How to programmatically distinguish Excel 2019 from 2016

Question

I keep a diagnostic that automatically determines the MS Office version, including Word and Excel. Versions of MS Office 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016 have all run smoothly with it. However, I've since discovered that it incorrectly lists MS Office 2019 applications as MS Office 2016.

Here is a VB Script that diagnoses which, if any, version of Excel is installed to the system:

On Error Resume Next
Set excelApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application") 
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
    WScript.Echo "Excel is not installed"
Else
    Wscript.Echo "Excel Version: " & excelApp.Version 
End If

The diagnostic faithfully reports MS Office versions consistent with the post from 2011. Since then, it reports 15.0 for Office 2013, and 16.0 for Office 2016. Recently, though, I was surprised to find that it also reports 16.0 for Office 2019. That is just not right! The 2016 and 2019 feature sets are clearly distinct, so they should not be lumped together.

Is there an alternate way to programmatically distinguish Office 2016 from Office 2019?

Answer 1

Using the output of the MS Office Client Software License Management Tool, OSPP.VBS, ran with the /dstatus option, one can circumvent the issue. Here is an example CMD script that exemplifies the fix:

:: GetOfficeVer.cmd - Print the version of a licensed MS Office package.
::   Prerequisite:
::      Copy this cmd script to a folder including these MS Office files:
::          * OSPP.VBS    - MS Office Software Protection Platform script.
::          * OSPP.HTM    - Help file for OSPP.VBS.
::          * SLERROR.XML - Data file for OSPP.VBS.
::   Syntax:
::      GetOfficeVer [ComputerName[ PackageAbbr]]
::        ComputerName    - Windows system name  (defaults to local system)
::        PackageAbbr     - Package abbreviation (list below is not exhaustive)
::          *  ProPlus    - Office Professional Plus (default)
::          *  VisioPro   - Visio Professional
::          *  InfoPath   - InfoPath Designer
::   Return Values:
::          *  If the package is licensed, print the MS Office package version
::             string using the MS Office Application.Version property format.
::          *  If the package is unlicensed, print an empty line.
@echo off
setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
if %2_==_ (set MSO_PKG=ProPlus) else (set MSO_PKG=%2)
set "MSO_PKG_LIC=cscript "%~dp0\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus %1 | findstr /R /C:"^LICENSE NAME:.*%MSO_PKG%""
for /f "tokens=1-4 delims=, " %%G in ('!MSO_PKG_LIC!') do (set MSO_VER=%%J)
if %MSO_VER%_==_ (echo.) else ( echo %MSO_VER%.0)
endlocal