Office 2010 is offered in 32-bit and 64-bit. What version should you use if you’re running a 64-bit version of Windows? At first, I thought 64-bit all the way so that you can take advantage of the robust architecture of the the 64-bit multicore processor. In non-technical support terms, I thought the Office 2010 in 64-bit would be blazing fast!
It seems like my bleeding edge technology rationale is wrong. According to Microsoft, the 32-bit edition of Office 2010 is recommended for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions at this time. Why? Stability and compatibility. The two words Microsoft likes to use the most when guarding against new IT technology and its blue screen crashes.
Here’s why you should install Office 2010 32-bit edition on Windows 64-bit:
- There are barely any 64-bit add-ins for Office.
- All other programs natively use 32-bit, such as ActiveX controls and third-party add-ons so there are compatibility issues with 64-bit Office.
The only reason to use the 64-bit version, according to Microsoft, is to take advantage of larger capacity, but really just with large Excel spreadsheets up to 2GB in size.
In sum, the 64-bit world is not sophisticated enough to keep up with Office 2010 64-bit. Add-ins, ActiveX controls and other day-to-day apps that run in the background are not 64-bit yet to play nicely with Office 64-bit. So, until then, it’s still an Office 32-bit world!