Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Various issues are leading people to wonder if Office 2003 will work on Windows Vista. Yes, it will. We'll look at some of the possible problems.
I have Windows Vista now and I cannot open Word documents attached to emails. How can I open them? Is Microsoft Office 2003 compatible with Vista?
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Yes, Microsoft Office 2003 is compatible with Windows Vista.
You didn't say what happens when you try to open a document or what error message is produced, so I'll have to make some wild guesses.
Most of the confusion that I see is actually not about Windows Vista, but rather the file format changes between Office 2003 and Office 2007. The newer version now saves into a file format that can't be read by the old. However there are solutions.
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Here are some of the most common things that might be going wrong:
You don't have Office installed. Some people are surprised to find that Windows Vista doesn't include Microsoft Office. They are two separate products, and if you don't have Office then you'll need to purchase and install it separately.
Your Upgrade to Windows Vista was really a fresh install. If you have Windows XP with Microsoft Office installed, an upgrade to Windows Vista should leave you with Office still installed in Vista. However, if instead you performed an install of Vista instead of an upgrade, then Windows Vista has been installed "from scratch" and you'll need to re-install all of your programs, including Microsoft Office.
You've received a document in Office 2007 format, but you only have Office 2003. This will fail, unless you install the Office Compatibility Pack. This free download adds support for the newer file formats to the older versions of Office. After installing, you'll be able to open these files without completely upgrading to the newer version of Office. (You can also ask the sender of the document to save the document in the older format and resend the document instead.)
The ".doc" file association has somehow been lost. There are two approaches: reinstalling Office should actually fix this for all the file types it supports, or you can repair the file association manually.
It's only email that's broken. One workaround if it's only documents in email that are causing you a problem is instead of opening the document directly from email, save it to a location on your hard drive instead. Then fire up Word and use File, Open... to locate and open the document, or locate the document in Windows Explorer and double click on it.
The bottom line, though, is that Office 2003 and Windows Vista can certainly peacefully co-exist just as Office 2007 can run on Windows XP. Neither requires an update to the other.
Article C3145 - September 11, 2007 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
September 12, 2009 2:44 PM
I have been trying to use Office Professional 2003 with my Vista computers. I have no issues with programs since installing updates except for one:
1) Outlook e-mail keeps on hanging up after opening. It does begin running again, but it tales a minute or so.
2)It also stalls when opening replies and while writing e-mails.
FYI - There are nos issues with the calendar or contatcts.
Please help.
Randy
October 2, 2009 3:15 PM
Hi Leo; thanks for the help.
I have a new laptop, after my old one was killed by a freak ceiling fan accident (fell on it). I downloaded the old laptop on to a portable drive which I can hook-up with a USB cable. The old laptop was Windows XP; the new is Vista. I have already bought MS Office TWICE, I don't want to do it again, and I'm flat broke anyway. My problem is that even by accessing the external drive (windows xp), I can't open MS Office on my laptop and modify files (like my resume). I've paid for two licenses and still can't use the product, I need help.
Much thanks,
J. Smith
03-Oct-2009
November 11, 2009 10:15 AM
Wow Leo you were told exactly what the problem as by several people and ignored it. Terrific. If you don't know why Office 2003 slows to a crawl when accessing/saving files in Vista then just say so.
You idea of saving the file wherever and then hunting it down to move it to where you really wanted it to go is something but not a real answer to the problem.
January 17, 2010 11:24 AM
I have a computer a few months old. It runs on Windows Vista. I purchased Microsoft Office 2007. My problem is when people send me Word documents, when I open them it is just a bunch of nonsensical characters. I assume they are sending me a Word 2003 document. I have the compatability pack installed but still can't get these documents in a readable fashion. Can you help?
February 15, 2010 6:07 AM
I have Vista on my PC, and I just installed Microsoft Office 2003. Now when I get updates to install for Office 2003, the installs fail because of an unknown error code 646. What does this error code mean, and how do I fix it?