How to Upload (Download?) Office 2000

[Eve]

Everyone tells me that the word-processing program my Toshiba laptop came with (Microsoft Works) sucks, so I finally got myself an Office 2000 CD. It's supposed to be "easy to install," but I've heard that gag before—can anyone tell me what to expect after I put the CD in, and what buttons I press after that?

Thanks!

—Luddite Lil

[KneadToKnow]

The past several versions of Office installer I've seen give Standard, Custom, and Minimal install options. If all you want is Word, you will almost certainly have to go with the "Custom" option and be willing to put up with a butt-load of "You have to install this other thing for the program you are asking for to work"-type error messages.

Hope this helps.

[Balthisar]

Though this was a question about piracy! For future reference, I think you simply meant "install." Also FWIW "download" usually implies receiving something from your perspective, and "upload" usually implies sending something from your persepctive. But if you use industrial software and/or machinery, sometimes this is backwards because the machinery's perspective is more important than your own. :)

[CookingWithGas]

Have you actually tried the version of Microsoft Works that you have? The later versions of it include Microsoft Word. (The earlier versions had a word-processor that was very Word-like but with much more limited functionality.)

[Eve]

This is all too confusing.

Yes, I did try and take a peek at Microsoft Works, and couldn't make head or tail of it (it doesn't come with any instructions—they want you to buy that!).

KneadToKnow, I am now thoroughly baffled. Are you saying I should or shouldn't install the Custom option?

[KneadToKnow]

Originally posted by Eve
KneadToKnow, I am now thoroughly baffled. Are you saying I should or shouldn't install the Custom option?I'm sorry, Eve, I didn't mean to make matters worse. :)

Please keep in mind that I have not myself installed the version of Office you will be installing. However, every version of Office I have installed since version 4 (circa 1994) has started with a 3-way option. You could run the standard installation, which requires the least input from you but which results in a relatively hefty chunk of your hard drive space being given over to the program, a custom installation, which requires the greatest amount of input from you but which gives you the option to (to a degree, anyway) completely avoid installing the parts of the program you don't want (like Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc.), or the minimal installation, designed for laptops, which is like the standard installation "lite," in other words, it requires fairly little interaction but doesn't install everything the standard does.

Your needs will dictate what you need to install, but if I were in your shoes and only wanted Word, I would run the custom installation. My caveat here (and above) is that you won't have any luck if you just go into the custom installation and uncheck everything but Word. The installer program will come back and tell you (probably more than once) that you have unchecked something that you must have in order to use Word. So this will be a hassle.

On the other hand, it's just a hassle, it's not actually hard. Whenever it tells you you have to have something you've unchecked, just tell it to install that. It's not like you actually need to know why you need it. :)

[KneadToKnow]

Oh, and at the risk of further confusing the issue, sometimes you have a fourth option: to run the program from the CD.

Do no use this option.

Selecting this option is the only guaranteed way to lose your CD. Microsoft has software distribution reclamation fairies (known as SoDiReFas in the industry) whose only job in life is to steal the CD-ROMs of people who choose this option, thereby requiring them to purchase the software again. :)

[RealityChuck]

I'm installed Office 2000 as I write this.

What you see when Office starts running is a window that asks for your name, business, and CD key. Type in the CD key and click next.

Next is the End User License Agreement. Agree to it.

Now you have the options to install. Since you don't seem to be a power user type, your best bet is "Typical." Yes, it takes up hard drive space, but most likely you have plenty. It also gives you all the options, just in case you discover it'd be convenient to use Access or Excel. Click on the icon.

That should be everything. Just let it run.

When you first start Word, it'll give a "gathering information" screen. Sometimes it requires the Office CD, but this won't be necessary after the first time.

[Eve]

Thanks! I will print this out and try it tonight.

[KneadToKnow]

As usual, the voice of "doing it right now" gives better advice than the voice of "did it 100 times several years ago."

Good work, Chuck!

[AHunter3]

Good god.

To install Microsoft Office apps on a Mac, you


•_insert CD
•_drag icon of program(s) (Word, Excel, whatever) to anywhere you want on any hard drive or partition on your computer.


Period.

(I still don't like Word but I must express sincere admiration for the engineering of MacBU products from Microsoft. They are well-crafted.)

[Morbo]

Originally posted by AHunter3
(I still don't like Word but I must express sincere admiration for the engineering of MacBU products from Microsoft. They are well-crafted.)

I couldn't agree with you more. :D

[Kalashnikov]

I have the Office CD, and all I needed on my laptop was Word, Outlook, and Excel, so that's what I installed.

On the CD is a program called SETUPWRD.EXE. This program does give you a choice of full, custom, etc. installations. I suspect most people could choose "typical" and never know the difference.

[Eve]

OK, well, it didn't work . . .

I put the CD in; it asked for my name, initials, business, CD key, and I typed them all in and hit "enter."

Then it said, "[Product Compliance Code: Setup failed to locate qualifying product on your machine. Please select the drive where a qualifying product can be found." It gave the choices of a:, c: and cd:, so I tried c:.

Then I got Error 1608: Could not find any previous installed compliant products on the machine for installing this product, and it wouldn't even let me go back to try cd:, just kept giving me error codes.

Now, I have a brand-new Toshiba laptop with Microsoft Windows XP; it can't be possible that it "won't accept" an Office 2000 program!

Help!

[Latch]

Almost sounds as if the Office 2000 CD you have is the upgrade version, and not the full install version. That's just a guess though, if anybody has anything more solid, go with that.

[Boyo Jim]

I think Latch is right. It sounds as if the installer is looking for an earlier version of MS Office to replace, rather than unstall one from scratch.

Normally the disk label would say so. What does the MS disk label say?

[Eve]

It says "Microsoft Office 2000 Standard."

A friend tells me that it might be because my computer came with Microsoft Works, and you can't install Office 2000 until you delete Works? "It's like trying to install Olivia de Havilland when you already have Joan Fontaine," he says.

Is that a possibility?

[Eve]

Oh, crap, it does say "upgrade"on the disc itself! Am I screwed? What is it I need to get?

[Fear Itself]

Originally posted by AHunter3
Good god.

To install Microsoft Office apps on a Mac, you


•_insert CD
•_drag icon of program(s) (Word, Excel, whatever) to anywhere you want on any hard drive or partition on your computer.


Period.

(I still don't like Word but I must express sincere admiration for the engineering of MacBU products from Microsoft. They are well-crafted.) OK, let me get this straight: the Windows installation allows users to select from standard, custom or minimal installations, depending on their individual needs. The Mac install limits you to whatever configuration Steve Jobs thinks is best for you. And the Mac installation is better, because....

[RealityChuck]

Originally posted by Eve
Oh, crap, it does say "upgrade"on the disc itself! Am I screwed? What is it I need to get?
Essentially, yes. You need to get a full version, not the upgrade version. I don't know who might be willing to make an exchange, though.

[cmyk]

Originally posted by Fear Itself
OK, let me get this straight: the Windows installation allows users to select from standard, custom or minimal installations, depending on their individual needs. The Mac install limits you to whatever configuration Steve Jobs thinks is best for you. And the Mac installation is better, because....

Nope. If you drag the folder onto your hard drive, This would be the same as installing it using the Standard method.

There is also a little installer icon right next to it, which will allow you to then go through all the typical rigmarole of Custom, Minimal, and even Standard...

AFAIK, Steve Jobs has nothing to do with the MacBU over at Microsoft.

[JohnClay]

Eve:
The updgrade version means you need to have an earlier version of office already installed - e.g. Office 97.
The things you are talking about are very basic computer problems... don't you have any friends or computer shop sales people you can talk to? I mean you have a *huge* amount of stuff to learn about computers.
I recommend you read books like "Windows XP for dummies" (assuming you have that version of windows) - that would get you introduced to how windows works in general. There is also "The beginner's guide to..." series. You can probably get those kinds of books at your library. There are also introductory books to Office - but you'd need to understand how your version of Windows (Windows XP or Windows 2000 or Windows 98, etc) works first.

[Boyo Jim]

You need to return the disk to where you got it and exchange it. Did you buy it in a store? Online?

BTW, there are 2 versions of MS Office 2000, a 'home" version and a "professional" version.

[Boyo Jim]

Damn, hit the submit button too fast.

CookingWithGas is right. If you have a new version of MS Works, it should include MS Word.

MS Office contains additional business programs like Excel and Access.

[harrije]

You purchaded the upgrade version. This will only work if you have a previous version of MS Office installed on your computer (or if you have a legitimate full-version CD that you can pop in the drive for a few seconds during the upgrade install).

However, before you go out and spend yet more money, let me offer a suggestion, as one computer professional to one by-all-appearances novice end-user:

If you are not sure whether you need Office or Word (except that your friends--who are not paying for the software--have suggested it), and if all you want is something to write letters and print them off, then I would suggest you simply stick with the version of Works that came with your computer.

In my experience, many people buy Word or Office thinking they have to, when in fact a less expensive program would suit their needs just fine. You'll find that Works will read Word files with relative ease, and Works has fewer bells and whistles, so there will be fewer buttons, menu options, and so forth to clutter your workspace.

The extra features you get with Word are geared towards power users, a group you do not appear to be a part of at the current time.

If money is a concern, you might also check out http://www.oppenoffice.org. OpenOffice is free and provides approximately 95% compatibility with MSOffice 2000 (and previous). For a novice user such as yourself, the compatibility rating would be very nearly 100% for all of your needs.

[harrije]

The above URL is incorrect, and the edit function seems to be disabled.

The correct URL is: http://www.openoffice.org

[Eve]

"I mean you have a *huge* amount of stuff to learn about computers."

--Yeah, like that's gonna happen . . .

" . . . if all you want is something to write letters and print them off . . ."

--Nope. I need to be able to write books and get some version off to my publisher, so I need something they will be able to read or convert or whatever . . . I don't need anything in the way of artwork, but I do need something more than a letter-writing program.

Any suggestions, since to start at Square One and everyone I know says "Microsoft Works sucks?"

[MannyL]

Eve, you didn't say what version of Microsoft Works you had but if it is Works 2000 accoring to http://www.microsoft.com/products/works/homepages/StandardProduct.asp you can share documents with people who use Word. And if it is Works Suite 20003 it comes with Word 2000. What model Toshiba laptop do you have?

[DougC]

- - - Eve, enable your SDMB e-mail and then e-mail me yew wanker.
~

[Boyo Jim]

Eve, oh Eve!. Are you typing away? Have you resolved this?