Understanding Serial Numbers, Support Expiry & Upgrade/Support Entitlement

Warning Keep your serial number(s) safe. If you have purchased Merge, your serial number is evidence of your entitlement to use Merge and to receive any support and upgrades to which you may be entitled. You will need your serial number should you ever wish to re-install Merge.

One year of upgrade and support entitlement is included

One year of support is included in the purchase price for new licences. This provides:

  • Entitlement to any upgrades (including major versions) of the product you have purchased that Araxis may release during your year of support.
  • One year of access to standard Araxis technical support services (use the contact form to obtain support);

Once your included period of support has expired:

  • You can choose whether to renew support (which includes entitlement to upgrade to new versions of your product) for another year.
  • Your current Merge installation will remain fully-functional whether or not you renew (and you can continue to install your existing version of Merge on new machines).
  • You will need to renew support if you wish to access technical support, or if you wish to be able to use releases of Merge made after your support expired.

About build dates, serial number support expiry dates, and upgrade/support entitlement renewal

The build date for a release (shown on the download page) is the date when the product’s executables and installer were created. This is often earlier than the release date (shown in the release notes), which is the date when the release was first made available to the public.

A support expiry date is encoded within your Merge serial number. This is the date when your entitlement to upgrades and support expires. Your serial number only allows you to use releases of Merge having a build date that is earlier than your serial number’s encoded support expiry date.

Even if you do not renew upgrade/support entitlement, you can therefore carry on using releases of Merge with a build date earlier than your serial number’s support expiry date. However, if you wish to use a release of Merge having a build date after your serial number’s support expiry date, you will first need to renew support to obtain a replacement serial number.

Finding out your serial number’s support expiry date

The About dialog (available from the Help menu in Merge for Windows, and the Araxis Merge menu in Merge for macOS) shows the support expiry date for the serial number used by that installation.

Another way to find out the entitlement and support expiry date for serial numbers is to enter them in the Renew Merge Upgrade/Support Entitlement form on the Araxis website.

If you have questions about upgrade/support entitlement renewal

Please see Renew Merge Upgrade/Support Entitlement, or Upgrade from Standard to Professional.