OFF: Running Multiple Versions of Microsoft Office

ID: Q167985

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
Microsoft Office for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.2, 4.2c, 4.3

SUMMARY

Although Microsoft does not recommend it, it is possible to install and use more than one version of Microsoft Office on a single computer. For example, you can install and use both Microsoft Office 97 and Microsoft Office 7.0 on the same computer.

This article describes the problems you may encounter when you do this and offers advice about preventing different versions of Office from conflicting with each other.

MORE INFORMATION

Order of Installation

If you want to install and use more than one version of Microsoft Office on a single computer, you must install the versions of Microsoft Office in ASCENDING order. For example, if you want to use both Microsoft Office 4.x and Microsoft Office 97 on the same computer, you must install Microsoft Office 4.x FIRST. This step is necessary because of the way registry keys, shared programs, and other settings are managed for each version of Microsoft Office and for the programs that are included with each version of Microsoft Office.

The remainder of this article assumes that you installed the versions of Microsoft Office in the correct (ascending) order.

Using the Office Shortcut Bar When Office 7.0 and 97 Are Installed

When these two versions of Microsoft Office are both installed on the same computer, the Microsoft Office 97 Shortcut Bar includes buttons from the Microsoft Office 7.0 Shortcut Bar. Several of the buttons on the Microsoft Office 7.0 Shortcut Bar were renamed in Microsoft Office 97; as a result, the shortcut bar may contain duplicate buttons that are functionally identical.

When both Microsoft Office 7.0 and Microsoft Office 97 are installed, the shortcut bar may contain the following buttons.


   Button                       Added By
   -------------------------------------------------

   Start a New Document         Microsoft Office 7.0
   Open a Document              Microsoft Office 7.0
   Send a Message               Microsoft Office 7.0
   Make an Appointment          Microsoft Office 7.0
   Add a Task                   Microsoft Office 7.0
   Add a Contact                Microsoft Office 7.0
   Microsoft Bookshelf '95      Microsoft Office 7.0
   Getting Results Book         Microsoft Office 7.0
   Office Compatible            Microsoft Office 7.0
   Answer Wizard                Microsoft Office 7.0
   New Office Document           Microsoft Office 97
   Open Office Document          Microsoft Office 97
   Microsoft Bookshelf Basics    Microsoft Office 97
   New Note                      Microsoft Office 97
   New Message                   Microsoft Office 97
   New Journal Entry             Microsoft Office 97
   Microsoft Outlook             Microsoft Office 97
   New Appointment               Microsoft Office 97
   New Task                      Microsoft Office 97
   New Contact                   Microsoft Office 97

The duplicate buttons are listed in the following table.


   Button                Duplicate
   ------------------------------------------

   Start a New Document  New Office Document
   Open a Document       Open Office Document
   Send a Message        New Message
   Make an Appointment   New Appointment
   Add a Task            New Task
   Add a Contact         New Contact

For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q158888 OFF97: Extra Buttons Appear on Office Shortcut Bar After Setup

Shortcuts on the Start Menu

Microsoft Office 7.0 and Microsoft Office 97 use the same shortcuts on the Start menu to start programs. Because of this behavior, when you install Microsoft Office 97, the Setup program overwrites the shortcuts for Microsoft Office 7.0 programs. The following shortcuts are affected:


   Microsoft Access
   Microsoft Binder
   Microsoft Excel
   Microsoft PowerPoint
   Microsoft Word

If you rename the Microsoft Office 7.0 shortcuts before you install Microsoft Office 97, you can use the shortcuts for both sets of programs on the Start menu. To avoid confusion, Microsoft suggests that you add the words "95" or "7.0" to each renamed shortcut.

You can also move the Microsoft Office 7.0 shortcuts to a subfolder on the Start menu. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q156817 OFF97: Setup Overwrites Office 95 Start Menu Items

Microsoft Office Binder Inserts Microsoft Office 97 Documents

When Microsoft Office 7.0 and Microsoft Office 97 are installed on the same computer, the Add Section dialog box in Microsoft Office Binder displays document types for the most recently installed version of Microsoft Office. As a result, when you insert a section, a Microsoft Office 97 document type is used.

This behavior may cause problems when you try to share a Binder file with users who use Microsoft Office 7.0.

Double-Clicking Files in Windows Explorer

When you double-click a Microsoft Office document in Windows Explorer, the following rules apply:

If a version of the program in which the document was created is running, the document is opened in that version of the program.

If no version of the program in which the document was created is running, the document is opened in the version of the program that you most recently installed UNLESS you started a version of the program installed with Microsoft Office 4.x (Microsoft Excel 5.x, Microsoft Word 6.x for Windows, Microsoft PowerPoint 4.x, or Microsoft Access 2.x) since you installed the last version of Microsoft Office.

To reassociate documents with the programs included with a particular version of Microsoft Office, run the Microsoft Office Setup program with the /y and /r switches. Doing this registers the file associations for the version of Microsoft Office. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q166692 XL: Running Multiple Versions of Microsoft Excel

Inserting Microsoft Office OLE Objects into Other Programs

If you install multiple versions of Microsoft Office on the same computer and you insert a Microsoft Office object (for example, a Microsoft Excel worksheet object) into another program (for example, Microsoft Word), the newest version of the program is used when you insert the object. This may cause problems if you share the container file (the Microsoft Word document that contains the Microsoft Excel worksheet object) with users who are not using Microsoft Office 97.

Shared Applications

If you installed the versions of Microsoft Office in the correct (ascending) order, you should not experience any problems when you use shared programs, such as Equation Editor and Clip Gallery. Note that 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.