Information about running multiple versions of Office with Office 2003 (828956)

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Order of installation

Note This order of installation also applies to the Microsoft Office stand-alone products--for example, Microsoft FrontPage.

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 97 and Microsoft Office XP on the same computer, install Office 97 first. You must follow this step because of the way that 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 that you must use install each version of Office.

Office Version	Installation Order
Office 97	First
Office 2000	Second
Office XP	Third
Office 2003	Fourth

Important If you subsequently 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 remainder of this article assumes that you installed the versions of Office in this order.

Office Bin folder location changes to \Office11 folder

When you install Office 2003, the default folder for Setup is still \Program Files\Microsoft Office. However, the Office Bin folder (the folder where the Office .exe files are installed) has changed to \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11. This was first done with Office XP to provide a better user experience for users who require multiple versions of Office installed on the same computer. There is no way to change the name of the Office Bin folder.

Multiple versions of Outlook

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 cannot coexist with any earlier version of Microsoft Outlook. If you choose to install Office Outlook 2003, the Setup program will not allow you to keep any earlier version. Microsoft Outlook 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2000, or Microsoft Outlook 98 will be removed even if you click to select the Keep these programs check box in the Removing Previous Versions dialog box.

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

Use the Office Shortcut Bar

Office 2003 does not include the Office Shortcut Bar; however, when earlier versions of Office are installed on the same computer, the Office Shortcut Bar will be retained with the earlier versions of Office.

When earlier versions of Office are installed with Office 2003, the shortcut bars can be started separately although not at the same time, and each may have their own set of custom toolbars and buttons. These toolbars and buttons cannot be shared between two Office Shortcut Bars.

Shortcuts on the Start menu

Office 97, Office 2000, and Office XP use the same shortcut names on the Start menu to start programs. Office 2003 now automatically installs its shortcuts to the Office subfolder on the Start menu. New Office 2003 shortcuts are versioned. However, to avoid confusion, Microsoft suggests that you add the version number to each shortcut for the earlier products. For example, rename the shortcut that points to Microsoft Access to Microsoft Access 97 before you install Office 2003. You can also move the Office 97 shortcuts to a different subfolder on the Start menu.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
If you manually move the shortcuts for either Office XP or Office 2000 and you reinstall the product or repair the shortcuts, the shortcuts will be recreated on the Programs menu off the Start menu.

Note You can customize Office 2003, Office XP, or Office 2000 Setup to install the shortcuts to another location on the Start menu by using the Custom Installation Wizard that is contained in the Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit.

For more information about the Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Microsoft Office Binder

When Office 97 is 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 up to Office 2000. As a result, when you insert a section into a binder file, an Office 2000 document type is used. This behavior may cause problems when you try to share a binder file with other users who have earlier versions of Office.

Note Starting with Office XP, Microsoft Office is not included with Microsoft Office Binder. However, a utility to extract all office documents from a Binder file is included.

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

Double-click a file in Microsoft 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 where the document was created is running, the document is opened in that version.
• With Office 97, Office 2000, or Office XP, if no version of the program where the document was created is running, the document opens in the version of the program that you most recently installed.
• With Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word (Word for Windows 95, Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003), if no version of the program where the document was created is running, the document is opened in the version of the program that was most recently open.
• To re-associate documents with the programs that are included with a particular version of Office, run the Office Setup program, and then click Reinstall (for version 97) or click Repair Office (for Office 2000 or Office XP). Doing this registers the file associations for that version of Office.

Note This does not correct the behavior if you are using Access or Word.

Insert 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 a Microsoft 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 2003, 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 generally do 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.

"Preparing to install" message when you start Word

If you have multiple versions of Word installed on your computer, when you start Office Word 2003, the Windows Installer may run and display a message that states that it is preparing to install before actually starting Word.

For instructions about how to install multiple versions as a dual boot, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Troubleshooting tips for repairing errors or problems with side-by-side installations

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 your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnInstall\<GUID For Office 2003 Product>

3. Right-click Copy key name.
4. Quit Registry Editor without making any modifications.
5. Paste the key name that you copied into Notepad.
6. Click just <GUID For Office 2003 Product> from Notepad, and then copy it.
7. Click Start, click Run, type Msiexec.exe /fm <GUID For Office 2003 Product>, and then press ENTER.
   
   Note This command line repairs the registration of Microsoft Office 2003 components and icons. A subsequent repair of the pre-Office 2003 product was tested and confirmed to retain product stability for Office 2003.