I Ditched Windows 11's Photo Manager for This 20-Year-Old App

Windows 11 comes with photo manager - photo application. But many users still believe that Microsoft Office Picture Manager is the best picture management tool on Windows systems. Although the app stopped updating after Office 2013 was released, it can still be installed on Windows 11.

A brief history of Microsoft Office Picture Manager

Unlike the photo apps pre-installed with Windows 11, Microsoft Office Picture Manager was once part of the Microsoft Office suite. Although drawing applications already existed at that time, their editing tools were limited.

In 1996, Microsoft released Microsoft Office 97 as the successor to Microsoft Office 95. In addition to Office programs such as Word and Excel, Office 97 also provides a photo manager called Microsoft Photo Editor.

The app performs well in photo viewing and editing, but there are some technical issues. For example, it cannot track the metadata of JPEG images taken from a digital camera. Additionally, applications sometimes open in a minimized window and cannot be maximized.

Microsoft released Microsoft Office Picture Manager, the successor to Microsoft Photo Editor in Office 2003. This new app not only solves the main problems users encounter when using Photo Editor, but also includes many new features. For example, it introduces the functions of resizing, cropping, and converting images to different formats.

Although these features are very common today, they were a big improvement at the time. Picture Manager also has some advanced features such as batch editing of photos. Users can also upload images to the Microsoft SharePoint image gallery to share images with other family members over the Internet. The app also allows users to export files and use them in other Office applications.

Some other notable features of the app include adding highlights, shadows, red-eye removal, and image compression. Microsoft has been providing Microsoft Office Picture Manager until Office 2010. The app stopped being updated after Office 2013 was released. While Microsoft has not issued any official statement about stopping updates to the app, it is widely believed that the move is to make way for other advanced photo editing apps Microsoft is developing, such as Windows Live Photo Gallery.

How to install Microsoft Office Picture Manager 2003 on Windows 11 (and why you should)

You may be wondering why you installed an app that stopped updating more than a decade ago. There is no doubt that the current photo app preinstalled on Windows 11 offers much more features than Microsoft Office Picture Manager. In fact, installing such old, discontinued applications has nothing to do with the features they provide; instead, it is all about relive old memories. Or, sometimes a simple app is more popular than a fully-featured app.

For example, I still have Windows 7 installed in my virtual machine, which is definitely not because it is better than Windows 11, or provides anything missing in Windows 11. But because it reminds me of my childhood when it is used.

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

Open the downloaded file and click "Customize".

Since you just want to install Picture Manager instead of other Office applications, click the drop-down icon next to "Microsoft SharePoint Designer" and select "Unable". Similarly, the same options are selected for the Office Sharing 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 select "Run on My Computer". Then, click "Install Now".

that's all. The application is installed and you can open it by searching for it in the Start menu.

In the right pane of Microsoft Office Picture Manager, you will find the Find Picture option, which you can use to configure where the application wants to find photos on your computer.

When you want to edit an image, open it with the app, and in the top panel you will find all editing options including managing image brightness and contrast, cropping images, rotating images, and using red eye removal. If you are not sure which editing effect is best for your image, you can use the Auto Correction option at the top, which will automatically correct the image's color and brightness.

After editing the image, click the "File" option in the upper left corner and save the image.

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If you are a Windows enthusiast and have followed all its developments from the very beginning, you will definitely enjoy using Microsoft Office Picture Manager. It will take you back to nostalgic times and allow you to relive those days when limited features in this app are considered major improvements. Additionally, you can use the app to compare and see how the new photo app differs from its 2003-released counterpart.

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