You can start and use Office 2003 (or any earlier version of Office) Get or make a virtual machine with, say Windows XP then install Office 2003. Windows 8 Professional and Enterprise editions include Hyper-V, the virtual machine system. We’ve been suggesting VM’s for many years and Windows 8 Professional or Enterprise editions makes that option more accessible. This maintains compatibility (because you can run the Windows version of your choice in the virtual machine) and keeps it isolated from other Office installs (ie avoids ‘side-by-side’ Office conflicts). You can try running Office 2003 on Windows 8 and chance your luck.Ī better solution is to run Office 2003 (or any ‘extra’ version of Office) in a virtual machine (VM). The conclusion is that you can install and run Office 2003 by ‘ignoring’ the error messages that will appear. The error message suggests that documents / applications with links to some data sources like Visual FoxPro won’t work in Office 2003 on Windows 8. When starting Word 2003 we got a similar error, again ‘Ignore’ let us continue. The first error appears during installation (Complete install or Custom install with the ‘Big 4’ Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.Ĭlicking Ignore will let the install continue. So then why does the Microsoft Compatibility Center have 9 out of 16 people saying it is compatible? When we tried Office 2003 with Windows 8 release version it wasn’t compatible during install or operation. That self-interest is encouraged by the failure to explain why their own software isn’t compatible. So they’ll take any excuse to encourage people to buy another copy of Office. Let’s face it, Microsoft’s own interests are served by saying past versions of Office are incompatible with Windows 8. Office XP and earlier versions of Office are also marked as ‘not compatible’ same as with the Preview versions. However there’s no explanation about what the compatibility problems are. The change comes with Office 2003 which was marked as compatible during the Previews but is now said to be ‘not compatible’. Office 2010 and Office 2007 are also fully compatible. Office 2013, the next version of Office, is compatible naturally.

This applies to the ‘regular’ versions of Windows 8 (basic, Pro and Enterprise) not the tablet Windows RT release. Our new book is Windows 8 for Microsoft Office users with the stuff you need to know and none of the Microsoft hoopla.Īs usual, but still disappointingly, they don’t explain why some versions of Office aren’t compatible. Microsoft has changed the Windows 8 compatibility statement for Microsoft Office versions from the promises during the Windows 8 Preview. Microsoft changes the Office compatibility for Windows 8 but doesn’t explain why, so we do.

Microsoft office 2008 compatibility