Microsoft Office Compatibility
September 22, 2010 1:59 PM

Are files that were originally set up with Microsoft Excel 97 compatible with Microsoft Office 2000? Also I am assuming the Microsoft 2000 will run on Windows 7 Home Edition. Just need confirmation prior to purchasing a copy of Microsoft Office 2000. Thanks in advance.
posted by Mckoan1 to Computers & Internet (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
Office 2000 can read XL 97 files.

I don't know if Office 2000 can run on Windows 7.
posted by dfriedman at 2:00 PM on September 22, 2010


Office 2000 could definitely run in Windows XP Compatibility Mode. It's like a virtual machine that runs XP inside an application running on Windows 7. You'd need to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or better to run XP Compatibility Mode, though.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:02 PM on September 22, 2010


Just to clarify, is it Office 2000 you're planning to buy? Or the much-more-contemporary Office 2007?

You can open an Excel 97 file in both, although the reverse isn't true. If you want to create a file in 2007 and have it read by 97, you have to save as "Excel 97-2003 .xls" (rather than the new default, .xslx).

Office 2000 will work on Windows 7, but not terribly well, and it's not officially supported.
posted by ErikaB at 2:04 PM on September 22, 2010


I have been using Word 2000 on my Windows 7 Laptop for over a year and it runs fine for me. I also use Word 2003 on my Windows 7 / Kubuntu netbook just fine. I can't guarantee Word 2000 will work fine for you, but it does for me.
posted by token-ring at 2:26 PM on September 22, 2010


Yes, Office 2000 will work with Windows 7.

You might want to consider OpenOffice as an alternative... it's free and cross platform.
posted by MikeWarot at 6:14 PM on September 22, 2010


I'm a big open source fan, but OpenOffice has a long ways to go before it can compete with Excel 97.
posted by meta_eli at 6:51 PM on September 22, 2010


I really would recommend looking at Office 2007 instead of Office 2000. It has lots a nice new features, the ribbon is actually very good (once you get used to it - I now hate having to use 2003 here at work) and there are plenty more options for presenting charts.

Last time I looked at pricing for Office, you ended up paying more for the older versions - which seemed rather silly.
posted by mr_silver at 3:52 AM on September 23, 2010


Last time I looked at pricing for Office, you ended up paying more for the older versions - which seemed rather silly.

Which is why the OP would probably want to get Office 2010, not 2007. And 97/2003 files can be opened, edited or saved (in 97/2003 style) by Office 2010.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:33 AM on September 23, 2010


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