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April 10, 2025

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questions_ - neilpzz - Ramesh Srinivasan ✅

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BobEisenhauer

Office Compatibility pack does not work with Windows 10 using Office 2003

In Windows 10 I am using Office 2003. I have downloaded & installed Office 2003 SP3 & the Office Compatibility pack. I get the message when trying to read extensions created by office 2010 "this file created by a newer version of Office". I also had installed Office 2010 on my new computer that I had on my old computer which I tried to license it & used for 30 days & they took the use away so I uninstalled it. So what is wrong with my new downloads not working? My guess is when they took the use away of Office 2010 they installed a front end program that puts out the above unable to read message & the uninstall of Office 2010 did not delete it? Please need help with the Fix.

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HairyFool

Office 2003 is not supported on Windows 10 and produces unpredictable results. The compatibility pack has nothing to do with making it work on later versions of Windows it just allows older versions of Office to read newer files.

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Andre Da Costa

I need to test this to confirm. Did you try installing the compatibility pack in compatibility mode?

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Andre
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BobEisenhauer

I am trying to use an older version of Office to read newer versions of Office?. Are you saying it won't work on what I am trying to do because it was not designed to work on Windows 10?

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BobEisenhauer

I don't know anything about compatibility mode on Windows 10.

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HairyFool

That is correct but more than that, 2003 itself is not compatible. It doesn't matter what files you are trying to open the application has problems with Windows 10.

You need that newer version of Office.

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Andre Da Costa

Its not certified compatible, doesn't prevent it from working.

A look at running older versions of Microsoft Office on Windows 10

You won't be able to open the new file formats in it, so that's basically the basis for getting a newer version.

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BobEisenhauer

That is not totally true. I read, and update all my old extensions of Office 2003 including Access.

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JimWynne

Don't let the fact that you're able to run Office 2003 in Windows 10 give you a false sense of security. Performance will be unpredictable, and something can break at any time. This is especially true with regard to Windows 10 upgrades, which are essentially new versions of the OS. Use Office 2003 at your own risk.

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BobEisenhauer

Thank you for the reply. But Article ID 924074 implies that if you have Office 2003 updated it will work. What happened to Bill Gates policy that if you purchase the software it will work forever? I would think the OS interfaces would be standard & thus APPS would adhere to the standard & thus changes to the OS internals would have no effect. It looks like Microsoft is building into its software obsolesces so as to sell more software & thus make more money for the shareholders. If I am right this will become a good reason not to use Microsoft anymore!

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JimWynne

On the download page for the compatibility pack, the following is shown regarding OS compatibility:

Nothing there about anything beyond Windows 7. A reference or link to the alleged "...Bill Gates policy that if you purchase the software it will work forever..." would be good. All software will be obsolete sooner or later.

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Question Info

Last updated May 6, 2024 Views 5,522 Applies to:

Windows
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Windows 10
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Install, upgrade, & activate
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PC