Office 2010 University - Should I install 32-bit or 64-bit version?

NickH88

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Jan 16, 2013
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I'm running Windows 8 64-bit. Should I install the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version of Office 2010 University? According to the help menu during the installation, the 64-bit version is missing a few things (i.e. 3D pivot charts in Excel), and may have compatibility issues with other 32-bit software. Does anyone know more information about the latter; what other programs might I have compatibility issues with? What advantages would there be to installing the 64-bit version? Would it be faster?

Thanks!
 

The Stealthinator

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I run the 64-bit version of Office Pro on my Win7 Ultimate 64-bit. I have no issues.

If you use any of the features that are missing from the 64-bit verison, then install the 32-bit one, but otherwise I would recomened 64-bit.
 

NickH88

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Thanks for your reply.

As for the various things that are missing from the 64-bit version, the only ones that I might use would be the ActiveX controls and 3-D Pivot Charts in Excel. I never use any 3rd party plug-ins.

Is the 64-bit version of Excel only unable to create new controls using ActiveX, or will I be unable to use any controls in an existing spreadsheet that were made using ActiveX?

I am going to be having a .csv file (generated from a different program) that I would like to open in Excel and run filters on, and the file may be upwards of 300 GB (so I'm told). Will I need the 64-bit version in order to handle it? If not, will working with it (loading it, performing filters, etc.) be faster in the 64-bit version?
 

The Stealthinator

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If Excel is optimised correctly, working with the large file size will be faster under the 64-bit edition. To answer your question, no you do not need the 64-bit version to work with it.

I don't use Excel that much so I can't tell you much about what features are missing. Spreadsheet files created with different programs will be openable, so that shouldn't be an issue.
 

NickH88

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There's some info available here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/choose-the-32-bit-or-64-bit-version-of-microsoft-office-HA010369476.aspx . The unavailability of 3-D PivotChart views in the 64-bit version of Excel is not mentioned in that link, but it is mentioned in the "Setup Help" menu during installation.
 

Hawkeye22

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I use the 32 bit version on my win7 x64 just because it has more compatible addons and the fact that I don't work with large documents. Just because you have a 64 bit OS doesn't mean all your programs must be 64 bit.