How to Resolve Installation Incompatibility Between Microsoft Office, Visio, and Project

Introduction

Certain combinations of Microsoft Office, Project, and Visio cannot be installed together on the same computer. According to the Microsoft Office support article Supported scenarios for installing different versions of Office, Project, and Visio on the same computer, the following limitations apply:

  • You can't install two products together that have the same version but use different installation technologies.
  • You can't install two products of different versions together if both products use Click-to-Run as the installation technology and those products have overlapping Office applications.

Installation Technologies

The installation technology your Microsoft product uses is determined by how you purchased it and which version of the product you purchased.

The three installation technologies are:

  • Click-to-Run
  • Windows Installer (MSI)
  • Microsoft Store
    • Note that only Microsoft products purchased from the online Microsoft Store will use the Microsoft Store installation technology

In newer releases of Office, you can go to File > Account in any Office app, such as Word, and the type of installation technology is listed under the Product Information section.

Another way to tell which installation technology was used to install Office is go to File > Account in any Office app. Under the Product Information section, if you see an Update Options choice, Office was installed by using Click-to-Run. If you don't see an Update Options choice, and you don't see any mention of Microsoft Store, then Office was installed by using Windows Installer (MSI).

Steps

Refer to the following instructions to resolve compatibility issues between different versions of Microsoft Office, Project, and Visio.

  1. Determine the installation technology and version of each Microsoft product you need to install on your machine
  2. Use the guidelines established above to determine which Microsoft products can be installed on the same computer
  3. If necessary, uninstall existing Microsoft products
  4. Install compatible Microsoft products

Still Need Help?

If you need help completing these steps or experience an issue along the way, please contact the OIT Help Desk!

Details

Article ID: 158099
Created
Thu 9/28/23 4:03 PM
Modified
Thu 9/28/23 4:24 PM