Join an online community with more than 350,000 members from 150,000+ organizations, where you can ask questions and get advice.
TechSoup hosts free weekly webinars on a variety of topics, from cloud computing to fundraising to social media and tech strategy.
Need help downloading or using your donations? You'll find essential resources on these topics and more in our support pages.
javascript disabled
Close this window
Hi,
Our computers were stolen last week, (yes they were encrypted and yes I have an encrypted backup!) and we are now looking to upgrade to Office 2007, from 2003.
First, two of our staff have 2003 on their laptops (not stolen); will we be able to easily communicate, using a converter for the different versions of Word and Excel?
And second, is the Professional Plus version really that much better than the Standard version? We don't need Access and probably not Publisher, and I don't know what the InfoPath and Communicator even do, so we probably don't need those, either. Thoughts? Thank you very much,
Kathy
I've upgraded a few machines from office 2003 to office 2007 just using the install upgrade option when you run set up from the office 2007 root directory. Haven't had any problems. You can set the default save in Excel, Word, and Power Point to compatibility 97-2003 versions which will work fine except occasionally you will get an Excel spread sheet saving at about 6MB when the xlsx version is about 200k
You can also install the 2007 converter on your remaining 2003 installs until you have time to upgrade.
The one area to look out for is .pst files in outlook. Keep backups of the PSTs and determine if you want to just open the old pst with the 2gb limit or move messages into new psts that don't shut down at 2gb.
Dave
Microsoft came out with a compatibility pack for Office XP and 2003 a few years back.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
Also, Office 2010 is scheduled to be released this month. You may want to skip 07 altogether.
The Merchant Store, non-profit merchant accounts and equipment
Hi Kathy, Dave gave a great post about this. jestep linked the compatibility pack you would install on the older Office 2003 laptops.
I will answer your question specifically about whether or not Professional Plus is better than standard. The short answer is no. It all depends on the products you use. There are no extra features in Word between Professional Plus and Standard editions (except the integration Word has with Access, that you don't need or use). The only differences in Office between editions are the software that is bundled with each. Outlook 2007 remains a full version of Outlook 2007 in any version.
That being said, never say never! You can get the Professional Plus edition but do a custom install and not install InfoPath or Access when you perform the installation. This way, you at least have licenses to use the software at a later date if you encounter a need for it. Given the cost difference for the donation available... I'd go with the Professional Plus.
Chris Shipley Nutmeg Consulting