MS Office

Updating

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I am now 70 years of age and retired but I still use my PC on a daily basis. I have a couple of not for profits that I look after and I am very active on social media.

My question is about MS Office. I am still using Office Pro 2010. Should I be upgrading and if I do am I likely to face with any problems with version compatibility?

[engine]

I've never used Office Pro 2010 so I can't comment on that.
I use Office 360, which is the way Microsoft wants to go (subscription service).

[robzilla]

Office has pretty good cross-compatibility between versions, and 2010 is still a fairly recent version, so I wouldn't expect any problems there. You don't have to upgrade, 2010 is still supported for another year and a half, and will continue to work even after that. I still have some computers running Office 2007, though my main PC has Office 2016, and I see no reason to upgrade to a subscription-based service like Office 365.

[ipco]

Why do you think you need to upgrade?
Do you use office applications on or offline, I mean is security an issue if you are just using Word, Excel or any application which does not need to touch the internet?

So, really, it all depends on which office applications you are using and do they really need upgrading.

I am still using Office 2007 and of that, I use Outlook, Excel, Word and One Note. It also came with Picture Manager which I like too.

I have not had any problems with staying with what I have and they are all optimized via macro or configuration for my work flow.

If the time did come where I must upgrade, then I would probably go with Open Office or something similar. I certainly do not want anything cloud based.

[tangor]

I'm still using 2002! As long as the files open and others can open what I send, no problems!

Even then, I generally use RTF which is cross compatible for many many systems.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I have no real reason for upgrading other than being a wee bit nervous of using an application that is nine years old.

[tangor]

Heh heh! I have a client still running Office 95. (If it ain't broke, I ain't fixing it!)

Word processing is not the same exposure web browsers face. I didn't give up my Office 97 until a computer crash and I couldn't find the install CDs (after a move) in 2011. Already had a copy of 2002 so I've been running that since.

[engine]

I always found that dealing with companies required 100% compatibility. Earlier versions just wouldn't do. Of course, they would work, but it is the 100% compatibility, and sending back the corrects files.

[robzilla]

other than being a wee bit nervous of using an application that is nine years old

Office 2010 will reach its end of support on October 13, 2020 [docs.microsoft.com]. The bit about "business-critical VBA macros, third-party add-ins, and complex documents and spreadsheets" under "Assess application compatibility" might be interesting if that's the sort of thing you use. If not, and you're not prone to opening suspicious attachments in e-mails, you'll be fine using an older version of Office, even if it's officially "expired".

[LifeinAsia]

I'm still using 2002!

I was still using Office 2000 until a few years ago. I only switched to Office 360 because I'm able to use it for free because of my university connection. When that dries up, will probably move to Libre Office. Definitely not a fan of MS' subscription model (not that I'm a fan of most of their licensing schemes).

[Hoople]

Unless they insist on using post Office 2003 features there is absolutely no reason to upgrade. The old least common denominator comes into play here. As long as they choose Word97 - Word 2003 format (*.doc not *.docx) all will be good.

You will likely see more formatting variations induced by font substitution (one PC has a font the other does NOT) and printer driver differences (minimum default margins) than the Office product versions.

I deal with a lot of not for profits that some of their older members are still on Office98 on Windows XP. They know holding on means differences and are actually pretty good about it compared to the 'me oriented' millennials.