What is the optimum way to run multiple versions of Microsoft Office?

Question

I am being asked by more clients to build them Excel (and Office for that matter) add-ins. More often than not, these add-ins could be used across whole industries or at least for multiple clients.

Unfortunately, different clients have different versions of Office. The minimum I've come across is Office 2010 and this has recently caused me a few problems as I am running Office 2016.

I don't like the idea of installing multiple versions of Office on the same computer - it feels messy and I suspect library conflicts would be hard to avoid. So I am wondering whether multiple VM environments for each version of office would work or if that is overkill?

Also, any idea how one procures old versions of office these days?

You CAN'T install more than one version of Oultook, But you CAN install multiple versions of Word, Excel etc on the same PC. This is an from an install point of view - not licensing! Separate VMs are probably the answer for testing, They wouldn't need to be too big and since you wouldn't want any dev tools on these testing VMs — Mike

Mike Mike · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-04T20:04:12

I recommend multiple VMs. Sorry I don't know how to get legit versions of old software. But if your clients are insistent, can they provide licenses and media?

What is the optimum way to run multiple versions of Microsoft Office?

1 Answers