Microsoft office 2010: new look, new experience

Microsoft Office 2010 introduces native 64-bit versions of Microsoft Office products to take advantage of this larger capacity. For example, this additional capacity is needed only by those Microsoft Excel users who require Excel spreadsheets that are larger than 2 gigabytes (GB). The 32-bit version of Office 2010 provides the same functionality and is also compatible with 32-bit add-ins. Therefore, the 32-bit version of Office 2010 is installed by default.
Office 2010 also provides support for 32-bit Office 2010 applications that run on 64-bit Windows operating systems by using Windows-32-on-Windows-64 (WOW64). WOW64 is the x86 emulator that enables 32-bit Windows-based applications to run seamlessly on 64-bit Windows systems. Office 2010 lets users continue to use existing Microsoft ActiveX Controls, Component Object Model (COM) add-ins, and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which are primarily 32-bit because no 64-bit versions are available yet for many add-ins. Supporting 32-bit Office 2010 applications that run on 64-bit operating systems allows for better compatibility with controls, add-ins, and VBA.
The recommendations for which edition of Office 2010 to install are as follows:

• If users in your organization depend on existing extensions to Office, such as ActiveX controls, third-party add-ins, in-house solutions built on previous versions of Office, or 32-bit versions of programs that interface directly with Office, we recommend that you install 32-bit Office 2010 (the default installation) on computers that are running both 32-bit and 64-bit supported Windows operating systems.
  
  
• If some users in your organization are Excel expert users who work with Excel spreadsheets that are larger than 2 gigabytes (GB), they can install the 64-bit edition of Office 2010. In addition, if you have in-house solution developers, we recommend that those developers have access to the 64-bit edition of Office 2010 so that they can test and update your in-house solutions on the 64-bit edition of Office 2010.

 

Supported Windows operating systems

The supported Windows operating system editions for 64-bit Office 2010 client include the following:

• 64-bit editions of Windows Vista with SP1
  
• 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 1
  
• Windows 7
  
• Windows Server 2008 R2
  

The following statements apply:

• The 64-bit Office client can be installed only on 64-bit editions of Windows Vista with SP1, 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 1, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2.
  
• The 32-bit Office client is supported as a WOW64 installation. This is the default installation on 64-bit Windows operating systems. The 32-bit Windows-based applications run on 64-bit Windows, which allows for compatibility with 32-bit Office applications and add-ins.
  
• Office 2010 server products (Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010, and Microsoft Project Server 2010) support the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2, and Windows Server 2008 R2. For more information, see the following resources:
  
  • Hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Server 2010)
    
  • Hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Foundation 2010)
    
  • Hardware and software requirements (Project Server 2010)
    
• For click-to-run scenarios, the supported version is Office 2010 32-bit (WOW64) on computers that run the supported 64-bit editions of Windows operating systems.
  

Architecture-specific folders and customization tools

Office 2010 includes two architecture-specific folders: one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit.
Each of these folders contains the following:

• A separate Config.xml file and Updates folder.
  
• An architecture-specific Office Customization Tool (OCT). The OCT files are located in the Admin folder for the x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) folders, respectively.
  The 64-bit version of the OCT provides the same user interface, capabilities, and configurable settings as the 32-bit version. Office 2010 introduces XML versions of OPA files: OPAX files (.opax) for non-language specific resources and OPAL files (.opal) for language-specific resources.
  
  The OCT provides support for importing Setup customization files (.msp files) as follows:
  
  • 64-bit Setup customization files can be imported into 32-bit OCT and can then be used to customize 32-bit Office products.
    
  • 32-bit Setup customization files can be imported into 64-bit OCT and can then be used to customize 64-bit Office products.
  • A 32-bit Setup customization file that is imported to 64-bit OCT is converted to 64-bit, and a 64-bit customization file that is imported to 32-bit OCT is converted to 32-bit. For more information about how to use the Import feature,
    

If you have installed Office 2010 including Microsoft Outlook 2010, Outlook sets a registry key named Bitness of type REG_SZ on the computer on which it is installed. The Bitness registry key indicates whether the Outlook 2010 installation is 32-bit or 64-bit. This might be useful to administrators who are interested in auditing computers to determine the installed versions of Office 2010 in their organization.

• Registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook
  
• Registry key: Bitness
  
• Value: either x86 or x64
  
  

Supported scenarios

The scenarios that are supported in the Office 2010 64-bit client are as follows.

• Enterprise   In enterprise environments, the default is to install Office 2010 32-bit on computers that run either 32-bit or 64-bit editions of Windows operating systems.
 We recommend this option.
  An alternate approach in enterprise environments is for administrators to do the following:
  
  • Install Office 2010 32-bit on computers that run 32-bit editions of Windows.
    
  • Install Office 2010 64-bit on computers that run 64-bit editions of Windows to take advantage of additional memory on the 64-bit computers.
    
    
• Retail   For users who install Office 2010 from DVDs onto computers that run a supported 64-bit Windows operating system, the installation is by default the 32-bit version of Office 2010 (WOW64).
  Retail users who run 64-bit Windows operating systems and do not have 32-bit Office products installed can install the native 64-bit version of Office 2010 from the x64 folder on the DVD.
  
  
• Side-by-side installations   No support is provided for side-by-side installations of 64-bit and 32-bit editions of Office, including across applications. For example, there is no support for side-by-side installations of the 2007 Microsoft Office system 32-bit with Office 2010 64-bit, or for Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010 64-bit and Microsoft Excel 2010 32-bit.
  
  
• Upgrades   The Office client upgrade scenarios are as follows:

  
  • A 2007 Office system 32-bit installation on a computer that runs a 32-bit Windows operating system can be upgraded to an Office 2010 32-bit version.

    
  • A 2007 Office system installation on a computer that runs a 64-bit Windows operating system can be upgraded to an Office 2010 32-bit (WOW64).
    
  • A 2007 Office system installation cannot be upgraded to a native Office 2010 64-bit version.
    
    

Deployment considerations

Before you deploy 64-bit editions of Office 2010, you must evaluate the advantages and disadvantages and determine whether it is an appropriate deployment option for your specific environment. The following sections highlight benefits and issues that might affect compatibility, describe Outlook considerations, and list the applications that block and those that do not block a 64-bit Office 2010 installation.
A key consideration is that you cannot install native 64-bit Office 2010 on computers that have 32-bit Office applications and third-party add-ins installed. You must uninstall the 32-bit Office applications and add-ins before you can install 64-bit Office 2010. If you have 32-bit third-party Office applications and add-ins that are required for users, you can install the default option, which is 32-bit Office 2010 (WOW64 installation) on computers that run supported 64-bit editions of Windows. A list of applications that block and those that do not block a 64-bit Office 2010 is included.

Advantages

Running Office 2010 64-bit provides the following advantages:

• Ability to use additional memory.
  
• Excel 2010 can load much larger workbooks. Excel 2010 made updates to use 64-bit memory addressing to move beyond the 2-GB addressable memory boundary that limits 32-bit applications.
  
• Microsoft Project 2010 provides improved capacity, especially when you are dealing with many subprojects to a large project.
  
• Enhanced default security protections through Hardware Data Execution Prevention (DEP).
  

Disadvantages

The following issues might affect compatibility:

• Microsoft Access MDE/ADE/ACCDE files   Databases that have had their source code removed (such as .mde, .ade, and .accde files) cannot be moved between 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Office 2010. Such databases that are created by using 32-bit Office (any version) can be used only with 32-bit Office, and a database that is created on 64-bit Office can be used only on 64-bit Office.
  
  
• ActiveX controls and COM add-ins   ActiveX controls and add-in (COM) DLLs (dynamic link libraries) that were written for 32-bit Office will not work in a 64-bit process. As a result, Office 2010 64-bit solutions that try to load 32-bit ActiveX controls or DLLs will not work. Installations of 64-bit Office 2010 will run only 64-bit controls. Computers can have 64-bit and 32-bit controls installed, and Office 2010 64-bit can only run the 64-bit versions of the controls. The workaround for resolving these issues is to obtain 64-bit compatible controls and add-ins or to install Office 2010 32-bit (WOW).
  
  In addition to controls that load into Office applications, there are also Web-based solutions that use ActiveX controls in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Office 2010 64-bit editions install some Office 32-bit client-side controls for supporting solutions in a 32-bit browser (the default browser on current 64-bit Windows systems). The Edit in Datasheet view functionality is not supported if you install 64-bit Office 2010. However, the functionality is available if you install 32-bit Office 2010.
  
  
• In-place activation   The following issues might occur if there is not a match between the bitness of Office 2010 and registered applications:
  
  
  • An OLE server might not instantiate in place and might fail to open if the application registered is not the same bitness as the version of Office installed. (For example, if the OLE Server application is 32-bit and the version of Office installed is 64-bit.)
    
    
  • Inserting an object into an Office 2010 application document might fail in cross-bitness scenarios. (For example if you insert a 32-bit object in a 64-bit Office 2010 application document.)
    
    
• Graphics rendering   There are differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit Graphics Device Interface (GDI) that might have performance implications because of the lack of MMX support on 64-bit. Intel's MMX technology is an extension of the Intel architecture (IA) instruction set. The technology uses a single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) technique to speed up multimedia and communications software by processing data elements in parallel.
  
  
• Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)   VBA code that uses the Declare statement to access the Windows application programming interface (API) or other DLL entry points will see differences between 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The Declare statement must be updated with the PtrSafe attribute after inputs and outputs to the API have been reviewed and updated. Declare statements will not work in 64-bit VBA without the PtrSafe attribute. New data types are added to 64-bit Office 2010 VBA: LongLong and LongPtr. For more information about VBA, see the “64-bit VBA Overview” and “Declare Statement” articles in the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications online Help in Office applications.
  
  
• Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) synchronization   WMDC does not synchronize with Microsoft Outlook 2010 if you use the 64-bit version of Outlook 2010. In such cases, an error message displays that states that there is no default mail client or the current mail client cannot fulfill the messaging. WMDC synchronizes correctly with the 32-bit version of Outlook 2010. To synchronize a Windows Phone with Outlook 2010 by using Windows Mobile Device Center, uninstall Outlook 2010 64-bit. Then use the original installer that you used to obtain Outlook 2010 64-bit to install Outlook 2010 32-bit. Outlook 2010 32-bit is the default option.
  
  
  
  

General feature deprecations

The following feature deprecations might affect compatibility:

• Microsoft Access   The Replication Conflict Viewer is removed from both the 32-bit and 64-bit installations of Office 2010. This functionality can still be implemented by using the ReplicationConflictFunction Property. ReplicationConflictFunction is a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) routine in the running database that can be used to resolve synchronization conflicts. For more information, see “How to: Set Properties of Data Access Objects in Visual Basic” in Access 2007 Developer Reference (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=150854).
  
  
• Publisher   The Microsoft Works database converter (wdbimp.dll) is removed from both 32-bit and 64-bit installations of Office 2010. This converter was previously used in the Mail Merge functionality to connect to a data source created in Microsoft Works.
  
  
• Word   Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) and all its components are deprecated for both 32-bit and 64-bit Office 2010.The legacy Equation Editor is not supported on 64-bit Office 2010, but is supported for 32-bit Office 2010 installations (WOW64).
  
  WLL (Word Add-in libraries)   WLL files are deprecated for 32-bit Office 2010 and are not supported in 64-bit Office 2010.
  
  

Considerations for MAPI applications for Outlook

If you developed and installed 32-bit Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) applications, there are actions that you should take to change and rebuild 32-bit MAPI applications to run on a 64-bit platform. This also applies for 64-bit applications to run on a 32-bit platform.
Starting with Office 2010, Outlook is available as a 32-bit application and a 64-bit application. The version (bitness) of Outlook that you choose depends on the edition of the Windows operating system (32-bit or 64-bit) and the edition of Office 2010 (32- or 64-bit) that is installed on the computer, if Office is already installed on that computer.
Factors that determine the feasibility of installing a 32-bit or a 64-bit version of Outlook include the following:

• You can install 32-bit Office 2010 and 32-bit Microsoft Outlook 2010 on a supported 32-bit or 64-bit edition of the Windows operating system. You can install the 64-bit version of Office 2010 and 64-bit Outlook 2010 only on a supported 64-bit operating system.
  
  
• The default installation of Office 2010 on a 64-bit edition of the Windows operating system is 32-bit Office 2010.
  
  
• The bitness of an installed version of Outlook is always the same as the bitness of Office 2010, if Office is installed on the same computer. That is, a 32-bit version of Outlook 2010 cannot be installed on the same computer on which 64-bit versions of other Office 2010 applications are already installed, such as 64-bit Microsoft Word 2010 or 64-bit Microsoft Excel 2010. Similarly, a 64-bit version of Outlook 2010 cannot be installed on the same computer on which 32-bit versions of other Office applications are already installed.

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