Default Office Version

[azeller]

A few months ago I purchased a new computer. It has Microsoft Office
2003 already installed but unusable unless purchased. Instead of buying
that I loaded an older version that I had previously purchased and am
using that. The problem is that when I double-click on an Excel
spreadsheet or Word document, the computer automatically tries to open
up the Office 2003 version of Excel or Word and not the usable one.
I've tried all I know to make the older version the default. Would like
to uninstall MO 2003 but not sure how to do that safely. Thanks for any
help.

 

[Dian Chapman, MVP, MOS]

Open Word by itself without clicking on a document first and that will
reset the registry so that that version is the default version. I do
this all the time with many versions I have on my system. Then when
you click a doc, it SHOULD find the last activated version to open in
that version.

Otherwise you'd have to reset the association. You can try right
clicking and chose Open and select the EXE for the previous version.

To install 2003, go to your Control Panel and use the Add/Remove
Programs icon to safely uninstall.

By the way, if the previous version you had was a CD that came
preinstalled with a previous computer, it might be an OEM version and
it would be illegal for you to install that on this new system. Check
the CD to see if it has a warning that it is OEM and should not be
installed on any other system.

Good luck...

Dian D. Chapman, Technical Consultant
Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified
Editor/TechTrax Ezine

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