32 bit Office 365 vs. 64 bit

hershey4 · Thursday at 5:49 PM

A program my new company uses is not compatible with Office 365 64bit (which is what I have installed). They state to uninstall it and reinstall 32bit Office. Is that a horrible idea? What are the issues? Will I lose all the customization and settings I've spent a LOT of time on? (ribbon, quickaccess bar, settings, and probably other things I don't even remember doing).

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 5 125U 1.30 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.5 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition Windows 11 Business
Version 24H2
Installed on ‎5/‎23/‎2025
OS build 26100.4351
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.107.0

Berton · Thursday at 9:27 PM

They state to uninstall it and reinstall 32bit Office. Is that a horrible idea? What are the issues? Will I lose all the customization and settings I've spent a LOT of time on? (ribbon, quickaccess bar, settings, and probably other things I don't even remember doing).

Answers in order:
No, usually works. But if a company requires programs their IT team should have vetted them first.
None I know of, yet.
Probably.

Even though Win11 is only available as 64-bit I've found no issues with running 32-bit programs that work on Win10 and a few that work on Win7.

I'd investigate going with an earlier Office suite.

pseymour · Thursday at 9:34 PM

If it's because an add-in isn't compatible with 64-bit Office, then it's not a bad idea. Your options there are to switch to 32-bit Office, or ask the add-in company if they make a 64-bit version.

I'm not sure which settings sync if you're logged into a Microsoft account or an Entra ID account, but I know for example my apps are always in dark mode when I log into a new PC, so at least some settings are syncing.

For the ribbon, if you want, you can, for example, open Word, go to File | Options, and in the Customize Ribbon section, click the Import/Export button in the bottom right to export your ribbon settings. Then you would just import it into the 32-bit Office, if those settings don't sync for you.

hershey4 · Thursday at 9:41 PM

Thanks for your reply.

Berton said:
I'd investigate going with an earlier Office suite.

why? I'm not sure how to even find what version of Office. I found a version for Word.

Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2505 Build 16.0.18827.20102) 64-bit

IT is outsourced remote. I would have them do the uninstall/install of Office. I don't think they are charged with vetting add'l software. Just getting it to work!

hershey4 · Thursday at 9:45 PM

pseymour said:
If it's because an add-in isn't compatible with 64-bit Office, then it's not a bad idea. Your options there are to switch to 32-bit Office, or ask the add-in company if they make a 64-bit version.

ha! Their knowledge base had a long winded story why developing a 64 bit version was not "a priority". They claim end users don't need 64 bit and called it marketing hype or something like that.

Thanks for the tip on export/import customizations. That should help. Maybe all settings will sync. My login is a Microsoft Account. I will look into the settings sync thing. Maybe our IT support will know.

Hornblower409 · Thursday at 10:21 PM

pseymour said:
For the ribbon, if you want, you can, for example, open Word, go to File | Options, and in the Customize Ribbon section, click the Import/Export button in the bottom right to export your ribbon settings. Then you would just import it into the 32-bit Office, if those settings don't sync for you.

A way to quickly export/import all Office UI files.
Backing up all Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) customizations at once - Robert 365

hershey4 · Thursday at 10:45 PM

Hornblower409 said:
A way to quickly export/import all Office UI files.
Backing up all Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) customizations at once - Robert 365

Very nice! the article says they all will start with OLK. Some of these UI files do not. Should I save/restore all the *.*UI files?

pseymour · Thursday at 10:58 PM

The OLK ones are for Outlook, so yeah, grab everything.

jimbo45 · Friday at 5:56 AM

If you are a power spreadsheet (EXCEL) user then there are limitations in 32 bit EXCEL you might come across especiallt if you use very large spreadsheets or loads of pivot tables.

Otherwise for "Officy things" I doubt if it makes much difference although I'm sure 32 bit versions will be increasingly deprecated in future.

Cheers
jimbo

pseymour · Friday at 8:01 AM

That was the initial reason for 64-bit Office. Others have come up since then.

32 bit Office 365 vs. 64 bit

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