Selecting a Microsoft Office Primary Interop Assembly version

Question

I'm writing a .Net application that utilises Excel. Any version of Excel from '97 or later is acceptable, but I don't know which version any particular client will have. Installing the Microsoft Office PIAs through a bootstrapper is no problem.

Which version of the PIA should I include in the installation package? Do I need every PIA version, or will one PIA version cover all required Excel versions?

Answer 1

Using the earliest PIA version should work, albeit unofficially - see MS Office PIAs "backward compatibility". Using a later version may or may not work, and is not recommended.