card is separate from that channel - you can be on a stable license in a beta build (if you're testing early access) or the other way around. See What's New for more on channels, and for information about the Stable-vs-Beta channel choice on Pro.

Common questions

"I just bought a license. How do I activate it?"

Click Activate License on the card. PrimeTask takes you to the activation screen, which asks for the email your license is registered to and shows you a device code that identifies this machine. Enter both, click activate, and PrimeTask validates the license and imports it. If anything goes wrong - wrong email, network trouble, license not yet provisioned - you'll see a clear message telling you what to try next.

"I'm setting up PrimeTask on a new computer. Do I need to buy another license?"

No. Each license allows activation on more than one device - the exact number is shown on your license card next to Devices. Install PrimeTask on the new computer and run the activation flow with the same email. If you've used up all your device slots, use Transfer License on an old machine to free one up first.

"I transferred my license but the new computer says 'Not Activated'. What went wrong?"

A couple of things to check:

"I lost access to my old computer and can't deactivate it. Can I still activate on a new one?"

Usually yes, via your customer portal on the website. Visit the PrimeTask website, sign in to your customer account, and manage your device list from there - you can release a stuck seat remotely. If you've already exhausted the options there, contact support with your purchase details and they can reset things for you.

"My trial expired yesterday. Can I recover my data?"

Yes. Expiring the trial doesn't delete anything - your data is still on your computer exactly as you left it. Purchase a license, activate it from the card, and everything returns as soon as the activation succeeds.

"I'm on Pro but a feature I expected isn't available. Why?"

A few things to check in order:

"I changed my email in the customer portal - does my licence still work?"

Yes, completely. Your activation is bound to the device itself, not to your email address, so changing your portal email never breaks anything on the device. The licence card will still show your previous email until you refresh it. If you want the card to reflect your new email, download the latest licence file from your portal and use Update License on the card to drop it in. Nothing else changes - same activation, same device slot, same features.

"Can I downgrade from Pro to Standard?"

No - PrimeTask does not support downgrading from Pro to Standard. Once you're on Pro, the upgrade is permanent. If that causes a problem for you, contact support through the website and explain the situation - they handle edge cases individually rather than through a self-service downgrade flow.

"How do I find the Compare Plans comparison outside the card?"

The Compare Plans button inside the License card is the fastest way - it opens a live comparison right in the app, with pricing and feature differences. There's also a similar comparison on the PrimeTask website for people evaluating the app before installing.

"The card says 'License Not Found' but I definitely have a license."

This usually means the local license file is missing - maybe after a restore from an old backup, a migration, or a clean install. Click Re-import License (or the I have a license button, depending on your state) and follow the flow. Your purchase is still attached to your customer account, so the re-import pulls it back onto this device without costing a new seat.

Where to go next

If you want to…	Read this
See what Pro unlocks compared to Standard	Click Compare Plans on the License card
Back up your data before migrating to a new machine	Data Management
Understand the Beta update channel (Pro benefit)	What's New
Get started from scratch on a new machine	Welcome to PrimeTask
Browse all settings cards	Settings Overview