Office 2003 Service Pack 3 Now Available

Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains security enhancements and stability improvements. Some fixes that are included with Office 2003 SP3 were previously released in separate updates. Service Pack 3 also includes stability improvements developed as a result of user input from the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis in Office 2003 and from Microsoft Product Support feedback.
NOTE: Some of the security enhancements in Service Pack 3 modify the behavior of Office 2003, including changes that disable some features by default and increase control for computer administrators. These changes include:

  • Office 2003 can no longer open or save certain file formats. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938810.
  • MAPI forms do not run in public folders and user folders. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938816.
  • Office 2003 can now be configured to allow or deny specific COM components. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938815.
  • Some COM components with unusual characteristics may not function as expected. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938814.
  • Changes have been made to the behavior of Microsoft Office Document Imaging. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938813.
  • Attachments with the .gadget extension can no longer be opened in Outlook. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938811.
  • Access add-ins can no longer be configured for use by all users. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938809.
  • The Fast Save setting in Microsoft Office Word has been removed. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938808.
  • Documents saved in certain formats no longer contain the version number of Office. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938807.
  • Certain macros in older Excel file formats have increased security. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 938806.