It probably doesn’t matter but I have encountered places using everything from 2005 to present in their installs.

Only difference is ui/ locations of tools and some minor feature creep.

I would recommend learning the newest version unless you know that you will be working with an older one a lot in the future. Microsoft has a bad habit of changing stuff that isn't broken, so you might learn something the old way, but then having to relearn it for the new way. The newest version should have more features and you're more likely to work with other people who use the newest version anyways. Also, if you put this on your resume, then mentioning that you are competent with an older version will make it seem like you haven't been keeping your Office skills up to date.

The point is - learn an older version, say 2007. Maybe a short book/course on say 2015 or whichever. Then learn the latest and greatest. I never said learn only an old version. Just want well rounded knowledge based on some reasonable spread.

I have 2007 w/o a key. I also have a stupid huge book on 2013. So no working versions at the moment. But as far as 2007 and 2013 go, do they cover enough of the idiosyncrasies to keep you covered?

Why would you need to be knowledgeable in multiple versions? It's going to add extra work and it will be harder to keep track of which version you learned something on. I could see the point of that if you plan on doing tech support for variety of clients who all use different versions. If that's not the case, I think you'd be better served just learning a more recent version or the one you plan on using.

It's not like Word 2007 will always give you a good foundation in a certain subject, then you can always continue where you left off in a newer one. For some tasks, you'd learn it the old way and then need to relearn it the new way. Sometimes the older way will need a bunch of workarounds that aren't needed in more recent versions. I don't see any advantage of starting with an older version unless you know that you will be using it frequently.

I have the expectation of using various versions!

Is that so hard to grasp?

Just stick it on your resume and all some clueless manager will ask is "Can you do fidget cables?" and you say "Yes, I can do pigeon fables, it's deep excel magic code for cut and paste shit for auto import." ... then bring the dummies guide into work in case they actually want you to do it.

ccronk wrote on 2024-03-01, 01:05:

I have the expectation of using various versions!

Is that so hard to grasp?

Your question was which Office version is the best to learn and if starting with an older version is a good way to prepare for later versions. I can grasp the idea of someone wanting to use multiple versions, but that wasn't clear from your original question. I'm just trying to help you and part of that is determining if you would benefit from what you firat proposed. However, it seems like you've already made up your mind, so I don't see the point in asking us for advice. Were you just expecting us to reinforce what you plan on doing anyway?

"...so as to have a well rounded knowledge asnto be able to handle what's currently being used?"

That should have been a tip off as to what I wanted to accomplish. To know office and it's various versions well enough to be a bad ass mother *u***r. Isn't that what everyone wants? Moreover needs. It really should have been obvious that I wanted to learn enough about various more or less recent versions. And wanted some feedback. Instead of someone insisting all the world uses Office 2025 and only it, and no one could ever benefit from learning a thing or 2 about earlier versions.

There are a lot of keyboard shortcuts that are still recognized in the current version, but that aren't mentioned anywhere and you had to use Office 2003 to see them in the UI

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-03-01, 03:47:

Everyone can use office to the degree it needs to be used. This is not a place to focus your attention. You sound like a 15 year old, that's going to be more of a problem at potential jobs.

Rude. Reported.

Anyone who cares about exchanging documents with other Office users these days is probably at least using Office 2007 which introduced the docx XML based formats to office as default standard. Older office documents need to be converted. Some features might be missing when newer/older version swapping occurs though. For having some relevance to what anyone is most likely to be using then, office2007 and up is probably the core group to focus on.

Every new version of office takes a few buttons and exchanges them with some random others. Sometimes they may be bundled into a ribbon. A few years later the ribbon will be unpacked and put into a customizable submenue. Next year they will be probably packed into a box from the metaverse. There is still a compatibility mode for office (1997) I assume this was the point when the product reached maximum maturity. So every office user is anyway constantly learning the quirks of the latest version. At a more advanced level you may try to get some macros or vbasic scripts running from an old document. Learning this progression through the years is a task probably not worth your time... until you are planning some funny youtube video...

Whatever you learn on an older version will most probably still apply for the latest. (By "learn" I don't mean menu options placement, these change all the time. You can never learn them unless you use a specific version daily, and it's not even needed). My opinion is that there is no point working on anything else other than Office 365 right now.

It's all Office365 now - constant version creep. I really don't think it is worth learning something which is obsolete.

The only reason you want old Office, is file conversion/viewing. Or maybe for a period correct system. As a kid we had Works 3.0 on our home system. I had a lot of fun with windings, a TT dingbat font.

Real story. Some work I did for a customer who lives in the dark ages IT wise, but now suffers the consequences a bit. Yesterday, I had to convert an Access 97 *.mdb to a 'modern' *.accdb with the help of Access 2007, so it could be opened in Access 365 v2401.
Access 365 can't convert old stuff.

Still using Office XP in my new computer. And even 16bit Office 4 is totally useful for everyday tasks.

I am tempted to go all in on MSWorks for DOS, can be into it in 20 seconds from cold and I don't lose chunks of sentences from typing faster than the input lag and filling the buffer.... and it being nice to see what you are typing while you type it and not 2 seconds later.

ccronk wrote on 2024-03-01, 00:04:

If learning for the first time. Does it make sense to start with something older, but not too old, so as to have a well rounded knowledge asnto be able to handle what's currently being used?

No, I would just learn the latest.

For context, I'm a manager who hires for positions that require knowledge of various Microsoft Office applications. Versions don't matter and nobody tends to advertise that on their resumes anyway.

When it comes to basic Office applications (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint), most of the functionality that people use in these applications hasn't changed much in the past 20+ years.

What is more impressive is people who know some of the more recent Office365 applications and cloud services like Microsoft Fabric / Power Automate / Power BI, SharePoint, etc. Even more important is knowing how to use these tools to solve common business problems related to workflows, automation, reporting, etc.