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Jay Freedman Jay Freedman is offline
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Default Going "backwards" from Word 2007 to Word 2003

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:31:00 -0800, Boblawyer
wrote:

I have a licensed "student" edition of Word 2003. I installed it on the 3
PCs we have at home (my kids are the students), which is allowed with the
student edition.

I decided to see what Word 2007 was all about, so I bought and installed it.

Unfortunately, it over-wrote 2003 (my mistake during the installation, I'm
sure) - a result I did not intend.

Frankly, I am unhappy with 2007. Aside from having to learn a whole new
set of commands, the basic structure is a departure from just about all other
Windows applications (File, Edit, View, etc) and it takes more clickstrokes
to accomplish the same tasks than in 2003.

And my workplace still uses 2003.


I would like to re-install 2003 using the original disk. I am concerned
that when I plug in the serial number, Microsoft will disable the program on
the ground that the program is being installed on someone else's computer in
violation of the license terms.

Is there any way to take care of this before I do the re-install of 2003 ?

Bob


Don't worry about it. The activation database at Microsoft has a record of the
"identity" of each machine where you initially installed Word 2003, and
reinstalling on any of those three machines should let you reactivate without
complaining.

I say "should" because there are always gremlins in the system, but if the
activation routine fails to recognize the machine, you'll be invited to
reactivate by telephone.

The "identity" of a machine for activation purposes consists of a number (I
believe about ten) of characteristics, such as the serial number of the hard
drive, the address of the network card, and the model of the motherboard. Even
if a few of those have been changed by upgrades, the machine will still be
recognized and reactivation will be allowed.

The one issue to take care of before the reinstallation is to be sure to resave
any 2007-format documents or templates in 2003 format, or else to download the
Compatibility Pack
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...3-C6BB74CD1466)
to let Word 2003 edit the documents (but it won't be able to use 2007-format
templates).

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
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