Office XP or Office 2003...

[atruhoo]

Have a new laptop and trying to decide which version of Office to install. I have not had a chance to play around with 2003 yet, but hear many good things about it. Wondering if anyone knows of any compatibility issues that I may have with older versions of Office. I do some web design & small window applications for people on the side and will be using the laptop for the majority of that work and don't think I will have issues, but figured I would ask. Appreciate any feedback/opinions.

 

[KenWright]

Whilst the file formats are the same, there always seem to be some differences between versions, though the main ones usually seem to be associated with VBA. It might be a little tweak on the code, but the rule of thumb is to always code in the lowest version it will be used in. If you have both though, I would install both, but install XP first and then 2003 in that order, and when you install 2003 just elect NOT to upgrade existing versions, but install to a different folder, eg my installs of 2000 / 2002 / 2003 are all in:-

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeC:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11
This will let you test in both XP and 2003. If you have 2000, then you may want to install that as well, but then install from the lowest version first. There were a number of small niggly code changes from 2000 to XP, and there are a lot of people still on 2000.

Regards
Ken.................

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[atruhoo]

Will installing them both cause any problems with the functioning of either? Thought I read in another post somewhere after keyword search that it might/did. Thanks for quick reply.

Richard

 

[atruhoo]

Here is that thread I was refering to in previous post.

thread68-721706

 

[KenWright]

Can't answer that I'm afraid as I have never had any problems, but then I've probably never tried what Marc is referring to. Most of the Microsoft MVPs for Excel have the latest Office installed, but still have all the versions of Excel installed back from 97 onwards. I haven't heard of any of them having any problems. I have the latest version of Office installed but have Excel back from 2000 to date, and Access back from XP to date.

Regards
Ken..............

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Seasons Greetings and Very Best wishes to all

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[Marcs41]

Hi.
For info, I was referring to interaction between applications from different versions.
Using mixtures, don't even bother trying to do an automatic mailmerge from Access XP to run reports creating Word2000 files to then automatically email with Outlook 2003.
Bottom line, if it is to work with, don't mix.
Get 2003 if you still have the choice to make.

Marc
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