Migrate Outlook to current Outlook?

I've performed an in place upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 on a relatives ex lease business notebook. I wanted to perform an upgrade first and evaluate what would be required for an eventual clean Win 10 install to an SSD.

As an ex lease machine it appears to have an old MS Office suite installed on it and the relative is still using Outlook for their emails. I believe it might have been Outlook 2012. Will the relative have to purchase a MS 365 subscription to continue using Outlook on a clean Win 10 install? What is the best approach?

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exc...lbox-migration
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/off...o365-worldwide

The answer is, No - no purchase should be necessary. Your relative should be able to a carry on using the Outlook that is already installed. I did so with my Outlook 2007 after I upgraded it from Windows 7 to Windows 10. There are serious problems trying to run Office 2003 in Windows 10 [as there were in Windows 7] but your use of the term Outlook 2012 makes me think you mean something later than Office 2003.

And when I later clean installed to avoid any debris left behind after years of use, I re-installed Office 2007 and have had no problems with it apart from some annoying temporary issues with its VBA modules for macros I have written in it.

You will need to check which Office version it is [there is no such thing as Outlook 2012] and you will have to check that your relative has a Product key for that version of Office in order to use it.
- By version number I mean something in the format Office 2007 / Office 2010 [not a simple number such as 10 / 12 / 14 because MS has used those in installed pathnames so there is scope for misunderstanding].
- Run, say, Excel then click on the Office button to show Excel Options, then select Resources and read the version number in the text next to the About button.
- This is a bit easier in Outlook, just click on Help then About and the version number is on in the top line.

Denis

@Denis

Yes older than 2003 but younger than 2010 so probably 2007. I have upgraded the machine from Win 7 to 10 and Outlook continues to work but as I mentioned I want to clean install Win 10 onto an SSD. So how does Outlook continue to work in that instance? Do I just download it? Is it a free download? I thought Microsoft Office was subscription based but I believe older versions were one time purchases. Is this why the relative continues to use Outlook free of charge? Say they would like to use the latest Outlook would they then need a subscription? What happens here?

Why settle for

probably 2007

when it would take 5 seconds to find the answer? Or is there a fault with the computer?

Office is not free. I have already explained that your relative needs to have the licence key [the "product key"] to activate Office. If the computer is currently up & running & if it is Office 2007 then you can retrieve the product key from the current installation. Download & run the free utility Belarc and its output contains the product key for the installed Office.

You need to ask your relative if the licence was bought for the whole of Office or just for Outlook [it could be bought on its own]. Ask about the original installation CD / DVD as well. I do not know if an Outlook-only product key is going to prove to be a problem with the download, installation or activation.

I have no idea if Belarc can tell the difference between an Office product key & an Outlook-only product key. I have never had any dealings with Outlook-only product keys.

This is my only remaining download link for Office 2007. All the other online sources have been removed.
HeiDoc Office 2007 Direct Download Links {I suppose there are links for other versions as well but I have never looked}
{If you were talking about Office 2010, you could also look at Download Earlier Versions of Office - MS}

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If you decide to use a more modern version of Office, you can either buy it outright or subscribe. I have no idea if Outlook can be bought or subscribed to on its own. I used beta / trial versions of Outlook 2016 for almost a year and it had several very annoying changes so I just stuck to my Outlook 2007 and will continue to do so until it eventually falls over as Windows 10 gets updated.
Microsoft Office | Productivity Tools for Home & Office

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If you are going to try a clean install then make a complete system image beforehand together with a boot USB for your chosen imaging software. This should be done in all cases but might be particularly useful in this case because you might be trying to install the Outlook-only portion of Office from the general Office installation file using an Outlook-only product key. And I have never heard of anybody doing that - it might have been done many times but I have simply never heard about it.

Many people on this site use Macrium reflect [free] for their system images.
Macrium Reflect Free
Macrium Reflect v7.2 User Guide
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - TenForumsTutorials
Personally, I use Acronis TI.

A clean install of Windows 10 is rarely essential. Perhaps you could just leave it as it is unless serious problems develop. But start making frequent system images anyway.

You could transfer the whole lot to an SSD without doing a clean install at all. Just make a system image of the current computer and restore it to the SSD.

Denis

Hi Denis,

Been meaning to reply to you but got sidetracked. Will reply back soon, haven't forgotten.

@Try3 Hi Denis,

I noticed they had Word and possibly Excel as well so it likely is an Office package and I would imagine they surely use Word. Say I want to download the Office package which link am looking for here: Office 2007 Direct Download Links It's a little confusing.

I already use Macrium so know how that works. The relative complained that the notebook was slow and regularly froze with BSOD. After doing the Win 10 in place upgrade for them I also noticed the slowness. There are many programs/bloatware the relative says they don't use. I'm not certain a clean install is the cure to that but many times it can be and in this case we would also be swapping out the HDD for an SSD which can do wonders...