Office 2010 32bit vs 64bit

I was surprised to see, when I went to install Office tonight, that it is 32bit. Upon reading a little, it appears Microsoft recommends 32bit for compatibility with third-party apps and overall simplicity.

What no information or search online seemed to yield, is, what exactly is the functionality here. What are some examples where this could conflict, and are any benefit of installing the 64bit version going to be very significant?

I suspect 32bit is the way to go, and improvements with 64bit are negligible for the average user... but I could not make any such guess without consulting my online crew of knowledge .

 

64-bit editions of Office 2010

 

Stick to 32 bit. There are a lot of things that just won't work. For example you can't open Access 64 files in Access 32. And I suspect at work the files are 32, so your 64 bit install will be useless.

I suppose if you really want, you could have two office installs.

The performance gain from 32 to 64 is negligible. Just go with 32 for now.

 

As far as I am aware the only real gain on 64Bit Office would be larger Excel Spreadsheets...

On that note though - if you fill the current spreadsheet you are doing something wrong as there are more efficient, dedicated tools to model/analyze large datasets/populations.

 

One thing I discovered soon after a 64-bit install was Windows Mobile Center would not sync my outlook to my mobile.

That was enough for me to switch to 32-bit. I never noticed any performance increase from 64-bit.

 

I don't have this problem.

 

the key issue of 64 bit are the addins. Most are still 32 bit only.

and as the other poster said, the only benefit is Excel where you have a gigantic workbook/worksheet.

this move is more for Microsoft than end user as it would take a few years for the addins to gradually moved to 64 bit and in 5 years time, we may be seeing 64 bit only OS.

 

Really. Perhaps an update was made? It was a known bug when office 64-bit came out. I haven't looked back since switching over to 32-bit

 

I use 32bit, works out just fine for me.

Cin...

 

Some explanation: 64-bit editions of Office 2010

It sounds like most users will be better off with 32-bit for compatibility reasons... but if you like to live on the bleeding edge, then give 64-bit a try.

In theory, 64-bit software should perform slightly better, but in practice, it'll probably be hard to notice... especially with something like Office which is not that performance-intensive in most situations.

 

I use 64 bit and I don't have any problems, however there isn't much of point for 64 bit just yet. There isn't any performance difference that I can see between 32 and 64 bit as your not hitting any memory limits of 32 bit.

I have seen Excel hit some outrages memory usage in 2007 and 2003, but haven't had the pleasure of using such spreadsheet in 2010. However if your hitting such outrages memory usage with spreadsheets I would suggest fixing the possible problems with the spreadsheet rather than using 64 bit to solve any problems.

Stick with 32-bit... unless you want bleeding edge, like Swarmer suggested

 

I used to have the 32-bit trial version of Office 2010 that came with the new laptop. When I bought a full copy of Office 2010 H&B, I went thru a lot of trouble to get the one with the DVD disc (because the 64-bit version can only be found on the disc... have to manually go in the a certain subdirectory to install it). I do not have any plug-ins at all. If they don't make a 64-bit plug in I don't need it (ha ha I learned all this from Photoshop CS5 64-bit install... all respectable plug-ins gotta be 64-bit in this day and age or I don't need it!). Anyways I can say all the Office 2010 64-bit software (Excel, Word, Outlook, etc) all load instantly - there's no translator in the way - no delay. When I sort a huge amount of emails (click on the column in Outlook 64-bit), it is instant too (there was a delay in the 32-bit version while it was thinking/sorting). So I am very happy I installed the 64-bit version. So far I haven't found a problem yet
bye

 

Now do you see the developers dilemma? On one hand you are the guys most advocating cutting edge technology. But at the same time you're saying lets stick with the old system? Then you've got good old Sandy chomping at the bit advocating 6 and 8 cores when quad core is still sitting around waiting for supports.

What's a manufacturer/developer suppose to do?

 

Develop for everything or get out of the way.

Because thats the only way to survive.

 

lol... Interesting statement... I can only agree... I'd love it to be that simple.

Marketing, Sales, Development for hardware and software all in the same pot. There are many economic parallels between the Car and IT companies. And don't forget that its not the Developers who say what needs developing, sometimes its not even the customer and sometimes it is pure good old marketing to sell something that isn't needed right now. It can also be, start development now because the future dictates it and it can be improved upon when it's demanded.

I love thinking of Bleeding Edge as the user getting cut for using it...

 

My mind is not made up, so far the comments reflect exactly what I assumed... though I have yet to here any real examples where 64bit is going to be a conflict. The outlook boost is interesting, compelling reason to go 64bit as I do not really delete email . Though I am not sure I will leave "the cloud," sure I hate all my emails saying "On Behalf of ..." from gmail, but you cannot beat the convenience of the cloud .

 

^hey let me help you decide heh heh Just double-click on any 400KB sized excel file. If it opens in half a second to a second, it's good with the 32-bit Office Otherwise gotta try the 64-bit version to believe it... same price since it comes on the same disc bye

 

64bit os .. (because 8gb+ram) .. so might as well try to get all the applications in 64bit version.
Already had some games that were 32bit hitting the max ram usage limit.
Today there is only a few programs left that don't have 64bit versions ... and they can be replaced. (and will be replaced if they don't implement support)

 

addons are the most annoying thing in the 64bit world by now. but if one thinks office is a problem, then go into the audio production sector. there, people use tons of plugins that are sometimes >10 years old to "just get that sound". all of those are 32bit, none will be ported. fun for developers who want to move to 64bit finally (which is needed for the NEW audio plugins btw, to "get that other sound", of course ). will be fun to see how in the future, support for the 32bit world will be handled in terms of plugins.

 

I running on Office 2010 64-Bit. For some reason, I like 64-Bit programs better on 64-Bit OS's.

 

Used office 2010 64bit Beta for a long time and never had any issues with it.

Though I use the program on a stand alone basis, I dont use any plugins and things since it does what I need it too all by itself.

 

Same here, I just installed Office 2010 x64 and have had no issues. I don't use any add-ins or stuff like that.

 

I use my notebook at work and we do use an access database there. I can tell you that Access x64 will not work with Access x86 or with older versions. And even you yourself don't use addins. If your workplace or whatever does, your office install won't be compatible.

I'm sure in general using x64 shouldn't be an issue. But I have yet to read about any clear advantages other than for Excel and as someone said, if your Excel file is that huge you may be wanting to look at a different solution anyhow.

 

Are Access files the only ones with problems? I like the simplicity of just having everything work, but I have to admit I used Access for about a week in my 23 years, so if Word documents, .PPTs, Excel will all open in both 32 and 64 bit...

 

I wanna know what addon's people are using, because I don't have a need for any or know of any that will improve my experience. I do know that gmail have a sync app, but I'm sure this isn't an addon.

If you wanna go 64 bit just go 64 bit. I use 64 and don't have problems or conflicts that people are talking about. It sounds like your not a normal user, so give it a try and if you are worried stick with 32 as in my experience, you won't notice much of a difference. Plus a normal user would need to look at Microsoft's recommendation of using 32 bit over 64 for 2010.

Regarding your sending "on behalf" with gmail. Do you own your own domain?

 

Not sure how the Microsoft SQL add-ons work in Excel if you switch to 64Bit... they should have been ported over, but who knows.

Else - especially with Word: Adobe Acrobat - the pdfs Word creates are technically horrendous... don't display correctly on an eReader and are larger than the ones created by the Acrobat Add-On.

 

Yes and I have the address added to my gMail, but it seems like you cannot do it any other way?

I do use Acrobat to create PDFs, occasionally from Word. Could that be a potential problem- are you saying they are horrendous on 64bit or just in general? I do have Acrobat though.

 

The pdfs created by Word (MS ability) are horrendous. The ones created by the Acrobat Add-In are fine - in 32Bit.
I am not sure if that add-in is available in 64Bit.

I've got a menu option "save as" -> "adobe pdf" that uses the Adobe Engine right away.

Obviously you can create a document, then open that in Adobe Acrobat an finalize it there.

 

I completely forgot about Acrobat... I do have it installed but haven't had the need to use it in Word and your right. No Acrobat (including X) Addon is available for Word 64... at present that is, unless I've read wrong.

You can get the free mail Google app, which is basically Google hosting your e-mail for your domain. It will fix your "on behalf" sending and is mail hosting for free. If you like Google that is, although you can still use pop and imap if you need.

Google Apps helps groups build communities ? Google Apps

 

I will have to play around with Acrobat tonight. I do not use it a ton, but I like to keep it relatively simple and do use it for work (hoping to increase my design work potentially when I move) so...

Thanks for the Google app heads up, I am looking into it right now!

EDIT III: It got super complicated but an hour later, I got it working. Now if there is just a simple way to export my e-mails from my old gMail account to this one .

 

Yeah, and don't hold your breath on this one. The idiots at Adobe still don't even manage to get their own 64-bit iFilter plugin installed on 64-bit Windows, meaning you end up with a half-broken installation since they do configure Windows Search for PDFs, but then "forget" to install the iFilter for it. Which, yes, you can download from their website, but it doesn't work very well, and is slower than molasses. Once all is said and done, you're going to end up installing the Foxit iFilter if you need to search PDFs in 64-bit Windows...

Other than that, and to get back on topic, there is no good reason to install the 64-bit version of Office. There's no tangible benefits of any kind. Like others have said, if you need 64-bit for your Excel sheets, you are doing something wrong. There's no difference in performance between the two versions. I use MathType and EndNote in addition to the Acrobat plugins in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and none of these come in 64-bit.

 

i actually know scenarios where one needs the 64bit excel without doing something wrong. but those people then are aware of it and use it. everyone else has no use for it.

 

My guess is that for a good number of these cases, this is just a situation of using the wrong tool for the job. Different topic, though...

 

no. it's the wrong tool if you have ordered data. but for unordered data where you have to filter, rearange, sort, edit, it's a great scenario, even for huge datasets of several gigabytes. it's a very very flexible tool. if you need that flexibility (but can accept the mess you can create with it), it's the perfect tool.

but the cases are few, that's true.