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64-bit editions of Office 2013
Published: July 16, 2012
Summary: Provides information about 64-bit editions of Office 2013, supported operating systems, deployment, and installation recommendations.
Applies to: Office 2013 | Office 365 ProPlus
Audience: IT Professionals
Processors that are 64-bit are becoming the standard for systems that range from servers to desktop computers. The 64-bit systems can use more virtual and physical memory than 32-bit systems. This lets users work with much larger data sets than they could previously, and to analyze and solve large computational problems. Office 2010 introduced native 64-bit versions of Office products to take advantage of this larger capacity. For example, this additional capacity is needed only by those Excel users who require Excel spreadsheets to access more than 2 gigabytes (GB) of addressable memory. The 32-bit version of Office 2013 provides the same functionality as the 64-bit version and is also compatible with 32-bit add-ins. Therefore, the 32-bit version of Office 2013 is installed by default.
Office 2013 also provides support for 32-bit Office 2013 applications that run on 64-bit Windows operating systems by using Windows-32-on-Windows-64 (WOW64). WOW64 is the x86 emulator that enables 32-bit Windows-based applications to run seamlessly on 64-bit Windows systems. Office 2013 lets users continue to use existing Microsoft ActiveX Controls, Component Object Model (COM) add-ins, which are primarily 32-bit because no 64-bit versions are available yet for many add-ins. In some cases, 64-bit Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) solutions may have to be modified to interface with system APIs and other imports. Supporting 32-bit Office 2013 applications that run on 64-bit operating systems allows for better compatibility with controls, add-ins, and VBA.
Important:
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Are you trying to decide which version of Office 2013 to install? You may also want to read this article Choose the 32- or 64-bit version of Microsoft Office which will help you decide which version of Office to install. |
The recommendations for which edition of Office 2013 to install are as follows:
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If users in your organization depend on existing extensions to Office, such as ActiveX controls, third-party add-ins, in-house solutions built on earlier versions of Office, or 32-bit versions of programs that interface directly with Office, we recommend that you install 32-bit Office 2013 (the default installation) on computers that are running both 32-bit and 64-bit supported Windows operating systems.
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If some users in your organization are Excel expert users who work with complex Excel spreadsheets, they can install the 64-bit edition of Office 2013 to move beyond the 2 GB addressable memory boundary that is imposed on 32-bit editions. Note that this boundary differs from the physical (on disk) size of the spreadsheet on your computer's hard disk drive. It is possible to have an Excel file whose size on disk is smaller than 2 GB, but which when it is opened contains enough data to occupy 2 GB or more of addressable memory.
In addition, if you have in-house solution developers, we recommend that those developers have access to the 64-bit edition of Office 2013 so that they can test and update your in-house solutions on the 64-bit edition of Office 2013.
In this article:
Supported Windows operating systems
The supported Windows operating system editions for 64-bit Office 2013 client include the following:
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64-bit editions of Windows 7 and Windows 8
Note:
Office 2013 client does not support Windows XP or Windows Vista.
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Windows Server 2008 R2
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Windows Server 2012
The following statements apply:
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The 64-bit Office client can be installed only on 64-bit editions of Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012
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The 32-bit Office client is supported as a WOW64 installation. This is the default installation on 64-bit Windows operating systems. The 32-bit Windows-based applications run on 64-bit Windows, which allows for compatibility with 32-bit Office applications and add-ins.
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Office 2013 server products (SharePoint Server 2013, SharePoint Foundation 2013, and Project Server 2013) support the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, Data Center, or Web Server, and Windows Server 2012 with the .NET Framework 4.0.
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For Click-to-Run scenarios, the supported version is Office 2013 32-bit (WOW64) on computers that run the supported 64-bit editions of Windows operating systems.
Architecture-specific folders and customization tools
Office 2013 includes architecture-specific folders: one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit.
For Windows Installer-based Office 2013 products, each folder contains the following:
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A separate Config.xml file and Updates folder.
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An architecture-specific Office Customization Tool (OCT). The OCT files are located in the Admin folder for the x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) folders. The Admin folder is included in volume licensed versions of the product, such as Office Professional Plus 2013.
The 64-bit version of the OCT provides the same user interface, capabilities, and configurable settings as the 32-bit version. Office 2013 uses XML versions of OPA files: OPAX files (.opax) for non-language specific resources and OPAL files (.opal) for language-specific resources.
The OCT provides support for importing Setup customization files (.msp files) as follows:
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64-bit Setup customization files can be imported into 32-bit OCT and can then be used to customize 32-bit Office products.
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32-bit Setup customization files can be imported into 64-bit OCT and can then be used to customize 64-bit Office products.
A 32-bit Setup customization file that is imported to 64-bit OCT is converted to 64-bit, and a 64-bit customization file that is imported to 32-bit OCT is converted to 32-bit.
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If you have included Outlook 2013 in your Office 2013 installation, Outlook sets a registry key named Bitness of type REG_SZ on the computer on which it is installed. The Bitness registry key indicates whether the Outlook 2013 installation is 32-bit or 64-bit. This might be useful to administrators who are interested in auditing computers to determine the installed versions of Office 2013 in their organization.
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Registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook
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Registry key: Bitness
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Value: either x86 or x64
Supported scenarios
The Office 2013 64-bit client supports the following scenarios:
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Enterprise In enterprise environments, the default is to install Office 2013 32-bit on computers that run either 32-bit or 64-bit editions of Windows operating systems. We recommend this option.
An alternate approach in enterprise environments is for administrators to do the following:
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Install Office 2013 32-bit on computers that run 32-bit editions of Windows.
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Install Office 2013 64-bit on computers that run 64-bit editions of Windows to take advantage of additional memory on the 64-bit computers.
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Retail For users who install Office 2013 onto computers that run a supported 64-bit Windows operating system, the installation is, by default, the 32-bit version of Office 2013 (WOW64).
Retail users who run 64-bit Windows operating systems and do not have 32-bit Office products installed can install the native 64-bit version of Office 2013 from the x64 folder.
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Side-by-side installations No support is provided for side-by-side installations of 64-bit and 32-bit editions of Office. For example, there is no support for side-by-side installations of Office 2007 32-bit or Office 2010 32-bit with Office 2013 64-bit, or for Access 2013 64-bit and Excel 2013 32-bit.
Note:
Outlook 2013 Click-to-Run can be installed side-by-side with Outlook 2010 Windows Installer-based (MSI-based) and Outlook 2007 (MSI), provided both products are of the same bitness (both 32-bit or both 64-bit). No support is provided for side-by-side installations of 64-bit and 32-bit editions of Outlook.
Windows Installer-based (MSI-based) Outlook 2013 does not support side-by-side installations. For example, you cannot install Outlook 2013 MSI with Outlook 2010 MSI.
No support is provided for installation of Outlook 2003 side-by-side with Outlook 2013 Click-to-Run.
The following table summarizes the supported coexistence scenarios. The information applies to both Windows Installer- (MSI) and Click-to-Run-based Office clients.
Supported coexistence scenarios for 64-bit installations
Previous Office version Office 2013 edition Scenario Office 2007 32-bit
32-bit
Supported
Office 2010 32-bit (x86)
32-bit
Supported
Office 2010 32-bit
64-bit
Blocked
Office 2010 64-bit (x64)
64-bit
Supported
Office 2010 64-bit
32-bit
Blocked
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Upgrades The Office client upgrade for Windows Installer-based scenarios are as follows:
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A 2007 Office system 32-bit or an Office 2010 32-bit installation on a computer that runs a 32-bit Windows operating system can be upgraded to an Office 2013 32-bit version.
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A 2007 Office system 32-bit or an Office 2010 32-bit installation on a computer that runs a 64-bit Windows operating system can be upgraded to an Office 2013 32-bit (WOW64).
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An Office 2010 64-bit installation on a computer that runs a 64-bit Windows operating system can be upgraded to an Office 2013 64-bit version.
Important:
Office can only be upgraded to the same architecture. For example, Office 2010 32-bit can be upgraded to Office 2013 32-bit, and Office 2010 64-bit can be updated to Office 2013 64-bit.
There are no upgrade scenarios for Click-to-Run Office 2013. Click-to-Run supports side-by-side installation as noted in the Supported coexistence scenarios for 64-bit installations table.
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Deployment considerations
Before you deploy 64-bit editions of Office 2013, you must evaluate the advantages and disadvantages and determine whether it is an appropriate deployment option for your specific environment. The following sections
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Highlight benefits and issues that might affect compatibility
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Describe Outlook considerations
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List the applications that block a 64-bit Office 2013 installation
A key consideration is that you cannot install native 64-bit Office 2013 on computers that have 32-bit Office applications and third-party add-ins installed. You must uninstall the 32-bit Office applications and add-ins before you can install 64-bit Office 2013. If you have 32-bit third-party Office applications and add-ins that are required for users, you can install the default option, which is 32-bit Office 2013 (WOW64 installation) on computers that run supported 64-bit editions of Windows. A list of applications that block a 64-bit Office 2013 is provided in Applications that block a 64-bit Office 2013 installation.
In this section:
Advantages
Running Office 2013 64-bit provides the following advantages:
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Ability to use additional memory.
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Excel 2013 can load much larger workbooks. Excel 2013 made updates to use 64-bit memory addressing to move beyond the 2-GB addressable memory boundary that limits 32-bit applications.
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Project 2013 provides improved capacity, especially when you are dealing with many subprojects to a large project.
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Enhanced default security protections through Hardware Data Execution Prevention (DEP).
Disadvantages
The following issues might affect compatibility:
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Microsoft Access MDE/ADE/ACCDE files Databases that have had their source code removed (such as .mde, .ade, and .accde files) cannot be moved between 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Office 2013. Such databases that are created by using 32-bit Office (any version) can be used only with 32-bit Office.A database that is created on 64-bit Office can be used only on 64-bit Office.
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ActiveX controls and COM add-ins ActiveX controls and add-in (COM) DLLs (dynamic link libraries) that were written for 32-bit Office will not work in a 64-bit process. As a result, Office 2013 64-bit solutions that try to load 32-bit ActiveX controls or DLLs will not work. Installations of 64-bit Office 2013 will run only 64-bit controls. Computers can have 64-bit and 32-bit controls installed, and Office 2013 64-bit can only run the 64-bit versions of the controls. The workaround for resolving these issues is to obtain 64-bit compatible controls and add-ins or to install Office 2013 32-bit (WOW).
In addition to controls that load into Office applications, there are web-based solutions that use ActiveX controls in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Office 2013 Datasheet views that are created by using a SharePoint Server 2013 work on any platform and in browsers other than Internet Explorer. The SharePoint Server 2013 Edit in Datasheet view does not require a client-side control. For example, if a user has Office 2010 64-bit or Office 2013, Edit in Datasheet will work correctly on SharePoint Server 2013.
Note:
For SharePoint Server 2010, 64-bit editions install some Office 32-bit client-side controls for supporting solutions in a 32-bit browser (the default browser on current 64-bit Windows systems). The Edit in Datasheet view functionality in SharePoint Server 2010 is not supported if you install 64-bit Office 2013 client. The Edit in Datasheet functionality is available if you install 32-bit Office 2013 client.
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In-place activation The following issues might occur if there is no match between the bitness of Office 2013 and registered applications:
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An OLE server might not instantiate in-place and might fail to open if the application registered is not the same bitness as the version of Office installed. This can occur, for example, if the OLE Server application is 32-bit and the version of Office installed is 64-bit.
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An object inserted into an Office 2013 application document might fail in cross-bitness scenarios. This can occur, for example, if you insert a 32-bit object in a 64-bit Office 2013 application document.
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Graphics rendering There are differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit Graphics Device Interface (GDI) that might have performance implications because of the lack of MMX support on 64-bit. Intel's MMX technology is an extension of the Intel architecture (IA) instruction set. The technology uses a single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) technique to speed up multimedia and communications software by processing data elements in parallel.
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Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Beginning with Office 2010, VBA code that uses the Declare statement to access the Windows application programming interface (API) or other DLL entry points will see differences between 32-bit and 64-bit versions:
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The Declare statement must be updated with the PtrSafe attribute after inputs and outputs to the API were reviewed and updated.
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Declare statements do not work in 64-bit VBA without the PtrSafe attribute.
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Two new data types were added to 64-bit Office 2010 VBA: LongLong and LongPtr.
To learn about the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) changes that were introduced in Office 2010, see 64-Bit Visual Basic for Applications Overview in the MSDN Library.
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Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) synchronization WMDC does not synchronize with Outlook 2013 if you use the 64-bit version of Outlook 2013. In such cases, an error message states that there is no default mail client or the current mail client cannot fulfill the messaging. WMDC synchronizes correctly with the 32-bit version of Outlook 2013. To synchronize a Windows Phone with Outlook 2013 by using Windows Mobile Device Center, uninstall Outlook 2013 64-bit. Then, to install Outlook 2013 32-bit, use the original installer that you used to obtain Outlook 2013 64-bit. Outlook 2013 32-bit is the default option.
General feature deprecations
The following feature deprecations might affect compatibility:
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Microsoft Access The Replication Conflict Viewer was removed from both the 32-bit and 64-bit installations of Office 2013. The ReplicationConflictFunction was removed from Access 2013.
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Publisher In Office 2010, the Microsoft Works database converter (wdbimp.dll) was removed from both 32-bit and 64-bit installations of Office 2010. In versions earlier than Office 2010, this converter was used in the Mail Merge functionality to connect to a data source that was created in Microsoft Works.
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Word Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) and all its components were removed from Office 2010. The legacy Equation Editor is not supported on 64-bit Office 2013, but is supported for 32-bit Office 2013 installations (WOW64). However, the equation builder feature in Word 2013 works on all platforms.
WLL (Word Add-in libraries) WLL files are available for 32-bit Office 2013 and are not supported in 64-bit Office 2013.
Considerations for Outlook applications
If you developed 32-bit Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) applications, add-ins, or macros for Outlook, there are actions that you should take to change and rebuild the 32-bit applications to run on a 64-bit platform.
Starting with Office 2010, Outlook is available as a 32-bit application and a 64-bit application. The version (bitness) of Outlook that you choose depends on the edition of the Windows operating system (32-bit or 64-bit) and the edition of Office 2013 (32- or 64-bit) that is installed on the computer, if Office is already installed on that computer.
Factors that determine the feasibility of installing a 32-bit or a 64-bit version of Outlook include the following:
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You can install 32-bit Office 2013 and 32-bit Outlook 2013 on a supported 32-bit or 64-bit edition of the Windows operating system. You can install the 64-bit version of Office 2013 and 64-bit Outlook 2013 only on a supported 64-bit operating system.
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The default installation of Office 2013 on a 64-bit edition of the Windows operating system is 32-bit Office 2013.
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The bitness of an installed version of Outlook is always the same as the bitness of Office 2013, if Office is installed on the same computer. That is, a 32-bit version of Outlook 2013 cannot be installed on the same computer on which 64-bit versions of other Office 2013 applications are already installed, such as 64-bit Word 2013 or 64-bit Excel 2013. Similarly, a 64-bit version of Outlook 2013 cannot be installed on the same computer on which 32-bit versions of other Office applications are already installed.
MAPI applications include stand-alone applications such as Lync, Microsoft Office Communicator, and MFCMAPI, and service providers such as address book, store, and transport providers. For MAPI method and function calls to work in a MAPI application (except for one Simple MAPI function, MAPISendMail), the bitness of the MAPI application must be the same as the bitness of the MAPI subsystem on the computer on which the application is targeted to run. The bitness of the MAPI subsystem, in turn, is determined by and is always the same as the bitness of the installed version of Outlook. For information about how to prepare Outlook applications for 32-bit and 64-bit platforms, see the Outlook 2013 MAPI Reference in Microsoft Office Development in the MSDN Library.
Applications that block a 64-bit Office 2013 installation
By default, if 32-bit Office applications are installed on a computer, a 64-bit Office 2013 installation is blocked. The following applications block a 64-bit Office 2013 installation:
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Microsoft Office Excel Viewer
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Access database engine of Access 2013
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Office 2013 (Click-to-Run) 32-bit
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Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system
For additional information about applications and components that block 64-bit Office 2013, see KB 2269468: You receive the error message "You cannot install the 64-bit version of Office 2010 because you have 32-bit Office products installed".
Setup process
The Setup sequence for a 64-bit Office client installation is the same as for a standard 32-bit Office client installation, with the addition of specific checks that are performed for 64-bit Office 2013.
The following figure shows the checks that Setup performs for 64-bit installations.
Office 2013 64-bit Setup checks
Setup tasks are performed in the following sequence:
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Setup checks for 64-bit Office 2013 prerequisites.
When you run Setup.exe from the x64 folder, Setup determines whether 32-bit Office applications are installed. If Setup detects 32-bit Office applications, it displays an error message that informs users that they must first uninstall all 32-bit Office applications if they want to continue with the installation of Office 2013 64-bit. The error message lists the installed 32-bit Office applications. If Setup does not detect 32-bit Office applications, it installs the 64-bit edition of Office 2013.
Note:
When you run Setup.exe from the x86 folder, Setup determines whether there are 64-bit Office 2013 applications installed. If Setup detects 64-bit Office 2013, an error message is displayed and Setup is blocked. If Setup does not detect 64-bit Office 2013, it installs the 32-bit edition of Office 2013.
Office Professional 2013 will also be available as a combination release (DVD media) that includes both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Office 2013. If Setup is run from the root folder of the Office 2013 DVD that contains both 32-bit and 64-bit Office 2013, Setup performs the installation as follows:
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On a computer that runs a supported 32-bit edition of Windows, Setup installs the 32-bit edition of Office 2013.
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On a computer that runs a supported 64-bit edition of Windows, Setup checks for installed 64-bit Office applications, and then continues as follows:
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If no 64-bit Office applications are installed on the computer, Setup installs Office 2013 32-bit. Office 2013 32-bit is the default installation on a 64-bit Windows operating system (uses WOW). This also applies if the administrator upgrades an existing 32-bit Office installation.
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If 64-bit Office applications are installed, Setup installs Office 2013 64-bit.
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Setup reads XML data. Setup installs Office 2013, or streams the product if you are downloading Office 2013 Click-to-Run.
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If the installation is a Windows Installer-based installation and you created customizations with the OCT, Setup applies the 64-bit OCT customization .msp file that you specify.
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If the installation is a Windows Installer-based installation and you want to apply product updates (such as Service Packs and hotfixes), Setup can apply the updates as part of the initial installation. You can place the Office 2013 product updates in the Updates folder, and Setup applies the software updates that you specify.
Assessing your current environment for application compatibility
Office 2013 introduces a new application and document compatibility tool named "Telemetry Dashboard" to help IT professionals evaluate application and file compatibility issues. This tool replaces the Office 2010 compatibility tools: Office Migration Planning Manager (OMPM), Office Code Compatibility Inspector (OCCI), and Office Environment Assessment Tool (OEAT). For more information about Telemetry Dashboard, see Deploy Telemetry Dashboard.
