how do you deal with excel versions?

[oldyork90]

How do you deal with clients and their multiple versions of excel? I work only with mainly 2007-10 because I had so many problems. I had to buy a cheap used box to dedicate to one version. Is it really possible to spin up multiple versions, selectively, on a single box? I had nothing but problems.

Thank you.

 

[joeu2004]

How do you deal with clients and their multiple versions of excel?
I work only with mainly 2007-10 because I had so many problems.
I had to buy a cheap used box to dedicate to one version.
Is it really possible to spin up multiple versions, selectively,
on a single box? I had nothing but problems.

You might asking two different questions. Not sure.

If you are __developing__ Excel applications, I would always save as "xls"
and limit usage to Excel 2003 compatiblity. That is difficult sometimes
because Excel 2007 and later are not always good at restricting usage even
in compatibility mode, and the compatibility checker is a joke, noting
non-problems most of the time.

If you are simply asking about having __multiple_versions__ on one computer,
the answer is a qualified "yes". I have Excel 2003, 2007 and 2010 on Win
XP.

First, you must install them in order, oldest to latest. That might require
that you uninstall and reinstall.

Second, you must open Excel files by starting the desired version of Excel
first (click on a program name or icon, not a file), then opening the
desired file in that instance of Excel. For example, click on File, then
Open.

If you simply click on a File icon, it will open in the last-installed Excel
if none is running, or in the last-started Excel (or is it the last-active
Excel?) if Excel is already running.

Caveat: If you need to support both 32bit and 64bit versions of Excel, you
might need two different computers (or at least two different virtual
disks). Even though 64bit Windows supports (most) 32bit applications, I'm
not sure that 32bit Office works on 64bit Windows. TBD.

Nevertheless, differences between your computer and a client's computer can
result in different behavior. Some differences are due to options in the
Regional and Language Options control panel. You can usually rectify that
with some effort. Some differences might arise between English and
non-English versions of Office (I'm not sure.) I encountered one issue with
differences in fonts and colors that I never resolved. We ended up swapping
screen images, and I limited the changes that I made.

Good luck!

 

[Auric__]

If you are simply asking about having __multiple_versions__ on one
computer, the answer is a qualified "yes". I have Excel 2003, 2007 and
2010 on Win XP.

Rather than your method, I installed Office 2010 on my workstation, and
installed Office 97 in a Win2000 virtual machine. (If I ever manage to find
my Office 2000 CD, that'll go in an XP VM.)

 

[GS]

Note that it's a good idea to pre-create folders where the versions
will be installed to...

Program Files
...and let the installer handle the placement of the common/support
files. Note also that version 10 onward does this for you if you choose
the installer option to keep previous versions.

Also, it's not necessary to install them in any particular order with
the pre-created folder approach. This precludes, then, that the last
installed version will be the default (until updates happen, at least)!
You can reset the default version by running 'Repair' in Control Panel,
OR using a batch file to reset the Registry entries that control this.
I use both approaches and they seem to work regardless of which I use.

HTH

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
Classic VB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

 

[joeu2004]

Note that it's a good idea to pre-create folders where the
versions will be installed to... [....]
Note also that version 10 onward does this for you if you
choose the installer option to keep previous versions.

As GS notes, at least starting with Office 2003, the installer creates
unique folders for each version of Office products automagically. So there
is no need to "pre-create" the unique folders. (KISS.)

it's not necessary to install them in any particular
order with the pre-created folder approach.

Caveat lector: this directly contradicts information provided by Microsoft.
The latest KB
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2784668) states:

If you want to install and use more than one version of Office on the same
computer without virtualization, use the following order.

Version Installation Order
Microsoft Office 2003 First
Microsoft Office 2007 Second
Microsoft Office 2010 suites and programs (32-bit versions only) Third
Microsoft Office 2013 suites and programs (32-bit versions only) Fourth

You must install the earliest version of Office first. For example, if you
want to use both Office 2007 and Office 2013 programs on the same computer,
install Office 2007 first. You must use this order because of how registry
keys, shared programs, file name extensions, and other settings are managed
for each version of the Office suites and programs.

Notes
[....]
* Office 2003 is not supported on Windows 8

* If you uninstall one of the versions of Office, you may have to
reinstall the remaining versions of Office in this order for them to work
correctly.

* You must follow this installation order when you apply Office updates
(such as .msp files). This is because, when an update is applied, the
targeted Office product is repaired. Applying an update to an older version
of Office may cause later versions of Office to function incorrectly. You
must apply updates to the earliest version of Office first, and then either
repair or apply updates to the later versions of Office in chronological
order.

 

[GS]

Caveat lector: this directly contradicts information provided by

Microsoft. The latest KB
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2784668) states:

Yes, it does contradict this article. It works nevertheless because I
have installed earlier versions after later ones without problems, up
to OS Win7 Pro (32 bit only) In my experience, following the MS
earlier suggestion had *always* resulted in some kind of problem
somewhere. The article you ref might very well work for the newer OSs
as written, but using the pre-created folders approach has been
reliable for some years now, even on Win8.

As for updates.., well that does indeed 'repair' the version being
updated which is why I specified this when I mentioned the default
version being the last one installed/repaired/updated! Again, the order
simply does not matter so long as it's understood that the last version
updated will be the default version. This, however, can be change using
the methods I suggested.

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
Classic VB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

 

[GS]

There is one exception to my claim. A friend asked me to install
2003/2007 on his Win8 machine which already had MSO 2010 installed.
Worked flawlessly!

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
Classic VB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

 

[oldyork90]

I'm chickening out. I'll get another used box when someone requires 2013. Thanks all.

 

[Martin Brown]

How do you deal with clients and their multiple versions of excel? I work only with mainly 2007-10 because I had so many problems. I had to buy a cheap used box to dedicate to one version. Is it really possible to spin up multiple versions, selectively, on a single box? I had nothing but problems.

Thank you.

Virtual machines are your friend when it comes to testing on different
versions on one box. I have had more than one version of Excel on the
same box without major problems but they fight over grabbing file
extensions if you don't watch carefully what you are doing.

XL2003 was one of the most stable Excel versions. XL2007 has been flakey
from initial launch although much improved after the SP1.

It is sometimes difficult to write code that will run on both XL2003 and
XL2007 since they permuted the arguments of some graphic functions!