Office 2007 versions

This page is an archive: Office 2010 has now been released, and the versions are different. See the Office 2010 version of this page.

There were five different packages of Microsoft Office 2007, and they are available with at least three different licences. Which one should you choose?!

Use this table below to find the version which is most suitable for you. You can only buy the “Home & Student” licence if you’ll be using Office 2007 at home or for school/college work: you can’t use it commercially.

Office 2007 Home and Student Office 2007 Basic Office 2007 Standard Office 2007 Small Business Edition Office 2007 Professional
Home and
Student		 Basic Standard Small Business Professional
Outlook Outlook No Yes Yes Yes (incl. Contact Manager)
Word Word Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Excel Excel Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
PowerPoint Powerpoint Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Publisher Publisher No No No Yes No
Access Access No No No No Yes
OneNote OneNote Yes No No No No
Retail £48 n/a £228 £257 £285
Upgrade n/a n/a £141 £158 £189
OEM £47 £116 n/a £149 £187
Key to products, and
individual product prices:
Outlook Outlook £64
Word Word £149
Excel Excel £130
PowerPoint Powerpoint £99
Publisher Publisher £127
Access Access £161
OneNote OneNote £54

Home and Student licence

The Home and Student allows you to install the software on up to three PCs (provided you buy the Retail licence) but it does not include Microsoft Outlook and is for non-commercial use only.

OEM licences

OEM licences “live and die” with your new PC. You can only buy OEM licences when you buy a new PC, and you must replace them when you replace your PC. They are usually the cheapest way of buying Microsoft Office, especially if you are buying a new PC at the same time.

Buying an Upgrade if you have an old version of Microsoft Office

You can buy the Upgrade version of Microsoft Office if you already have an older version of Microsoft Office. You cannot upgrade from Office 95 or Office 97 – they are too old, but you can upgrade if you have Office 2000, Office XP or Office 2003.

You can also buy the Upgrade version of Microsoft Office if you have Microsoft Works version 6 or newer, or if you have Microsoft Works Suite 2000 or newer. If you don’t already have an eligible program that you can ‘upgrade’ from, you may consider buying Microsoft Works – at the time of writing it is available for under £20 from Amazon. Check that you order the retail version of Works, not the OEM version.

The “Ultimate Steal”

If you are studying at a UK college or university, you should consider the “Ultimate Steal” licence for Microsoft Office. If you qualify, you can buy Office 2007 Ultimate (that is, everything from Microsoft Office Professional plus Publisher, Groove and Infopath) for about £40. Better still, once you graduate, you can keep the licence forever. For more information, see the Microsoft website.