Step 3 - Install Microsoft Office
In theory, you should be able to install the same copy of Office on all three partitions on the same machine. "The same copy of Office" is determined by Product Key and Product Activation. You are also allowed to stop using a version of Office on one machine and start using it on another. The last I heard, the Product Activation process may limit these moves to once every three months. If your old computer is still usable, then you are legally expected to uninstall the programs on the old computer, but there is no "Product Deactivation" signal sent back to Microsoft that must happen before you can reinstall the product on a new machine, so if your machine dies, you aren't further screwed. (Contrast this with Adobe's activation process.)
Most of Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 can coexist on the same machine. The one program that can't is Microsoft Outlook.
Start by installing Office 2003. For me, this means Microsoft Office Professional (without Outlook), Project, FrontPage, OneNote, Visio, etc. Then install Office 2010, with Outlook. If you don't have Office 2010, you can install Office 2007 instead. I don't know of any reason to install them both.
Always choose the "Install All Options" option. With today's large hard drives, there's no good reason to install anything less than all of the features of each program. (i.e. don't use the "Install on First Use" option.)
Once again, run Windows Update to get all of the updates.
Install the Microsoft Access 2003 hotfix.
Get and install the Compatibility Pack that allows Office 2003 to read Office's newer file format. (In 1996, I was a part of the group that insisted on a flexible file format for Word, Excel, etc. that would never change. At least it did cover Office 97, 2000, XP (aka 2002) and 2003, meaning ten years of compatibility.)
Get and install the Save As PDF add-on for Office 2007 (and 2010?).
If you have multiple installed versions of, you will need to do the following: Run Word 2010/2007 once to complete it's installation. Then run Word 2003 and let it complete it's installation. Then apply this registry patch to lock in each Office 2003 program as the default file handler for most formats. Here's the patch for Microsoft Word:
1 - Close all versions of Microsoft Word.
2 - Open Word 2003, let setup run (if it appears), then close Microsoft Word.
3 - Open the registry editor and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Options
4 - Add a DWORD named NoRereg set to 1
5 - Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Word\Options
6 - Add a DWORD named NoRereg set to 1
Thank You to Patrick Schmid for his blog entry on getting different versions of Word to play nicely together.
Most of Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 can coexist on the same machine. The one program that can't is Microsoft Outlook.
Start by installing Office 2003. For me, this means Microsoft Office Professional (without Outlook), Project, FrontPage, OneNote, Visio, etc. Then install Office 2010, with Outlook. If you don't have Office 2010, you can install Office 2007 instead. I don't know of any reason to install them both.
Always choose the "Install All Options" option. With today's large hard drives, there's no good reason to install anything less than all of the features of each program. (i.e. don't use the "Install on First Use" option.)
Once again, run Windows Update to get all of the updates.
Install the Microsoft Access 2003 hotfix.
Get and install the Compatibility Pack that allows Office 2003 to read Office's newer file format. (In 1996, I was a part of the group that insisted on a flexible file format for Word, Excel, etc. that would never change. At least it did cover Office 97, 2000, XP (aka 2002) and 2003, meaning ten years of compatibility.)
Get and install the Save As PDF add-on for Office 2007 (and 2010?).
If you have multiple installed versions of, you will need to do the following: Run Word 2010/2007 once to complete it's installation. Then run Word 2003 and let it complete it's installation. Then apply this registry patch to lock in each Office 2003 program as the default file handler for most formats. Here's the patch for Microsoft Word:
1 - Close all versions of Microsoft Word.
2 - Open Word 2003, let setup run (if it appears), then close Microsoft Word.
3 - Open the registry editor and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Options
4 - Add a DWORD named NoRereg set to 1
5 - Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Word\Options
6 - Add a DWORD named NoRereg set to 1
Thank You to Patrick Schmid for his blog entry on getting different versions of Word to play nicely together.
Scary Advertising After This?
I'm trying an experiment placing Google Ads on some of my pages. There might be one at the bottom of this page. While I am happy to make a little money from your clicks on these ads, please keep in mind that I do not necessarily endorse the products being advertised. In fact, they probably are competitors for the products that I have already recommended on this page. (That is the smart way to advertise.)
