We get a lot of questions about Microsoft Office and Windows 10. A reader asks: “I run Windows 7 and Office 2007. When I update to Windows 10, will my Office have to be reinstalled? Thank you for your help and interesting and useful letters to the years.”
Updating to Windows 10 shouldn’t affect programs already installed on your PC (with the exception of things that are part of the Windows 7 operating system like Media Center and the built-in Games pack.)
Programs and files are left undisturbed by the upgrade (some folks have had issues, but the vast majority have not). The only problem you might see if that an older program might not be compatible with Windows 10.
In this case, Microsoft says Office 2007 and forward will be compatible with Windows 10. I’d still make sure that all of my important files are backed up before doing the upgrade. They should all be backed up anyway, but if they aren’t, this is a good time to do it.
~ Cynthia
i had older computer and friend put win7 on it – when he got me a new computer he tried to put office 2007 and word perfect that i had on the win7 – it would not configure so i told him i could live without ms office as open office has similiar software and then i bought a new version of wordperfect for win10 so it may not configure regardless of what ms tells you – you need a computer savy person if you are going to download win10 or buy it
Jan:
I would disagree. If you’re just doing the update, none of your programs should be affected. They won’t need to be re-installed if they’re already on the PC.
Windows 10 does affect some programs and they will not run properly or at all. Power Desk Manager is one that will not work but XY Manager is cheap and a very good replacement. Some games from Iwin won’t. I had Big Kahuna 2 (my favorite) and the one from Iwin would not work on Win10. I bought the same game from Amazon.com and it worked perfectly. As for MS Office 7 and MSOffice 10, they both work perfectly under Win 10 with no problems at all. Just make sure all updates to the operating system he presently has is up to date. The conversion will go smooth as silk.
No. I have found MS Office 7 and 10 will install with absolutely no problems if everything is up to date by MS. There are many programs that will not update to Windows 10 and work like they should. Power Desk Manager is one. IWin Games – some will not work and some will work. My favorite Big Kahuna Reef 2 from IWin will not work on an update OS 10 system. But I bought the same game from Amazon 10 and it worked just fine. Hope this helps.
Win 10 was a BIG problem for me. My computer was getting OLD, about 5 years and Win 10 completely destroyed it. No one could get it fixed. Bought another computer with Win 8 and WITHOUT my permission Win 10 was installed one night while I was sleeping. And MANY of my favorite OLD programs did not make the transition. My Microsoft Office Suite was gone, Front Page was gone and Print Shop Ensemble (OLD but great) was gone. I was able to get Microsoft to load again (I had the disc) Front Page and PSE III are not being accepted.
Win 10 seems to be working OK, but I still have this bitter taste that I have not overcome.
IT IT AIN’T BROKEN DON’T FIX IT.
But time must march on and day follows night.
Your programs shouldn’t be gone. It’s possible some aren’t compatible, but they wouldn’t be removed. Have you searched for them in the search box. Typed in Office or Excel?
YES! you will have to re install your office program. It will work on 10 but you have to reinstall all your programs when you update.
Cynthia you are miss leading these people. Your data for the most part is there (I lost about 2000 photos) But your programs are gone. You have to reinstall all your programs and hope that they will work with 10. It is just like when you do a refresh… data yes, programs no.
Karen:
That’s not been the case at all in the 4 upgrades I’ve done. 2 from Windows 7 and 2 from Windows 8. And it’s not been the case for most Windows 10 upgrades.
I disagree with Karen. With the present Windows 10 upgrade you DO NOT HAVE TO REINSTALL all your programs. The OS is written to smoothly update with nothing to reinstall except possible a couple of old drivers that don’t work under Win 10. There are a few (Very Few) programs that will have to be reinstalled or obtain a more current version. Other than that everything should work fine. Windows MS Office for 95, Windows MS Office7 and MS Office 10 worked just great under 10. That’s not to say all programs will work but most do. Works 8 works fine also. Power Desk Manager does not. It works up to Win OS 8.1.1. Hope this helps.