Should I buy Office XP?

Hi All -- I am stuck using this older laptop for now, which has Windows Millenium installed. I have some documents on a flash drive that were created in Microsoft Office 2003 and some in 2007. I cannot view those documents on this laptop because it only has some really old versions of notepad and wordpad. I did get one 2003 office document to show up in Wordpad I think it was, but it required lots of reformatting. I saved it as a text file, I think.

So I was thinking of buying a version of Microsoft Office that works with Windows ME. From what I have read, Office XP is the last version of Office that will work with ME. Office XP is available on eBay for not very much as you would expect.

What I can't seem to figure out is whether, if I get Office XP and install it on this old laptop, there is a Microsoft compatibilty pack that will work on Windows ME. In other words, is there a compatibility pack that will 'convert' the 2003 and 2007 Office documents so they are viewable and look OK in Office XP.

Has anyone else solved this dilemma? If so, please share. Thank you.

this might help

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/office-online-file-converters-and-viewers-HA001044981.aspx

I think I found my answer here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3

that link does NOT mention Windows ME as being a 'supported' operating system.

"System requirements:

Supported operating systems: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Service Pack 3; Windows 7; Windows Server 2008"

Does anyone know how else I can view/access my 2003 and 2007 office documents (currently stored on a flash drive)? Most have .doc extensions, and a few have .docx file extensions. I was thinking about uploading them to the 'cloud' off the flash. Like trying Google docs or an Microsoft's Open Office. Why would that not work? There must be some way to access these documents while I am stuck using Windows ME.

yeah just the microsoft access viewer 2007 supports back to win 95 , the rest {which i assume you need} requires newer os. i'm dry. does open office help?

http://www.oldapps.com/openoffice.php

http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/instructions.html

Hi,

as kbit linked there are free alternatives to Windows Office package that still support Windows ME. For example Open Office: http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/sys_reqs_20.html or the fork LibreOffice: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/system-requirements/

regards myrti

Hi,

as kbit linked there are free alternatives to Windows Office package that still support Windows ME. For example Open Office: http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/sys_reqs_20.html or the fork LibreOffice: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/system-requirements/

regards myrti

Awesome. Thanks to you all!! Have been very frustrated not being able to get into my docs.

Hi,

as kbit linked there are free alternatives to Windows Office package that still support Windows ME. For example Open Office: http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/sys_reqs_20.html or the fork LibreOffice: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/system-requirements/

regards myrti

Still not quite there ... libreoffice won't work as it requires more system resources than I have. The openoffice link above takes me to a download page that offers a current version of openoffice, one that is apparently not compatible with Windows ME (at least ME is not mentioned). If it's there, I just did not see it.

Instead, I went to www.oldapps.com. They list many versions of OpenOffice for DL'ing that are all compatible with ME. I chose the latest one, version 2.4.3 and DL'd that. When I tried to unpack it to the hard drive, I got this error message:

"This installer package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer Service. You must install a Windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer Service.

I then found and installed the compatible versions of .NET frameworks (all on oldapps.com too) which, though I wasn't sure if those would be required for OpenOffice, it made sense that they might be. In the process of installing the .NET frameworks, the Windows Installer Service got updated.

Then back to OO, and yes, it installed this time.

All day on this and still haven't tested out opening my 2003 and 2007 MSFT Office docs in OpenOffice to see it if works (it should)!

Also, after completing the .NET installs, I got a message to make sure I got the 'latest' service packs, etc. for the versions of .NET framework. Well, as current as service packs can be with the versions that are compatible with ME!! After that, I am not sure there is much more I can do...

Looking forward to trying out OpenOffice. This has been an interesting process....

One more question == The OO and .NET installs took up hard drive space (and there wasn't much there to begin with). I just noticed I have a "D" drive that is completely empty. Is there any reason why I could not install OO to that drive and work from there (instead of the C drive)?

From what I've read, there were no service packs released for Windows ME, though apparently there were some unofficial ones. Don't know if I'd trust such though.

Question: Do you need to be able to edit the documents or is being able to view them sufficient?

Orange Blossom

From what I've read, there were no service packs released for Windows ME, though apparently there were some unofficial ones. Don't know if I'd trust such though.

Question: Do you need to be able to edit the documents or is being able to view them sufficient?

Orange Blossom

Thanks. These service packs were described as 'updates' to the .NET frameworks I just installed. Is that different from service packs for Windows ME? At any rate, I did find them (for .NET, that is) on MSFT's website and it's a matter of figuring out which links to follow to get them on my system.

Ideally, I would like to create/edit in OpenOffice too, but the most important thing (right now) is being able to view and email documents.

And, it looks like my other VAIO is kaput (not recoverable). Time to go shopping. At least I now have Open Office on this computer to keep going in the meanwhile.

I also found that I have a completely untouched hard drive (drive "d") on this old computer that is completely empty. So can move a few files over there to free up some work room on drive C. Who knew?

Can't thank everyone enough. I did google all sorts of terms trying to find out how to view my MSFT Office 2003 docs and the best info (and the solution) came from this forum.

Quick clarification/correction on installing .NET framework service pack updates (referenced in the above post) for Windows ME. You do NOT need to install all service packs to update a particular version of .NET framework, only install the latest service pack. For example. .NET framework 1.0 has 3 service packs. I only needed to install service pack 3, since it included "new" fixes and all the fixes in the previous two service packs. The service packs for .NET framework updates are cumulative, in other words.

I did need to install all versions of .NET framework that were compatible with ME (in this case, I just installed whatever 'oldapps.com' showed as being available and compatible -- there were three versions -- 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0). The versions of .NET framework are NOT cumulative, and it's safer just to leave the older version on the system, in case some software relies on it. And, of course, the latest service pack for each of those versions.

Thought I would clarify in case anyone else goes through this with an old computer with Windows ME.

Hello Holly65,

Yes, operating system service packs are different from NET Framework service packs.

There is another option I have found, much smaller than Open Office, though it is NOT an editor. Sadly, it's not free: the cost is about $20.00. There is a one week trial period.

Program name: Word Viewer 6.08 produced by Abdio Software

From what I read here: http://download.cnet.com/Word-Viewer/3000-2079_4-10968489.html it works on Windows ME and you can view office documents ranging from Word 97 through Word 2007. There are some conversion capabilities to other file formats available.

You can read more about it here: http://www.word-viewer.com/word-viewer-screenshot.html and here: http://www.word-viewer.com/word-viewer.html

This program does not require the compatibility pack that the current Word Viewer published by MS does in order to view word 2007 documents. (As an aside, Word Viewer 2007 by MS is really Word Viewer 2003 with explanation for using the compatibility pack to view Office 2007 and 2010 documents. I just tried it. Further, depending on what was used in creating the document, it does not preserve all formatting/features in Word 2007 documents and I suspect Word 2010 documents as well).

I just tried Word Viewer 6.08 out on my computer, which is Windows XP, and it opened a Word 2007 beautifully with nothing scrambled as read only and no alerts about formatting or features not available in the viewing.

Rather than try to describe the save options, I'm posting a snapshot:



Orange Blossom

Hello Holly65,

Yes, operating system service packs are different from NET Framework service packs.

There is another option I have found, much smaller than Open Office, though it is NOT an editor. Sadly, it's not free: the cost is about $20.00. There is a one week trial period.

Program name: Word Viewer 6.08 produced by Abdio Software

From what I read here: http://download.cnet.com/Word-Viewer/3000-2079_4-10968489.html it works on Windows ME and you can view office documents ranging from Word 97 through Word 2007. There are some conversion capabilities to other file formats available.

You can read more about it here: http://www.word-viewer.com/word-viewer-screenshot.html and here: http://www.word-viewer.com/word-viewer.html

This program does not require the compatibility pack that the current Word Viewer published by MS does in order to view word 2007 documents. (As an aside, Word Viewer 2007 by MS is really Word Viewer 2003 with explanation for using the compatibility pack to view Office 2007 and 2010 documents. I just tried it. Further, depending on what was used in creating the document, it does not preserve all formatting/features in Word 2007 documents and I suspect Word 2010 documents as well).

I just tried Word Viewer 6.08 out on my computer, which is Windows XP, and it opened a Word 2007 beautifully with nothing scrambled as read only and no alerts about formatting or features not available in the viewing.

Rather than try to describe the save options, I'm posting a snapshot:



Orange Blossom

Wow, great post, and thanks. I'll keep that as an option.

I got OpenOffice installed and working, but so far have not figured out how to open the Word docs that were created in Office 2010 (.docx). I found some info about how to do that (by going into the OO setup file and making some change?) so that may still be possible/doable. Some posts say you can open, but cannot save, etc., but many forum posts are quite dated, so clearly, more research is required.

All other Word docs seem to open just fine, though there is often a loss in formatting that needs to be cleaned up. Your post shows a better result than what I am seeing in OO. At least I can see the data. But you are working in XP, which may make a difference.

Have had better luck opening Excel docs, which look pretty great.

I really need to explore OO more as it's possible that formatting losses, etc. are the result of my not knowing enough about how to use OO, or using the wrong filters.

*****

UPDATE info on the service packs for .NET framework. As far as I can tell, the last service pack that is compatible with Windows ME is service pack #3 for .NET 1.0. So even though oldapps.com lists three .NET framework versions that are compatible with ME, not all of the service packs that go with are compatible!

I made the mistake of installing the service pack for .NET 1.1, and only afterwards read the 'system requirements' and saw that Windows ME was not supported! Of course the service pack for .NET 2.0 does not support Windows ME either.

So, I now have to figure out how to uninstall that service pack (for .NET 1.1.), or just leave it be. The system seems to be working just fine, so it may be more trouble than it's worth. I do get the occasional system freeze up, but that was happening before I installed .NET and/or service packs, so I doubt there's a connection.

I had Open Office for quite some time, both version 2 and version 3. Neither had .docx as an option. They were working on it. I don't know if they got to the point of OO working with .docx documents before LibreOffice spun off or not. That was a matter of great frustration for me.

The formatting issues you speak of have to do with the program and not the OS. Have had those problems myself. The more basic the coding in the original document, the fewer opportunities for formatting scrambles. I have MS Office 2003 installed on my computer and the compatibility pack. One thing that gets messed up on a consistent basis when opening .docx documents in MS Office 2003 with compatibility pack is the margins. Drives me nuts. Table presentation gets messed up too. It's a problem when revising/editing a document for someone who has MS Office 2007 or 2010 and you've got MS Office 2003. I never know how much is going to be scrambled once sending it back. I've noticed that pagination is vastly different too. I discovered that when working on a document at home where I've got MS Office 2003 and at the library where they have MS Office 2010. Same document was 43 pages at one location and 68 at the other.

Orange Blossom

never used this but .i soon will give it a try ,your comment about using cloud computing on the thumb drive to see the word docs made me look further .

edit never mind i misunderstood that its a addon for ms office not what you need


https://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect/