Since beginning to use a new PC (running W7) at work, I have an Office version compatibility issue, which had never previously been a problem, and I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has experienced similar problems, and whether they managed to find a more satisfactory workaround than I have.

My working week is split between working at home and in my London office, using Office 2007 at home (W7) and 2003 when in my office, with my mail downloaded via a remote server to Outlook 2007/2003 respectively in both locations (therefore, rather than using a flash drive I can simply email anything I wish to use at home and in the office to my work email address, and then have it to hand wherever I am).

Previously, on my old office PC (which ran Vista) I had been able to open Excel spreadsheets created in either location AT either location without problems. I now have a new PC at work running W7, on to which Office 2003 was again loaded. However, when I subsequently tried to open Excel spreadsheets from my mailbox on the new work PC, which I’d created in Excel 2007 at home, they were showing as an orange Office 2010 icon and the pop-up was telling me that I needed 2010 in order to view them. I didn’t wish to purchase 2010, despite the ‘invitation’ in the pop-up (I actually prefer 2007, and even 2003 to 2010, and really don’t want it). However, the only way I have been able to view my home-created Excel documents on my work PC has been to download a free Office 2010 ‘starter’ pack, which doesn’t work in quite the same way as 2007 and is a bit irritating, though at least allows me to view my documents.

I’m just a little perplexed why Office 2010 has ‘come into the mix’ at all now, when it never had previously, and am wondering why it’s suddenly necessary to have an element of 2010 downloaded to my PC in order for me to view documents created in Office 2007 and opened in Office 2003 - is this just a way of compelling people who have purchased new PCs running W7 to subsequently ‘upgrade’ (quotes used deliberately) to Office 2010?