diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 77c546f110c67e3c3a8f44cb617a7f1b187813e1..433ea0abad33edc3998465809a5a97c0bc47d75a 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ classifiers =
 package_dir =
             = src
 packages = find:
-python_requires = >=3.8
+python_requires = >=3.7
 install_requires =
 	importlib-resources
 	caosdb > 0.10.0
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ install_requires =
     pyyaml
     odfpy #make optional
     pandas
+    importlib_metadata;python_version<'3.8'
 
 [options.packages.find]
 where = src
diff --git a/src/caoscrawler/version.py b/src/caoscrawler/version.py
index de604bbed94616cf5685825453d210fd713db1ef..e73905dcd25673eae88f718a7e45b7b4d0665e47 100644
--- a/src/caoscrawler/version.py
+++ b/src/caoscrawler/version.py
@@ -17,13 +17,16 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
 # along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
-import importlib.metadata
+try:
+    from importlib import metadata as importlib_metadata
+except ImportError:  # Python<3.8 dowesn"t support this so use
+    import importlib_metadata
 
 from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 from warnings import warn
 
 # Read in version of locally installed caoscrawler package
-version = importlib.metadata.version("caoscrawler")
+version = importlib_metadata.version("caoscrawler")
 
 
 class CfoodRequiredVersionError(RuntimeError):
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 9573e832a1ee9f9443d150a945c8a05962112a1a..a7d4465ed36f0fe5e49c06721d3e3a0cdf453fa0 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [tox]
-envlist = py38, py39, py310, py311
+envlist = py37, py38, py39, py310, py311
 skip_missing_interpreters = true
 
 [testenv]