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User guide · Chapter 08 of 09

Free trial, licence keys and seats

Updated 2026-07-29 Next: Getting help →

BankWriter starts with a free trial and switches to a paid licence when you are ready. This page covers the trial allowance, what a licence costs, how to activate your key, and how to move a seat between computers.

How does the free trial work?

The trial gives you 200 lines free, which covers a real statement or two. Verify your email address to unlock it: BankWriter emails you a code, and you type it in. Your allowance is tied to that address.

Refer three colleagues and your allowance rises to 1,200 lines. The bonus applies once three referrals qualify.

Sixty days after your trial starts, it stops issuing new allowance. Earn any referral bonus inside that window.

When the allowance runs out, BankWriter stops converting and offers you a licence. Files you already exported are yours and stay untouched, and your settings and cleanup rules carry straight over — buying picks up where the trial left off.

Trial exports of CSV and Excel files carry one short line noting they came from a free trial. A licensed export does not.

Buying a licence

A licence is billed annually and covers one machine. It renews each year, and you can cancel at any time. Pricing is shown in your local currency on bankwriter.com/pricing.

Included in the price: all updates, new bank coverage, and email support. There are no per-page fees, no overage charges and no usage caps, so a heavy month costs exactly what a quiet one does.

Every licence carries a 15-day money-back guarantee. If BankWriter does not do what you need in the first 15 days, write to support@bankwriter.com and ask for a refund. Telling us what went wrong helps, because it is often something we can fix.

How do I activate my licence key?

Your licence key arrives by email after you buy. Activation registers this computer as one seat.

  1. Open BankWriter and click License in the footer at the bottom of the main window.
  2. Click Enter / change key. The Enter license key window opens.
  3. Paste your key into the first box. Keys look like BWPRO-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
  4. Name this seat in the second box if you like — for example, "Front desk — Priya". This is optional.
  5. Click Activate.

Activation needs an internet connection. Converting, reviewing and exporting statements do not.

How do seats work?

One seat is one computer. A licence is priced per machine, so a second computer needs a second seat. The License window is where you see and change all of this.

  • This seat shows the name given to this computer. Click Rename to change it. A name like "Front desk — Priya" keeps a firm's seat list readable.
  • View seats fetches every computer activated on your key, with its name and the date it was activated. Your current machine is marked in the list.
  • Release seat frees this computer's slot so the licence can activate somewhere else. BankWriter on this machine then needs re-activating.
  • Manage subscription opens your billing portal at account.bankwriter.com for invoices, payment method, renewal and cancellation.
  • Copy diagnostics copies your version, licence status and device id to the clipboard, ready to paste into a support email.

View seats and Release seat both need an internet connection. Renaming a seat works offline and syncs the next time you are online.

Moving to a new computer

Replacing a machine is self-serve. Nothing has to go through support.

  1. On the old computer, open License and click Release seat. Confirm when asked.
  2. Install BankWriter on the new computer.
  3. Open License there, choose Enter / change key, and paste the same key.
  4. Click Activate, and name the new seat while you are in the window.

Settings do not travel with the key. Set your export folder, date format and cleanup rules again on the new machine.

Why won't my key activate?

BankWriter cannot reach the licence server

Activation needs a connection. If you see a message about not reaching the licence server, check that you are online and try again. An office firewall or proxy blocking the app is the usual cause, so ask whoever runs your network to allow it.

The key was not accepted

BankWriter says so plainly when a key looks wrong. Copy the whole key out of your purchase email — prefix included — and paste it rather than retyping it. A trailing space or a missing character is the common culprit.

Every seat is already in use

Activation is refused when your key has no free seat. Open License on a computer you no longer use, click Release seat, then activate the new machine. If that computer is lost, wiped or dead, email support@bankwriter.com and we will free the seat for you. Buying a second seat is the answer when you genuinely need both machines at once.

Still stuck after all that? Getting help explains what to send us — and what never to attach. Short questions are often answered faster in the FAQ.

Stuck mid-statement?

Email support@bankwriter.com or open a ticket from your account — we aim to reply within 5 business days, usually much sooner. Never send a client’s statement.

Getting help