Why is my computer still using Microsoft Office 2021 after installing Office 2024?

Anonymous
2024-10-03T23:45:42+00:00

I just bought and installed the stand-alone Microsoft Office 2024 (Home & Business edition, 64-bit) after using Microsoft Office 2021 since it came out several years ago. I was expecting my Office files I open in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint to open in Office 2024 tonight, but they're still opening in the Office 2021 apps (and it's not just a matter of 2024 still carrying 2021 logos because none of the features new to 2024 are there; it's just the same layout as always).

I can't even find any .exe files in my Program Files → Microsoft Office → Office16 folder. Everything is still intact in the Microsoft Office 15 folder, but that "Office16" folder has hardly anything in it, and definitely nothing that looks like it could launch an app. I am reasonably sure that my computer isn't the issue: I'm running Windows 11 Pro on an MSI Titan with three SSD cards and 64 Gb of RAM. I've rebooted my computer twice, just in case it was one of those Microsoft things about installations not completing until the reboot, but that didn't help. So what's going on? Did I just pay $250 plus tax for vaporware?

***Moved from Microsoft 365 and Office / Other / For business / Other***

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | Other | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-02-25T18:10:22+00:00

    Thanks for the suggestion!! Tried the Modify and it worked!

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-03-01T17:51:44+00:00

    I've had the same problems, and have been looking for a solution. I ran into this problem before it was being discussed. So, I've been looking and trying solutions. The biggest issue is that this appears to be situational. That is, it depends on the history of each computer and what's been installed and when. There is no single solution. After looking at this I decided to buy Office Home & Business. I uninstalled Pro Plus with Revo Uninstaller, and tried to do a radical uninstall. I wanted to tear it by the roots. As near as I could tell nothing was left. When I installed Home & Business 2024. When I started office it came up as Pro Plus 2021, Groan. I tried the delete everything it the license folder. Upon restarted excel, and low and behold it came up as Pro Plus 2024!! My feeling is that Pro Plus 2024 was there all along. It was a licensing issue. It always installed Pro Plus. The product key was involved in what was shown. All of the solutions that worked depending on the history of the particular computer.

    Now that I've got office 2024, my problem now is that my spreadsheet no longer works. The new excel, has new Trust setting, which block several parts of my spread sheet. I've had to trust is location, get rid of ActiveX controls, etc. Microsoft has, like always, decided that It decides what are acceptable solutions. I reminded me of how MS Dos came about, the window embedded browser issue, and others. In reality, this problem came out of Microsoft's desire to stop the use of keys for installing product meant for large enterprises. They've done this before and they'll do it again. My biggest complaint is they've screwed the Home & Business by limiting it to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. This leave users who need Access with very expensive alternatives. They didn't use grey market keys.

    Just my 2cents.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-03-02T02:31:35+00:00

    You've hit just about every hot button on my dance card with Microsoft, clear to their decision not to include Access in this latest iteration of the non-subscription product line. I have flogged my computer to the point where it's rebelling on this upgrade issue. Knowing Microsoft's obsession with deploying a myriad of registry keys for its product, and its maddening lack of cleaning up legacy keys, I've suspected all along that those dead keys come back to life at their discretion, eerily like "junk DNA" from our ancestral species are still in our cells waiting for the chance to turn us back into monkeys or bananas if the environment changes on us. Anyway, on we trod. My functioning and quite functional Office Pro 2021 is good enough, especially because it actually works.

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