Parallel installation of Office 97 and Office 2000 on a W2k

I have heard that it is possible to have two versions of
Office installed at the same time on the same Windows PC
(Windows 2000 Pro SP3).

Let's say Office 97 and Office 2000.
But is not some files shared? Will not Office 97 programs
load and use the shared files from Office 2000? I believe
so, at least when Office 2000 is installed after Office 97
as it make sense that new files update existing older ones
(maybe the installation of Office 97 just leave newer
exiting files?)

Question is if functionality and reliability is affected?
Will Excel 97 behave as Excel 97 or as some kind of mix of
Excel 97 and Excel 2000?

Hi, Matt. See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=218861 "Running
Multiple Versions of Microsoft Office".

Matt Anderson wrote:

I have heard that it is possible to have two versions of
Office installed at the same time on the same Windows PC
(Windows 2000 Pro SP3).

Let's say Office 97 and Office 2000.
But is not some files shared? Will not Office 97 programs
load and use the shared files from Office 2000? I believe
so, at least when Office 2000 is installed after Office 97
as it make sense that new files update existing older ones
(maybe the installation of Office 97 just leave newer
exiting files?)

Question is if functionality and reliability is affected?
Will Excel 97 behave as Excel 97 or as some kind of mix of
Excel 97 and Excel 2000?

Hi!
Thanks for your reply and tip!

I did a number of searches on support.microsoft.com but
missed that one! Very informative.

May I ask if your own experience is that there indeed are
no problems in real life than? Would you say that the
article cover everything essential?

The reason for the parallel installation is that we need
to give user support (mainly less complicated telephone
support) to users with different Excel versions.
The idea is that the operator should have the exact same
menus and dialogues as the caller.


Thanks again.
Matt
-----Original Message-----
Hi, Matt. See http://support.microsoft.com/?
kbid=218861 "Running
Multiple Versions of Microsoft Office".

Matt Anderson wrote:

I have heard that it is possible to have two versions
of
Office installed at the same time on the same Windows
PC
(Windows 2000 Pro SP3).

Let's say Office 97 and Office 2000.
But is not some files shared? Will not Office 97
programs
load and use the shared files from Office 2000? I
believe
so, at least when Office 2000 is installed after Office
97
as it make sense that new files update existing older
ones
(maybe the installation of Office 97 just leave newer
exiting files?)

Question is if functionality and reliability is
affected?
Will Excel 97 behave as Excel 97 or as some kind of mix
of
Excel 97 and Excel 2000?


.

I have old Office on my old computer and new Office on my new computer.
I decided against installing both versions on my new computer because:
1) have to rename shortcuts, 2) file association issues, and 3) if I had
easy access to old Office, I'd probably keep using it and never use new
Office.

Matt wrote:

Hi!
Thanks for your reply and tip!

I did a number of searches on support.microsoft.com but
missed that one! Very informative.

May I ask if your own experience is that there indeed are
no problems in real life than? Would you say that the
article cover everything essential?

The reason for the parallel installation is that we need
to give user support (mainly less complicated telephone
support) to users with different Excel versions.
The idea is that the operator should have the exact same
menus and dialogues as the caller.


Thanks again.
Matt

-----Original Message-----
Hi, Matt. See http://support.microsoft.com/?

kbid=218861 "Running

Multiple Versions of Microsoft Office".

Matt Anderson wrote:


I have heard that it is possible to have two versions

of

Office installed at the same time on the same Windows

PC

(Windows 2000 Pro SP3).

Let's say Office 97 and Office 2000.
But is not some files shared? Will not Office 97

programs

load and use the shared files from Office 2000? I

believe

so, at least when Office 2000 is installed after Office

97

as it make sense that new files update existing older

ones

(maybe the installation of Office 97 just leave newer
exiting files?)

Question is if functionality and reliability is

affected?

Will Excel 97 behave as Excel 97 or as some kind of mix

of

Excel 97 and Excel 2000?


.

Hi Matt,

My PC has versions of Office going back to DOS ones g

Office 97 uses the older AcmeSetup for installation and
MS Office 2000 and higher uses MS Windows Installer (MSI)
When you switch to an Office 97 app (can't have multiple
Excel copies) the installer resets registry entries to make
that version current, but you don't see any dialogs to advise
you of that. When you next run a newer version you will see
an 'Installer preparing to run dialog' as that version switches
things back so that it can run correctly. In general, for the
scenario you outline, things should be okay for support purposes
although there could be some issues if you're using add-ins
in the two versions. Also, if you're trying to replicate
a specific error condition, then you may not see it in a mixed
environment (i.e. you may have a 'fixed'(updated) common DLL
in play, for example).

You may want to look at using MS Virtual PC setups with the
different versions of Office. There's a 45 day trial copy
available.
http://microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc

=========
"Matt" wrote in message ...
Hi!
Thanks for your reply and tip!

I did a number of searches on support.microsoft.com but
missed that one! Very informative.

May I ask if your own experience is that there indeed are
no problems in real life than? Would you say that the
article cover everything essential?

The reason for the parallel installation is that we need
to give user support (mainly less complicated telephone
support) to users with different Excel versions.
The idea is that the operator should have the exact same
menus and dialogues as the caller.


Thanks again.
Matt
--
I hope this helps you,

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Office 2003 explained
http://microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.asp