Which version of Office 2010 should I use 32 bit or 64 bit?

Office 2010 is first version which is shipping in both 32 bit and 64 versions and most of 

users and organizations are wondering which one to use?

About half of deployments of Windows 7 are on 64 bit to unleash the processing power and RAM (usually more than 4 GB) and seems obvious that you also install 64 bit version of Office 2010 to get more power. But that doesn't work always as a best approach.

If you are using any ActiveX controls ,COM Addins or Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) that are 32 bit they will not support 64 bit version. 

With 64-bit version of Microsoft Office 2010 a new version of Microsoft VBA is released 

known as VBA 7.0 to work with both 32-bit and 64-bit applications. 

To get techy details check this article at MSDN -   Compatibility Between the 32-bit and 64-bit Versions of Office 2010

Another reason is support of social connectors on 32 bit version – Microsoft introduced Outlook Social connectors for various networks – by using them you can connect to your favorite social networks – and track your contacts activities in People pane.

Currently connectors for 4 social network providers for Outlook
 – Facebook , LinkedIn, MySpace and Windows Live Messenger  and list will be growing.


But the problem is only two connectors are available of 64 bit versions and the reason might be that the partners are first building social connector for 32 bit version (to tap the market of older versions – Office 2007 and 2003)

Advantages of using Outlook 2010 64 bit version – Because of 64 bit this enables you to work on larger set of data, this is especially true when working with very large Excel spreadsheets (Over 2 GB in size) and Microsoft has introduced PowerPivot for Excel to do powerful analysis on your desktop.

So if there is not a specific need to install 64 bit version of Office 2010, you should stick to 32 bit version even on 64 bit operating system to ensure compatibility by default and to get more social network providers for Outlook.