Buy Copy Of Office 97, put on Windows 98 Computer

michael diemer · 24 Oct 2019

Hi, my wife wants to buy a copy of Office 97 and put it on our old Windows 98 machine, a Gateway that still works fine. It has never been hooked up to the internet. There are various deals available online for it, some which say they are an upgrade (which we don't want), some say they have certificate of authenticity, etc. Is this doable? Will she be able to open Office 10 docs in it?

I have tried getting her to use Libre and Free Office but she like MS products, plus the fact that the computer is offline means no security issues.

Thank you, Mike

Barman58 · 24 Oct 2019

The loading / installing of a legitimate Non upgrade should not be any real issue ...

If I recall correctly the versions between o97 and w98 would not be an issue as Windows 97 was a update from W95

However the sharing of files between two such disparate versions as o97 and current versions would be difficult - it may be possible to open O97 files (presumably .Doc ) in the later versions even up to O2019 but there will likely be some issues with layouts and of course any automation, saving backwards has often be more difficult as much of the functionality in later versions will not be reproducible in the older version.

Microsoft used to produce special software to enable better compatibility, a major one was when .Docx replaced .Doc , but of course you may need to use more than one version of this software to bridge such a large gap

With care is keeping documents as simple as possible, It should be possible to put together a working system, but whether this will be useable easily is unknown

michael diemer · 24 Oct 2019

Thank you Barman. So it looks doable, but backward compatibility may be an issue, if I read you correctly. She may need to enter the data in Office 97, starting from scratch. Which may be OK.

Barman58 · 24 Oct 2019

Yes doable but may need some getting used to, would be best if there was a trial but I assume that office 9x are not commanding high prices unless it a nostalgia thing that I've totally missed

Snick · 24 Oct 2019

michael diemer
Microsoft Office 97/98 - WinWorld
My favorite Window legacy site.
Old Version of Apache OpenOffice for Windows 98
Bill

michael diemer · 24 Oct 2019

Thank you Snick. That list of downloads for 97 Office, I'm assuming you need a valid key, right?

erpster4 · 25 Oct 2019

that's right michael.

there are several editions of Office 97 (like Office 97 Professional, Small Business, Standard, etc.) and only certain "valid keys" will work with certain editions

RolandJS · 26 Oct 2019

Saving everything as Office 95/97 format should work just fine. Now, a separate idea: If for any reason Office blips and suddenly blips off, let us know , there a very remote possibility that a 3rd party AV AM might interfere with Office load operations.

wither 2 · 26 Oct 2019

In regards to compatibility with later versions, I'm running the student edition of Office 2007 and Word offers the option in Save As to save a file in Word 97-2003 (.doc) format. I can't speak for the later versions of Office.

I did some searching around and I think this is saying you can save in the old format from Office 365-

Save a file in Microsoft Office - Office Support

Are the two serials listed at the first webpage provided by Snick valid for everyone.