Applies to: All products, major upgrades to releases 6.0 and newer

Concern:

The old version still shows in Control Panel » Programs and Features or Add or Remove Programs.

Reason Old Versions Display in Programs and Features

When you perform a major upgrade, such as 7.x to 8.x, each major version has its own files and folders and will not interfere with the older version.

If you want to free up a few hundred megabytes of disk space, you can uninstall the old major version in Programs and Features or Add or Remove Programs.

A minor upgrade will overwrite the earlier version, (i.e. upgrading from 7.0.0, 7.0.1 or 7.5.0 to 7.5.1)

Two 6.x versions or two 7.x versions will NOT be on the same computer.

You can continue running old and new major versions, but not at the same time

If you have the old major version in Excel's list of Active add-ins, remove it so that it won't start automatically when you're trying to run the new major version.

Note: There are some restrictions on the old version after your upgrade. While you can continue running the old major version on the same computer where it was already activated, you will not be allowed to transfer it to another computer or reactivate it for any reason.

If you don't need the old major version, you can uninstall it in Control Panel without disturbing the new one.

Related Article:

Upgrading to Version 7: Standalone Software