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robsantos,<br />
<br />
I`ve already tried your approach on another PC, although I point to the correct .EXE it would still open in Office 2007 application.<br />
I I completely agree with only installing either 2003 or 2007 and not both but unfortunately &nbsp;the decision is not mine... &nbsp;
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garycase,<br />
<br />
The compatibility pack has alredy been installed on another PC, I'm still having the same issue even after Setting Office 2003 EXE (Word, Excel or PowerPoint) as a default. I was able to fix it on a couple of PCs, but every fix worked differently. I should rephrase that, the fix that works on one PC doesn't work on another. I should`ve done a better jon in documenting what I did, however most of thew time I fix things on the fly... The last time it worked was when I pointed Office 2007 to be installed indirectory other then C:\Program FIles\Microsoft Office.<br />
I will try that compatibility pack again, it doesn't hurt to try.
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I just tried it on a Virtual PC that had 2003 on it -- I added 2007; set a custom directory (O2K7); then set the defaults to the Office 2003 applications ... and it worked perfectly.<br />
<br />
Are you SURE you &quot;pointed&quot; to the right executables?<br />

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Yep, I'm sure. I installed office 2007 in O2K7 directory and set defaults to the executables in the directory for O2K3 (on the test PC). &nbsp;<br />
I disagree with having to install 2003 and 2007 on the same PC but &nbsp;as I mentioned it`s not up to me.<br />
I will go ahead and install 2007 tomorrow and will inform the user that she may need to open the application then File&gt;Open incase we run into the same issue. 
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In addition to Office 2003 these were also previously installed:<br />
SP2 &nbsp;office2003-KB919031-FullFi<wbr />le-ENU.exe<wbr /> &amp;&nbsp;Office2003SP2-KB887616-Ful<wbr />lFile-ENU.<wbr />exe as well as <br />
SP3 Office2003SP3-KB923618-Ful<wbr />lFile-ENU.<wbr />exe and Compatibility Patch.<br />
perhaps the problem is with either of the updates ?
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Not sure why the file associations aren't &quot;sticking&quot; &nbsp;(as I noted, it works fine in my test PC) ... but just educating the user to use File - Open &nbsp;should resolve it =&gt; or may get them to reconsider why they need both versions installed.<br />

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Thank you for your help. I'm splitting the points.
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Dear Experts,<br />
<br />
I'm sorry if I'm asking a question that is quite possibly been answered..<br />
Windows XP Sp2 has Office 2003 installed, user requested to install Office 2007 while still keeping Office 2003.<br />
I know how to install both version of the Office, my problem is how to make Office 2003 default to open the files. Office 2007 will only be used once in a while. One of the ways that did work for me only on some machines was installng Office 2007 in a different directory, so instead of Program Files\MS Office I installed it in Program Files\MS Office 2007 however like I said it worked on some machines and not the others. Users usually have to to open Office application and then open a document. Also, I will keep Outlook 2003. Outlook 2007 will not be installed.<br />
<br />
Any help is greatly appreciated.
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Dear Experts,

I'm sorry if I'm asking a question that is quite possibly been answered..
Windows XP Sp2 has Office 2003 installed, user requested to install Office 2007 while still keeping Office 2003.
I know how to install both version of the Office, my problem is how to make Office 2003 default to open the files. Office 2007 will only be used once in a while. One of the ways that did work for me only on some machines was installng Office 2007 in a different directory, so instead of Program Files\MS Office I installed it in Program Files\MS Office 2007 however like I said it worked on some machines and not the others. Users usually have to to open Office application and then open a document. Also, I will keep Outlook 2003. Outlook 2007 will not be installed.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Office 2003 and 2007 installed, how to make 2003 primary to open files ?

Microsoft Office is an integrated suite of applications that includes Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Visio and InfoPath, along with a number of tools to assist in making the individual components work together. Coding within and between the projects is done in Visual Basic for Applications, known as VBA.

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Windows XP is the sixth release of the NT series of operating systems, and was the first to be marketed in a variety of editions: XP Home and XP Professional, designed for business and power users. The advanced features in XP Professional are generally disabled in Home Edition, but are there and can be activated. There were two 64-bit editions, an embedded edition and a tablet edition.