Thread: Possible to install two versions of Word?
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Old 01-08-2014, 07:14 PM
Charles Kenyon Charles Kenyon is offline Windows 7 64bit Office 2010 32bit
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Originally Posted by PointyHead View Post
So far Word 2013 is proving to be almost unworkable for my work. I'm spending a lot of unpaid time trying to solve Word problems, and my clients are losing their valuable time redoing work on their end when our versions of Word clash.

At least half of my clients are using Word 1997-2003. I'm at an impasse with incompatibility with Track Changes between that version and 2013. Track Changes is the heart of an editor's work. The problem is going to get a lot worse when we start working with tables and charts.

So I'm wondering if I could install Word 2003 on my laptop. If I did that, would I be able to use both 2003 and 2013? What problems could arise from having two versions installed?

As an aside, I downloaded OpenOffice on another laptop and was amazed at how easy it is to work with. The learning curve was about five minutes. That forces me to ask, what the heck is the matter with the Microsoft designers? I'm just blown away by the nonfunctionality of Windows 8 and Word 2013 for use by working people.
I currently have 4 versions of Word on my computer. They can all run at the same time. Each version should have its own templates folder and Startup Folder. As Paul said, the preferred sequence for installation is earliest version first. Once they have been installed, you can use the /r command line switch to make one of them the default to open files. Otherwise, the last one installed will do that.

See Toolbars and Word 2007/2010 - dual version registry hack for information on registry settings that need to be adjusted. Otherwise, each time you switch versions, Word will think it needs to be reconfigured.

I have my file locations for the different programs set so they all share one document folder labelled Word. In addition, in my Documents folder is a folder called MS System Files. That has a folder for each version. In that folder is a user templates folder, a workgroup templates folder, and a startup folder for that version. These folder locations are set in the options for each version.
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