How can I prevent Excel 2016 from automatically replacing Excel 2007?

[akfocus]

The following problem has occurred twice in the last week, just out of the blue (i.e. no Windows update done at the time; I do those manually):

Excel 2016 is replacing Excel 2007. I am then directed to activate Excel 2016 to have its full functionality. However I have no intent of using or paying for Excel 2016 -- I want to continue using Excel 2007 even though it is no longer supported.

Oddly, Office 2007 no longer appears in my Add/Remove Programs list -- only Office 365 (which I guess must be Office 2016). And although Word 2007 still works, Outlook - which I use only archivally and is no longer connected to an email account - has been replaced by Office 2016.

After restoring my C: drive with a two-month old backup, all of my Office 2007 ran fine for a couple of days; then all of a sudden, without warning -- same thing. Excel 2007 and Office 2007 get replaced with Office 2016 programs. Oddly, even immediately after restoring my C: drive, Office 2007 is absent from Add/Remove programs; only Office 365 is there.

So my question is, how can I prevent Office 2016 from automatically replacing any of my Office 2007 programs? This is a real mess for me -- preventing me from working with my intellectual property and other records.

 

[Ranger4]

Office 2016 is as far as I know normally available as Office 2016 or Office 365. Office 365, which is a subscription version with a monthly fee. You have probably installed a trial version of Office 365.

Outlook will always update to the latest version of Office, hence your Outlook now being Outlook 2016. Also the Excel file format changed after Office 2007. Excel spreadsheets created in Office 2007 have to be converted to later versions of Office, which Excel will accomplish.

How did you expect to keep Office 2016 without paying for it?. If you don't activate Office 2016 it will eventually fail to work. If you have no intention of using Excel 2016 why did you install it?.

If you want to reinstall Office 2007, you will have to uninstall Office 2016/365 completely. Then check to see if Office 2007 remains, if not you will have to reinstall Office 2007. This MS website might help you uninstall Office 2016/365, & it's worth reading through it first.

Uninstall Office from a PC - Office Support

 

[akfocus]

> How did you expect to keep Office 2016 without paying for it?. ... If you don't activate Office 2016 it will eventually fail to work. If you have no intention of using Excel 2016 why did you install it?.

It came on my machine, but I never activated it because I have no desire to use it. I bought a Office 2007 and installed it instead (since it is what I am familiar with and MS upgrades are usually downgrades in some respects in my view), but never thought to uninstall Office 2016 (out of sight, out of mind). Office 2007 worked fine until last week when this problem started happening with Excel and Outlook (but oddly not Word, Publisher or Powerpoint).

 

[Snick]

I'd backup all my Office documents, turn off windows updates (never check for updates), install Office 2007 again, uninstall Office 2016, turn on windows update (return to whatever setting you had previously).

 

[Ranger4]

I agree with Snick on backing up all your Office documents. However, I do not agree with turning off Windows Updates. In this day & age it is very important that Windows & Office installations are kept right up to date, as security is becoming a bigger issue all the time.

There really is not much point in having Office 2007 on your computer if you plan to use most of the applications from Office 2016. Make the change & convert your spreadsheets etc. to Office 2016.

If you still want to have both versions installed, you will have to uninstall Office 2016 & if Office 2007 is still not working properly, you will to uninstall it as well. To have both versions installed, the older version should be installed first & then updated, followed by the later version, which should also be updated.

As I mentioned in Post #2 Outlook will default to the later version, so you should reset all your email settings for Outlook 2016.

Do you have the Installation DVD for Office 2016 & the Activation code as well?. If you don't have an installation DVD then you will have to download a fresh copy from MS & this usually requires an Activation code .

 

[akfocus]

I am not using 2016 at all. I just now completely deleted it (actually the Office 365 item), which also completely deleted 2007. I have now reinstalled 2007, which is all that I want to use. Hopefully the problem will not recur now.

Thanks to all for your help and advice.

 

[Snick]

I believe I suggested to turn off windows update TEMPORARILY to prevent office 2007 to office 2016 update. Did not suggest, nor would I recommend leaving windows update disabled or never check for updates.

If that was not how my post was interpreted then my bad...

 

[Snick]

You should be good!

Happy computing!

 

[mrjimphelps]

It sounds like Office 2016 deleted the icons for Office 2007. You can easily fix that simply by going to the folders containing the Office 2007 executables (winword.exe, msexcel.exe, etc.) and creating shortcuts to them; and delete the 2016 icons.

To get documents and spreadsheets to open with Office 2007 when you double click on them, associate .DOCX, .XLSX, and other Office filetypes with the 2007 executables by right-clicking on a document or spreadsheet, selecting Open With, click the button for finding the program, check the box to always open the file with this program, then drill down to the 2007 executable, click on it, and click OK.

 

[Ranger4]

I believe I suggested to turn off windows update TEMPORARILY to prevent office 2007 to office 2016 update. Did not suggest, nor would I recommend leaving windows update disabled or never check for updates.

If that was not how my post was interpreted then my bad...

My apologies, yes you did state to reset Updates again afterwards. I just failed to to see that, my bad.

 

[Snick]

No problem!