Windows 11 comes with a built-in photos manager called the Photos app. However, I still think Microsoft Office Picture Manager is the best app for managing pictures on Windows. Although the app was discontinued with the release of Office 2013, it’s still possible to install it on Windows 11.

Brief History of the Microsoft Office Picture Manager

Unlike today, when the Photos app comes pre-installed on Windows 11 as the default photo editing app, Microsoft Office Picture Manager was part of Microsoft Office. Although the Paint app existed, it didn’t have many editing tools.

Microsoft released Microsoft Office 97 in 1996 as a successor to Microsoft Office 95. Along with all the Office programs like Word and Excel, Office 97 also offered a photo manager called Microsoft Photo Editor.

While the app was good for viewing and editing photos, there were some technical issues. For instance, it didn’t keep track of the metadata of JPEG images captured from digital cameras. Furthermore, sometimes the application would open in a minimized window, and there was no way to maximize it.

Microsoft released the successor to Microsoft Photo Editor, called Microsoft Office Picture Manager, with Office 2003. The new app not only addressed all the major issues users had with Photo Editor, but also included many new features. For instance, it introduced the ability to resize, crop, and convert images into different formats.

While all these may seem like very common features nowadays, they were a big addition at the time. The Picture Manager also featured some advanced capabilities, like the ability to batch edit photos. You also had the option to upload pictures to a Microsoft SharePoint picture library, which allowed you to share your pictures with other family members over the internet. The app also allowed you to export files and use them in other Office applications.

Some other notable features of the app included adding highlights, shadows, red-eye removal, and image compression. Microsoft continued to offer Microsoft Office Picture Manager until Office 2010. The app was discontinued with the release of Office 2013. While Microsoft didn’t release any official statement on why they discontinued the app, it was believed that the move was made to make way for other advanced photo editing apps, like Windows Live Photo Gallery, that Microsoft had in development.

How to Install the 2003 Microsoft Office Picture Manager on Windows (And Why You Should)

You might wonder why you’d actually install an application that was discontinued over a decade ago. There’s no doubt the current Photos app that comes pre-installed on Windows 11 offers far more features than Microsoft Office Picture Manager. As it turns out, installing such old, discontinued applications really has nothing to do with the features they offer; instead, it’s all about reliving old memories. Alternatively, sometimes a simpler app is preferable to one packed full of features.

For instance, I still have Windows 7 installed in a virtual machine, and that’s definitely not because it’s better than Windows 11 or offers any feature that’s missing in Windows 11. Rather, it’s because using it reminds me of my childhood.

That said, to install the Microsoft Office Picture Manager on Windows 11, visit the Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 website, select your language, and choose “Download.”

Open the downloaded file and click “Customize.”

Since you only want to install the Picture Manager, not the other Office applications, click the drop-down icon next to “Microsoft SharePoint Designer” and choose “Not Available.” Similarly, choose the same for the “Office Shared Features” and “Office Tools” options.

Click the plus icon next to Office Tools, click the drop-down icon next to Microsoft Office Picture Manager, and choose “Run From My Computer.” Then, click “Install Now.”

That’s about it. The application is installed, and you can open it by searching for it in the Start menu.

In the right pane of the Microsoft Office Picture Manager, you will find the “Locate Pictures” option that you can use to configure the location where you want the app to look for photos on your computer.

When you want to edit an image, open it using the app, and in the top panel, you will find all the editing options, which include managing the image brightness and contrast, cropping the image, rotating it, and using the red eye removal feature. If you are unsure of what edit will look the best on your picture, you can use the “Auto Correct” option at the top that will automatically correct the color and brightness of the image.

Once you are done editing the image, click the “File” option in the top-left corner and save the image.

If you’re a Windows enthusiast and have been following all its developments since its inception, then you will definitely love using the Microsoft Office Picture Manager. It will allow you to go down nostalgia lane and relieve all those days when such limited features in this app were considered major additions. Furthermore, you can also use the app as a comparison to check out how different the new photos app is from its counterpart, released back in 2003.