We needed another oddball computer question, right?

[Hawkmoon]

Right?

New (to me) desktop computer, running Windows 7. When I first got it, I installed me Office 2003 Professional suite, and it was working fine.

I recently installed Office 2016 Professional Plus, in order to have file (and menu) compatibility with what we're using at work. And then, to help me adapt to the new "ribbon" menu system, I installed an add-on called UBitMenu, that allows an overlay of the traditional menu structure in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. UBitMenu is working fine in Office 2016 -- but it somehow seems to have also tried to attach itself to Office 2003, because now when I start up Excel 2003 I get an error message telling me Excel doesn't recognize the file format.

I'm thinking of just uninstalling Office 2003, and then reinstalling it. Does that sound like a viable strategy?

[lee n. field]

Look for a way to disable add-ins in Office 2003.

Also, there's a free download from MS for Office '03 that lets it work with newer (as of Office '07) formats  (.docx and .xlsx).  I can probably dig it up if you can't find it.

[Brad Johnson]

Sounds like you're trying to use Excel 2003 to open a file created in Excel 2016. It no worky that way.

Easiest thing is to uninstall UbitMenu. A LOT faster than an uninstall/reinstall of 2003. Plus, unintalling one component of Office often comes with a host of unwelcome side effects. It tends to weave a complex interaction web that doesn't respond well to component uninstalls.

Brad

[Hawkmoon]

Look for a way to disable add-ins in Office 2003.

Also, there's a free download from MS for Office '03 that lets it work with newer (as of Office '07) formats  (.docx and .xlsx).  I can probably dig it up if you can't find it.

Already have it, thanks.

I didn't know Office 2003 had any provision for add-ins. I've looked for some way to disable this thing, but no joy.

[Hawkmoon]

Sounds like you're trying to use Excel 2003 to open a file created in Excel 2016. It no worky that way.

Easiest thing is to uninstall UbitMenu. A LOT faster than an uninstall/reinstall of 2003. Plus, unintalling one component of Office often comes with a host of unwelcome side effects. It tends to weave a complex interaction web that doesn't respond well to component uninstalls.

Brad

But the point of installing UBitMenu is to have access to the classic menu structure. It's a peculiar glitch, because when I installed Office 2010 with UBitMenu on an old XP notebook that already had Office 2003, I didn't get the same conflict.

[Hawkmoon]

Further experimentation:

UBitMenu applies only to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, not Publisher or Access. When opening Word 2003 and Powerpoint 2003, I don't get any error messages. It affects only Excel 2003. I found the add-ons menu, and there are none enabled. And UBitMenu doesn't appear on the list at all. It seems like Excel is trying to run a macro to open the UBitMenu file on startup, but I don't see any macros enabled, and I don't see anywhere to tell Excel to open (or NOT to open) a particular file on start-up.

[Brad Johnson]

Open the file in 16, do a Save As, and select the Office 97-2003 file format. If the resulting file opens in 2003 then you know it's a file incompatibility issue, not UbitMenu.

Brad

[Hawkmoon]

Open the file in 16, do a Save As, and select the Office 97-2003 file format. If the resulting file opens in 2003 then you know it's a file incompatibility issue, not UbitMenu.

The file IS UbitMenu. The name of the file is UBitMenu.xlam. Here's what the first part of it looks like if I override the error message in Excel 2003:

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In Excel 2016, the file "opens" automatically, to provide the classic menu add-on. No need to open it manually.

[Brad Johnson]

So 2003 is trying to automatically open Ubitmenu?

Brad

[Hawkmoon]

So 2003 is trying to automatically open Ubitmenu?

Yes -- but apparently only Excel 2003, not Word 2003 or Powerpoint 2003.

[Brad Johnson]

Was 2003 open when you did the install?

Brad

[Hawkmoon]

Was 2003 open when you did the install?

Nope. Nothing was open. I downloaded and saved the UBitMenu installer file, shut down the browser, and then ran the file from the downloads folder on my hard drive.

[Brad Johnson]

Were there any options to select during the install?

Brad

[Hawkmoon]

Were there any options to select during the install?

The install of UBitMenu? No. Very straightforward.

"Do you want to install this?"

"Yes"

"Done"