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I would like to test some programmatically-generated Office documents against older versions of the Office suite. However, my google-fu in trying to find such trials seems to be coming up empty. Is there anywhere I can still download trials of older versions of Office?

By old, I am thinking decade-old, so around Office XP or Office 2003 would be great.

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    If you don't have access to MSDN or the now discontinued Technet you are unlikely going to find these trial versions as they are not distrubuted by Microsoft and I personally wouldn't trust third-party websites. The only legal download for these files origianlly were Microsoft's websites.
    – Ramhound
    Sep 13, 2013 at 15:38
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    @Ramhound Incorrect. At least a few versions are still downloadable as the link to Office 2003 Standard proves.
    – Zerobinary99
    Sep 13, 2013 at 16:18
  • @Zerobinary99 - Have you actually tried the OfficeStd.exe I find it really odd that Office 2003 is still distributed by Microsoft considering its not supported by Microsoft. I still stand by my third-party source statement.
    – Ramhound
    Sep 13, 2013 at 16:27
  • I started the installer. It looks genuine and it's distributed by Microsoft. What else other than the fact that they still distribute old software is there that makes you suspicious. I didn't install it since it would mess up my own setup, but it's from Microsoft, so why doubt it? Who knows how many other old tools they still have active but unposted links for.
    – Zerobinary99
    Sep 13, 2013 at 16:31

1 Answer 1

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That's easily done if you either have the old official links to the isos or the iso's name. I can only serve with a few:

Microsoft Office 2003 Standard: OfficeStd.exe <<< no iso, but installer

Microsoft Office 2003 Professional: en_office_2003_pro.iso (not original MS-link)

You can download the Service Pack 3 update for the standard version of Office 2003 directly from Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-en/download/details.aspx?id=8

or use this MS direct link that I merely post here for posterity.

Iso-names of other MS Office versions you can google for:

  • en_office_xp_professional_cd_X10-29102.iso

  • en_office_professional_enterprise_edition_2003_united_states_x86_cd_489281.iso

  • en_office_xp_pro.iso (includes Frontpage)

  • en_office_2003_std.iso

  • en_office_2003_service_pack_3_x86.exe

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  • I've only tried OfficeStd.exe so far, but it appears that it is not a trial installer. Or is there a trial key that I need to get somewhere?
    – AlexMax
    Sep 13, 2013 at 17:17
  • @AlexMax usually for office you don't have to activate for 30 days.
    – nhinkle
    Sep 13, 2013 at 17:20
  • I'm stuck at a CD key screen that I can't "Next" past.
    – AlexMax
    Sep 13, 2013 at 17:21
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    Most MS product trials since the millenium need trial keys to run. In case of Office 2003 the trial keys were personal keys that were sent out via email by Microsoft back then after registering. By asking specifically for the trial versions you implied you had a valid key. Check out this page: web.archive.org/web/20050209014835/http://www.microsoft.com/… If you don't have a key then all you can do is google one or work yourself through the wayback machine. May be MS did post one on their pages at one point in time. I can't supply one for legal reasons.
    – Zerobinary99
    Sep 13, 2013 at 17:35
  • After some more investigation, apparently there is no way to generate new trial keys for old versions of Office, and apparently trial keys expire, so any old ones that were generated are probably expired by now. Thank you for your help.
    – AlexMax
    Sep 13, 2013 at 19:49

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