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OFF2000: Running Multiple Versions of Microsoft Office
ID: Q218861
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Office 2000
SUMMARY
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.
This article describes the problems you may encounter when you do this
and offers advice on 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 Office on the same computer, you must install the earliest version
first. For example, if you want to use both Office 95 and Office 2000
on the same computer, you must install Office 95 first. This step is
necessary because of the way registry keys, shared programs, file
extensions, and other settings are managed for each version of Office,
and for the programs that are included with each version of Office.
The following table shows the order in which the versions of Office
should be installed:
Office Installation
version order
------- -------
4.x First
95 Second
97 Third
2000 Fourth
The remainder of this article assumes that you installed the versions
of Office in this order.
Default Install Location Changes to Office2K Folder
When you install Office 2000, the default folder for
Setup is Office2k instead of \Program Files\Microsoft Office. This
will occur if the Setup program detects that you have installed a
distributed application using Microsoft Access run-time files.
Multiple Versions of Outlook
----------------------------
Microsoft Outlook 2000 cannot coexist with any previous versions of
Outlook. If
you choose to install Outlook 2000, the Setup program will not allow
you to keep
any previous version. Outlook 97 or Outlook 98 will be removed even if
you
select the Keep these programs check box in the Removing Previous
Versions
dialog box.
Microsoft ClipArt Gallery and Microsoft Graph
---------------------------------------------
These programs will not run correctly when installed on the same
computer with
previous versions of Office. Because ClipArt Gallery and Graph
overwrite
registry entries used in the previous versions of Office, installing
multiple
versions of ClipArt Gallery and Graph is not a supported
configuration.
Using the Office Shortcut Bar
-----------------------------
When earlier versions of Office are installed on the same computer,
the Office
2000 Shortcut Bar does not use buttons from Office 7.0 or 97 Shortcut
Bar.
Because the Office 2000 Shortcut Bar uses Windows Installer shortcuts,
it cannot
use the existing toolbars or buttons from earlier versions of the
Office
Shortcut Bar.
When either Office 7.0 or Office 97 are installed with Office 2000,
the shortcut
bars can be started separately although not concurrently, and each may
have
their own set of custom toolbars and buttons. These toolbars and
buttons cannot
be shared between the two Office Shortcut Bars.
For more information on Office Shortcut Bars, please see the following
article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q220914 OFF2000: Earlier Version of Office Shortcut Bar Runs at
Startup
Shortcuts on the Start Menu
---------------------------
Office 7.0 and Office 97 use the same shortcuts on the Start menu to
start
programs. Because of this behavior, when you install Office 97, the
Setup
program overwrites the shortcuts for Office 7.0 programs. The
following
shortcuts are affected:
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Binder
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
If you rename the Office 7.0 or Office 97 shortcuts before you install
Office
2000, you can use the shortcuts for both sets of programs on the Start
menu. To
avoid confusion, Microsoft suggests that you add the words "7.0"
(without the
quotation marks) or "97" (without the quotation marks) to each renamed
shortcut.
For example, rename Access to "Microsoft Access 97" (without the
quotation
marks) before installing Office 2000 to keep a separate icon for each
different
version of Access.
You can also move the Office 7.0 or 97 shortcuts to a subfolder on the
Start
menu. For more information, please see the following article in the
Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
Q220885 OFF2000: Setup Overwrites Office 95 or Office 97 Start Menu
Items
Microsoft Office Binder
-----------------------
When Office 7.0 and Office 97 are installed on the same computer as
Office 2000,
the Add Section dialog box in Office Binder displays document types
for the most
recently installed version of Office. As a result, when you insert a
section an
Office 2000 document type is used.
This behavior may cause problems when you try to share a binder file
with those
who use earlier versions of Office.
Double-Clicking Files In Windows Explorer
-----------------------------------------
When you double-click an Office document in Windows Explorer, or from
the recent
documents folder of Windows, 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.
- With Office 7.0 or 97, 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. With Office 4.x, every time you start an
Office
4.x program it will register itself as the latest version installed
and
attempt to load the document with that version of the program.
To reassociate documents with the programs included with a particular
version of
Office, run the Office Setup program and click Reinstall (for versions
5.0, 7.0,
or 97) or Repair Office (for Office 2000). Doing this registers the
file
associations for the version of Office.
For more information about using the Windows Explorer, see the
following article
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q141275 How to Open a File with Other Than Associated Program
Inserting Office OLE Objects Into Other Programs
------------------------------------------------
If you install multiple versions of Office on the same computer and
you insert an
Office object, such as an Excel worksheet object, into another
program, such as
a Word document, the newest version of the program is used. This may
cause
problems if you share the container file with users who are not using
Office
2000, for example, a Word document that contains an Excel worksheet
object.
Shared Programs
---------------
If you installed the versions of Office in the order described in the
"Order of
Installation" section, you will 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.
Related Articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base
------------------------------------------------
For additional information about the behavior of multiple versions of
Microsoft
Office programs on a single computer, please see the following
articles in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q214388 XL2000: Running Multiple Versions of Microsoft Excel
Q212268 WD2000: Part 1: Limitations Converting to Word 6.0/95 Format
Q216920 WD2000: Part 2: Limitations Converting to Word 6.0/95 Format
