OFF2000: Setup May Remove Older Components

ID: Q210391


The information in this article applies to:


SYMPTOMS

When you run the Microsoft Office Setup program, your previous version of Office may be removed without alerting you. However, you may see the following message during setup:

Microsoft Office 2000: Remove Previous Versions

Setup will remove the following previous versions of Office programs:

Microsoft Access 97
Microsoft Excel 97
Microsoft PowerPoint 97
Microsoft Word 97
For a list of programs that may appear in this message, see the "More Information" section.


CAUSE

Your previous version of Office will automatically be removed if you click Upgrade Now in Ready to Install. If you click Customize rather than Upgrade Now, the Office Setup program will allow you to decide whether to keep or remove the earlier Office programs.

Note: In order to keep your existing Office programs, you must install Office 2000 into a new folder.


MORE INFORMATION

The Office Setup program will detect the following versions of Office programs for removal when upgrading to Office 2000:


   Programs      Version
   --------       -------

   Access       97, 95, 2.0
   Excel        97, 95, 5.0
   Frontpage    1.0, 97, 98
   Outlook      98, 97
   PowerPoint   97, 95, 4.0
   Project      3.0, 4.0, 98
   Publisher    2.0, 3.0, 97, 98
   Word         97, 95, 6.0 
Although Microsoft does not recommend it, it is possible to install and use more than one version of Office on a single computer. For example, you can install and use both Office 2000 and Office 97 on the same computer.

For information about problems you may encounter while running multiple versions of Office on the same computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q218861 OFF2000: Running Multiple Versions of Microsoft Office
For additional information about qualifying upgrade products, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q210437 OFF2000: Products That Qualify for the Microsoft Office Upgrade

Removing Earlier Versions of Office

When you install Office, Setup checks to see whether any components from Office 97 or Office 95 are installed on your computer. If Setup detects these older components, it displays the Removing Previous Versions dialog box. If you do not click to select the Keep these programs check box, Setup removes the listed components installed with earlier versions of Office. This helps prevent unnecessary files from using up disk space on your computer.

If you remove older Office components, other programs that use these older components may not work correctly. For example, assume that you want to install Office 2000 and that you previously developed custom programs that work in Access 7.0. To use the custom program, Access 7.0 must be available after you install Office 2000. Therefore, you should perform a Custom installation of Office 2000, select Keep these programs in Remove Previous Versions, and do not install Access 2000. If you do not select Keep these programs, Setup removes Access 7.0 and all of its components.

When to Remove Older Components

Use either of the following methods to set up Office 2000 and keep earlier versions of Office programs and Office 2000 on the same computer.

Method 1: Select Keep These Programs

Run the Microsoft Office 2000 Setup program. When you are prompted to remove the earlier components, select Keep these programs. When Setup is completed, the older Office programs will be available.

Method 2: Install the Microsoft Office Removal Wizard, from the Office Resource Kit.

Install the Microsoft Office Resource Kit from the following location on the World Wide Web:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/
The Office Removal Wizard allows you to choose which earlier components to remove or keep. When the Microsoft Office Removal Wizard is finished removing files, run the Office 2000 Setup program. When you are prompted to remove the older components select Keep these programs.

To Remove Earlier Versions Before Installing Office 2000

  1. Run the Office 2000 Setup program.


  2. When you are prompted to remove the earlier components, do not select Keep these programs.


To Install Earlier Versions of Office After Installing Office 2000

If you removed the earlier versions, you must reinstall the programs. To do this, use the following steps:
  1. Run the Setup program for each of the older programs and reinstall them.


  2. Verify that the older programs work correctly.


  3. Run the Microsoft Office Removal Wizard and remove any unnecessary old components. (This step is optional.)


  4. Run the Setup program for Microsoft Office 2000 again and select Keep these programs when you are prompted to remove older components.


After you complete these steps, the older programs and Microsoft Office 2000 programs will be available.

To Remove Earlier Office Programs After Installing Office 2000

Do either of the following to remove earlier versions of Office programs after you have already installed Office 2000.

Additional query words: off2k


Keywords          : kbsetup kbdta 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto 

Last Reviewed: August 3, 1999