Knowledge Base

Information about using 2007 Office suites and programs on a computer that is running another version of Office

Article ID: 928091

Article Last Modified on 10/15/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Office Basic 2007
Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007
Microsoft Office Professional 2007
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
Microsoft Office Standard 2007
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007

For a Microsoft Office 2003 version of this article, see 828956.

For a Microsoft Office XP version of this article, see 290576.

For a Microsoft Office 2000 version of this article, see 218861.

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

INTRODUCTION

This article contains information about using Microsoft 2007 Office suites and programs on a computer that is running another version of Microsoft Office. This article also provides advice to help prevent different versions of Office from conflicting with each other.

MORE INFORMATION

You can install and use more than one version of Microsoft Office on a single computer. For example, you can install and use both Microsoft 2007 Office suites and programs and Microsoft Office 2003 on the same computer. However, we do not recommend this.

Note Microsoft does not support using multiple versions of Microsoft Office on versions of Microsoft Windows that have Terminal Services enabled. If you want to run multiple versions of Office, disable Terminal Services.

Installation order

Note This installation order also applies to the Microsoft Office stand-alone products, such as Microsoft Visio.

If you want to install and use more than one version of Office on the same computer, use the following order.

Office Version	Installation Order
Microsoft Office 2000	First
Microsoft Office XP	Second
Office 2003	Third
2007 Office suites and programs	Fourth

You must install the earliest version of Office first. For example, if you want to use both Office 2003 and 2007 Office programs on the same computer, install Office 2003 first. You must use this order because of the way in which registry keys, shared programs, file name extensions, and other settings are managed for each version of the Office suites and programs.

Important If you remove one of the installed versions of Office, you may have to reinstall the remaining versions of Office in this order for each version to work correctly.

The rest of this article assumes that you installed the versions of Office in this order.

Office Bin folder location

When you install 2007 Office suites and programs, the Setup program uses the Program Files\Microsoft Office folder as the default folder. However, the Office Bin folder is Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12. The Office Bin folder is the folder in which the Office executable files are installed. This location provides a better user experience for users who want to use multiple versions of Office on the same computer. This location was first used by Office XP. In Office XP, the Office Bin folder is Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10. You cannot change the name of the Office Bin folder.

Office Shortcut Bar

2007 Office suites and programs and Office 2003 do not include the Office Shortcut Bar. However, if Office 2000 or Office XP is already installed on the same computer, the Office Shortcut Bar will be retained for these earlier versions of Office.

When Office 2000 or Office XP is installed with 2007 Office suites and programs, you can start the Office Shortcut Bar separately. You cannot run two versions of the Office Shortcut Bar. Each version of the Office Shortcut Bar may have its own set of custom toolbars and buttons. These toolbars and buttons cannot be shared between two versions of the Office Shortcut Bar.

Start menu shortcuts

When Office 2000 and Office XP install Start menu shortcuts, the names of the shortcuts are the same as the names on the Programs submenu on the Start menu. Office 2003 and 2007 Office suites and programs install shortcuts that include the version number to the Office folder on the Programs submenu. To avoid confusion, we suggest that you add the version number to each shortcut that points to an earlier product. For example, rename the shortcut that points to Microsoft Access "Microsoft Access 2000" before you install 2007 Office suites and programs.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

292584 Office XP Setup program overwrites Start menu items from earlier versions of Office

If you manually move the Start menu shortcuts for Office XP or for Office 2000, the shortcuts are re-created on the Programs submenu on the Start menu if either of the following conditions is true:

You reinstall that version of Office.
You repair the shortcuts.

Note You can customize the Office 2003, Office XP, or Office 2000 Setup program to install the shortcuts to another location on the Start menu. To do this, use the Custom Installation Wizard in the Microsoft Office Resource Kit. For 2007 Office suites and programs, you can use the Office Customization Tool to specify a different location for the shortcuts. To access the Office Customization Tool, follow these steps:

Start a command prompt.
Move to the 2007 Office CD.
Run the following command:

setup /admin

For more information about the Office Customization Tool, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/a33e64b0-46a5-45e5-b76f-3add595af8de1033.mspx

Microsoft Office Binder

The last version of Microsoft Office to include the Office Binder is Office 2000. However, a utility to extract all Office files from a Binder file is included in Office 2002 and in later versions of Office.

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

281931 "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action" error message when you open a Binder file

822622 Description of Office Binder support with Office 2003 and Office XP products

Multiple versions of Outlook

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 cannot coexist with any earlier version of Microsoft Outlook. When you install Outlook 2007, the Setup program removes Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2002, and Microsoft Outlook 2000. The Setup program removes these versions of Outlook even if you click to select the Keep these programs check box in the Removing Previous Versions dialog box. Versions of Microsoft Outlook that are earlier than Outlook 2000 will not be detected for removal. However, if you do not remove versions of Outlook that are earlier than Outlook 2000, both versions of Outlook will be unstable.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

924618 Earlier versions of Office are removed when you run the 2007 Office Setup program

Multiple versions of Word

If you have two versions of Microsoft Word installed on the same computer, you experience a delay when you start Word 2007. This behavior occurs because Word 2007 auto-registers itself on the computer.

You can bypass the auto-registration. This enables Word 2007 to start faster. However, we do not recommend this because Word may not function correctly if it cannot auto-register itself.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To bypass the auto-registration for Word 2007, follow these steps:

Exit Word 2007.
Start Registry Editor.
- In Windows Vista, click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
  
  If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
- In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and then click to select the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Options
After you select the subkey that is specified in step 3, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
Type NoReReg, and then press ENTER.
Right-click NoReReg, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

Office files in Microsoft Windows Explorer

When you double-click an Office file in Windows Explorer to open the file, the following rules apply.

Note These rules also apply when you double-click the Office file in the Recent Documents folder in Windows.

If a version of the program in which the file was created is running on the computer, the file is opened in that version.
For Office 2000 or for Office XP, if no version of the program in which the file was created is running on the computer, the file opens in the version of the program that you most recently installed.
For Microsoft Access and for Microsoft Word, if no version of the program in which the file was created is running on the computer, the file is opened in the version of the program that was most recently started.
To associate files with the programs that are included with a particular version of Office, run the Office Setup program, and then click Repair Office. When you do this, the file associations for that version of Office are registered.

Note You cannot use this method to register file associations in Word or in Access.

Note If you install a software update for a version of Office, the software update repairs that version of Office. You may have to repair some or all Office products after you install a software update to restore the file associations.

For more information about how to repair 2007 Office features, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

924611 How to install and to repair 2007 Office features

Office OLE objects in other programs

On a computer that is running multiple versions of Office, if you insert an Office object into another program, the latest versions of the programs are used. For example, if you insert a Microsoft Excel worksheet object into a Word document, the latest versions of Word and of Excel are used. This may cause problems if you share the container file with users who are not using 2007 Office programs.

Shared programs

If you installed the different versions of Office in the order that is described in the "Installation order" section, you generally do not experience any problems when you use shared programs such as Equation Editor and Clip Gallery. The Object dialog box may display more than one entry for each shared program. This behavior occurs because multiple versions of the shared program may be installed on the computer.

Windows Installer messages in Word

If you have multiple versions of Word installed on the computer, the Windows Installer may start when you start Microsoft Office Word 2007. And, a message that states that Windows Installer is preparing to install Word may be displayed. You may receive this message before Word starts.

The Windows Installer runs whenever the version of Word that you start is not the one that is registered.

Windows Installer messages in Access

On a computer that has multiple versions of Access installed, the Windows Installer may start when you start Microsoft Office Access 2003 or Microsoft Office Access 2007. And, a "preparing to install" message or a "configuring" message may be displayed. You receive these messages before Access starts.

The Windows Installer repair operation registers Access 2003 every time that you start Access 2003 after you use Access 2007. Similarly, the Windows Installer repair operation registers Access 2007 every time that you start Access 2007 after you use an earlier version of Access. Access 2000 and Access 2002 do not initiate a repair operation after you use a later version of Access. If the version of Access that you start is the same as the version of Access that you previously used, the Windows Installer repair operation does not occur.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library

When you try to create a new document in a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library by clicking New Document, the New Document button does not work. You cannot create a new document. Additionally, Windows Internet Explorer stops responding when you try to check out an existing document in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library.

This problem occurs when Windows SharePoint Services Support controls for a 2007 Office system and Windows SharePoint Services Support controls for Office 2003 are installed side by side. This side-by-side installation may occur in any of the following conditions:

You install a 2007 Microsoft Office system, and then you install one or more Microsoft Office 2003 programs.
You install a 2007 Office program, and then you install Office 2003.
You install Office 2003, you install a 2007 Office program, and then you repair the Office 2003 installation.

For more information about this scenario, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

929360 You cannot create a new document or check out an existing document in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library when you have multiple versions of Office installed

Keywords: kbhowto kbinfo kbexpertisebeginner KB928091

Microsoft KB Archive/928091

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