Office XP Setup program overwrites Start menu items from earlier versions of Office

When you install Microsoft Office XP, menu items on the Start menu that belong to programs from earlier versions of Office suites are overwritten by the menu items that belong to Office XP programs. This occurs even though, during Setup, you chose to keep the earlier version or versions of Office.

This behavior occurs because the Setup programs for Office 2000, Office 97, and Office 95 are all designed to create Start menu items with the same names (Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and so on). Because two identical menu items cannot exist in the same folder, the earlier menu items are overwritten by the new Office XP menu items.

To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Manually move the earlier version shortcuts

If you manually move the program shortcuts for the earlier Office version or versions to a different folder before you install Office XP, the shortcuts will not be overwritten during the Office XP installation. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Start button, and then click Open.
2. In the Start Menu window, double-click Programs.
3. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Folder. Name the new folder (for example, "Microsoft Office 97"), and then press ENTER.
4. In the Programs folder, select the following items, if they exist:
   For Office 2000:
   Microsoft Excel
   Microsoft Word
   Microsoft PowerPoint
   Microsoft Access
   Microsoft Outlook
   Microsoft FrontPage
   For Office 97:
   Microsoft Excel
   Microsoft Binder
   Microsoft Word
   Microsoft PowerPoint
   Microsoft Access
   Microsoft Outlook
   Microsoft Photo Editor
   For Office 95:
   Microsoft Excel
   Microsoft Binder
   Microsoft Word
   Microsoft PowerPoint
   Microsoft Access
   Microsoft Schedule+
5. Drag the selected items to the new folder that you created.

The menu items are removed from the Programs folder and appear in the folder that you created. In this location, they will not be overwritten by the Office XP Setup program.

Note If you perform the preceding steps for Office 2000, install Office XP, and then repair your Office 2000 installation, the shortcuts for Office XP will be replaced by shortcuts for Office 2000. The Windows Installer repair process always replaces shortcuts if they are missing from their original location.

Method 2: Use a transform to create custom Office XP shortcuts

You can also use a transform created by the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW) to create custom Office XP shortcuts. You can place these custom shortcuts on a custom menu off the Programs menu.

Note This method can only be used if you have the Office XP Resource Kit.

To create custom shortcuts with a transform, follow these steps:

1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW).
2. In the Remove Previous Versions dialog box, select Remove the following versions of Microsoft Office applications.
3. Double-click an Office program that you want to keep from an earlier version of Office that you already installed.
4. Clear the check box for the version of the program that you want to keep installed, and then click OK.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each Office program that you want to keep from an earlier version of Office that you already installed.
6. In the Add, Modify, or Remove Shortcuts dialog box, double-click the Office program item for which you want to create a custom shortcut. For example, double-click Microsoft Access.
7. In the Add/Modify Shortcut Entry dialog box, change the path that is specified in the Location box to include a custom menu. For example, type the following path for Microsoft Access:
   StartMenu\Programs\OfficeXP
8. Click OK in the Add/Modify Shortcut Entry dialog box.
9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 for each Office program whose default location is StartMenu\Programs in the Add, Modify, or Remove Shortcuts dialog box.
10. Complete the remaining dialog boxes in the CIW.
11. Install Office XP with the transform that you created. When the Office XP installation is finished, your program shortcuts for the earlier Office version or versions will be on the Programs menu, and the Office XP program shortcuts will be on the custom menu that was created by the transform.

Note If you install Office 95, Office 97, or Office 2000 after you install Microsoft Office XP, the default Programs menu items for the Office XP programs are overwritten. In this situation, remove all Office versions and reinstall all Office versions, starting with the oldest, working your way up to the latest version. Make sure to follow the steps in the "Workaround" section of this article to prevent shortcuts from being overwritten.

For additional information about running multiple versions of Office, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: