Windows 7 forum: Lotus Smart suite on Windows 7

You might have figured it out by now, but you can install old versions of Smartsuite on your new computer. To do it, insert the CD (it will try to load but cannot), leave it in the tray, go to the start menu, locate the setup application file on the Lotus CD and click on it. You will probably get a message about compatability issues but click on "continue." All files will be loaded to your hard drive (C) inside a folder called "Lotus." Open that folder, then locate the folder for the application you want. Open that folder, locate the application file you want (the one with the icon that identifies it as an application file.) Right click on that line and drag it to your taskbar at the bottom of your screen. For some reason, the application (123, Wordpro, etc.) either won't open or won't work if you just copy it to your desktop. To open the application once you've pinned it to the taskbar, just click on it. I'm running Lotus Smartsuite Millennium v.9.6 this way and it works just fine! I've also copied my old Lotus files to my new computer and they open and run just as they did on the old one.

Well done bluegrass guitar. It worked perfectly, and I now have access to all my old files. I am pretty cute with Windows 7 and Smartsuite, but failed to work this one out after many frustrating hours. Well satisfied.

Try it under a 32 bit OS (7 has that too.) Or look around the compatibility tab for XP.
Bob

Did as you suggested and Lotus now installed and working! Many thanks for your help.

I am trying to open open Lotus 123 release 4 files in Windows 7 Basic on my Macbook Pro (running Snow Leopard) using Parallels.
File error reads "Invalid Character in File Name" These files opened in Windows XP what do I need to do ?