Classic version of Excel and the OSX versions of Word and Powerpoint on the same computer?

[Wayne]

Can I reliably run the classic version of Excel and the OSX versions
of Word and Powerpoint on the same computer?

There has been discussion in this forum in the past demonstrating that
an Excel file with many tabbed pages runs much, much slower in the OSX
version than in the Office 2001 version with System 9 or even in the
Windows version on OSX using Virtual PC.

I have an Excel file with multiple tabbed pages with formulas that
use information from other tabbed pages within the file. With Office
OSX, just entering a number not used in any calculations causes the
beach ball display for many seconds. I regularly enter many numbers
into the spreadsheet each week. I use a 1.25Ghz G4 (version 3.3) with
two processors and have 1 GB SDRAM. I am up to date with the OSX
upgrades through OS 10.2.8 and all the Office X upgrades. This is the
computer I use at work.

Last week I bought the newest e-mac with 1GB ram for use at home and
installed Office 2001. On this system, the same Excel file is very
fast -- I never see the beach ball regardless of what I'm doing with
the file!

I had some problems with PowerPoint using Office 2001 under system 9
using an older computer at work that I don't have using Office X
using my current computer at work. Thus when using my computer at
work, I'd like to use Office X for Powerpoint (and probably Word).

What would happen if I install Office 2001 on my work computer and
delete Word and Powerpoint from the Office 2001 folder and also delete
Excel from the Office X folder?

 

[Edwin Tam (MS MVP)]

First of all, I can tell you that Office X was designed to run VERY WELL on machines with Office 2001 installed.
It means, you should be able to use Office X and Office 2001 on the same machine.

So, yes, you can run Excel 2001 and Word X and PowerPoint X on the same computer.

I am surprised that the file was operating so slow on your work machine with dual 1.25MHz G4. Even on 500MHz G3, Excel 2001 should run smoothly under Mac OS X. I really don't know the solution for this one. But if you don't mind, you can rebuild your machine and the situation should improve.

For you last question. Nothing wrong or fatal will happen.


----- Wayne wrote: -----

Can I reliably run the classic version of Excel and the OSX versions
of Word and Powerpoint on the same computer?

There has been discussion in this forum in the past demonstrating that
an Excel file with many tabbed pages runs much, much slower in the OSX
version than in the Office 2001 version with System 9 or even in the
Windows version on OSX using Virtual PC.

I have an Excel file with multiple tabbed pages with formulas that
use information from other tabbed pages within the file. With Office
OSX, just entering a number not used in any calculations causes the
beach ball display for many seconds. I regularly enter many numbers
into the spreadsheet each week. I use a 1.25Ghz G4 (version 3.3) with
two processors and have 1 GB SDRAM. I am up to date with the OSX
upgrades through OS 10.2.8 and all the Office X upgrades. This is the
computer I use at work.

Last week I bought the newest e-mac with 1GB ram for use at home and
installed Office 2001. On this system, the same Excel file is very
fast -- I never see the beach ball regardless of what I'm doing with
the file!

I had some problems with PowerPoint using Office 2001 under system 9
using an older computer at work that I don't have using Office X
using my current computer at work. Thus when using my computer at
work, I'd like to use Office X for Powerpoint (and probably Word).

What would happen if I install Office 2001 on my work computer and
delete Word and Powerpoint from the Office 2001 folder and also delete
Excel from the Office X folder?

 

[Wayne]

Edwin,

Thank you very much for your help!

I did a little experimentation and now have a setup that works much
better. I am using Excel in Office 2001 without the updates and have
very credible speed for my tabbed spreadsheet. I am using Excel in
Office X for my spreadsheets that have a small number of tabs where
the slower speed is not significant.

I found something that was quite surprising: Excel in Office 2001 as
installed from the Office 2001 CD is MUCH FASTER on my mac than Excel
in Office X for my Excel file with many tabbed pages. However, when I
apply the "Microsoft Office 2001 Combined Update 9.0.4" then Excel in
Office 2001 is MUCH SLOWER on my mac than Excel in Office X for the
same Excel file. I found this to be true on both my Mac G4 at work
and for my new e-mac at home.

Since there have been a number of reports from people on how much
slower Excel in Office X is than in Office 2001, I wonder if the OS X
version has something similar to whatever is in the "Microsoft Office
2001 Combined Update 9.0.4" that is causing the very substantial
slowness.

Thanks again for your help.

Wayne