Windows 7: can I load two versions of Office on Windows 7?

I am currently running XP and have Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 installed (I work in a training environment hence the need for different versions). I am intending to upgrade my computer and take the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 7, but on the point of ordering I was told that I could only run one version of Office with Windows 7 which would make it very difficult for me to work effectively.

Was I informed correctly?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I would like to have the latest software as I really need this in the environment I work in but do not want to be limited to one version of Office.

Kind regards

I'm slightly confused. Are you certain that you need all those versions? The latest versions of MS Office are completely backwards compatible with older versions such as 2000 and 2003.

Try reading through this and post back if you're certain you need multiple versions, and I'll see what I can find.

Yes, I do need to load the different versions for training purposes as people need training on the version they are going to use back in their workplace, also Excel VBA does run slightly differently in the different versions of Excel so I need to test it in the version that it is going to be run in when installed in the company.

I realise that they are backwards compatible and for my day to day purposes just use 2010, but I do need the correct version for compiling manuals or hint sheets.

I would be very grateful if you could find out whether I can load multiple versions onto Windows 7 as I dont really want to have to create virtual drives and install multiple versions of operating systems.

Kind regards

You can run multiple versions of Office, but just one version of Outlook .

Do a custom install on each version rather than an upgrade.

Thank you TeeRex and iamkenIT for your answers. I thought it strange advice that I was given - do either of you have multiple versions installed?

With Windows 7 you could create a virtual machine and have each one have the tools and environments you want in them.

Your regular day to day usage would not be affected I would think.

I do this for browser testing of IE6, 7, 8 and 9 also for training purposes.

I don't use multiple versions since I find no point to. But I tried installing 2003 and 2007 years ago though, it worked fine. Also, you can setup the old ms office version in a VM, if it would be for training purposes.

Many thanks for all your contributions. I was all set to buy a new machine and was flabbergasted to be told by the shop that I Windows 7 would only let you load one version of Office. Do any of you have any experience of hardware? Do you think it could be the motherboard/chip that they were recommending that could inibit the loading of two versions of Office.

Hardware specifications have nothing to do with the limited installations of multiple versions of msoffice, except HDD size which apparently is not the case. Don't trust market ITs.