Bravo Notes on Office 2003 SP3
Compiled and edited by Sam C. Chan, based largely on information available on Microsoft TechNet #923618
Restructured, summarized, edited, annotated and reformatted for internal use. Last updated: March 13, 2008

INTRODUCTION

• 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.
• Office 2003 SP3 combines the previously released fixes into one update.

List of issues that the service pack fixes:

• 938790  Issues that are fixed in Excel 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• 938792  Issues that are fixed in Office 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• 938802  Issues that are fixed in Outlook 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• 938801  Issues that are fixed in PowerPoint 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• 938799  Issues that are fixed in Word 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• Excel workbook: a list of the Office 2003 post-Service Pack 2 issues that are fixed by Office 2003 SP3.
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/7/c/27cca56a-4181-46e7-a4ae-b656001af4fb/office2003_sp3changes.exe

Security bulletins that are associated with the service pack:

• 922581  MS06-062: Vulnerabilities in Office could allow remote code execution
• 924191  MS06-061: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft XML Core Services could allow remote code execution
• 922968  MS06-048: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution
• 917284  MS06-038: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution
• 915384  MS06-039: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office filters could allow remote code execution
• 901190  could allow elevation of privilege
• 917285  MS06-037: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel could allow remote code execution
• 905413  MS06-012: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution
• 902412  MS06-003: Vulnerability in TNEF decoding in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange could allow remote code execution
• 916768  MS06-028: Vulnerability in Microsoft PowerPoint could allow remote code execution
• 910729  MS06-054: Vulnerability in Microsoft Publisher could allow remote code execution
• 917336  MS06-027: Vulnerability in Microsoft Word could allow remote code execution
• 940965  MS07-044: Vulnerability in Microsoft Excel could allow remote code execution
• 936227  MS07-042: Vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services could allow remote code execution

Previously released updates that the service pack includes:

• 842532  Description of Office 2003 Service Pack 1
• 887616  Description of Office 2003 Service Pack 2
• 892843  Description of the security update for Outlook 2003: January 10, 2006
• 913807  Description of the update for Outlook 2003: March 14, 2006
• 924424  Description of the security update for Office 2003: October 10, 2006
• 914455  Description of the security update for Office 2003, for Project 2003, and for OneNote 2003: July 11, 2006
• 923097  Description of the update for Office 2003: October 10, 2006
• 923272  Description of the security update for Office 2003: October 10, 2006
• 919029  Description of the update for Office 2003: November 14, 2006
• 894542  Description of the security update for Publisher 2003: September 12, 2006
• 921566  Description of the security update for Office 2003: August 8, 2006
• 905756  Description of the security update for Excel 2003: March 14, 2006
• 917334  Description of the security update for Microsoft Office Word 2003: June 13, 2006
• 917151  Description of the security update for Office 2003: July 11, 2006
• 918419  Description of the security update for Microsoft Office Excel 2003: July 11, 2006
• 916518  Description of the security update for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003: June 13, 2006
• 913571  Description of the updates for Office 2003: March 14, 2006
• 924886  Description of the update for Office 2003: December 12, 2006
• 905645  Description of the security update for Office 2003: February 14, 2006
• 920103  Description of the update for InfoPath 2003: August 8, 2006
• 925251  Description of the update for Office 2003: February 13, 2007
• 936048  Description of the security update for Office 2003: August 14, 2007
• 940602  Description of the security update for Excel 2003: August 14, 2007

New and updated features

After you install Office 2003 SP3, you can use a registry key to enable or to disable the instantiation point of a specific COM category in an Office 2003 program. For more information about this feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

• 938815  How to enable or disable the instantiation point of a specific COM category in an Office 2003 Service Pack 3 application
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, you can use a registry key to change the number of embedded MIME messages that are processed before a MIME message appears in the message body in Outlook 2003. For more information about this feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938817  How to change the number of embedded MIME messages that Outlook 2003 processes before the MIME is dumped to the message body
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, you can install add-ins in Microsoft Office Access 2003 on a Windows Vista-based computer. For more information about this feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938809  Error message when you try to install an Access 2003 add-in for all users by using the Add-In Manager on a Windows Vista-based computer: "There was an error adding to the registry"

Known issues

After you install Office 2003 SP3, you experience problems when you use a Bit field in an Access project (.adp). For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

• 943967  After you install Office 2003 SP 3, you encounter various problems in an Access project when you work with a Bit data type column in a linked SQL Server table
• After you install a Microsoft Office service pack, you are prompted unexpectedly to restart the computer. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 905726  You are unexpectedly prompted to restart the computer after you install an Office service pack or an Office update
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, an add-in, ActiveX control, or COM add-in may not work as expected in an Office 2003 program. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938814  The functionality of an add-in, an ActiveX control, or a COM add-in is reduced, or the functionality is blocked after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, you may receive an error message when you try to create a new MAPI form in Outlook 2003. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938816  Error message when you try to create a new MAPI form in Outlook 2003: "contact the administrator"
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, attachments that contain the .gadget extension cannot be opened in Outlook 2003. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938811  Attachments that contain the .gadget extension cannot be opened in Outlook 2003 after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, the Fast Saves feature does not work as expected in Word 2003. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938808  The Fast Saves feature in Word 2003 no longer functions after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, the Microsoft Office Document Imaging program may not work as expected. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938813  You may experience issues when you run the Microsoft Office Document Imaging program after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, you may receive an error message when you try to open or to save a file. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 941636  You receive an error message when you try to open a file or to save a file after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, you cannot open some Microsoft Excel workbooks that contain Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938806  You cannot open Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 Workbook files that contain Visual Basic for Applications macros in Excel 2003 after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, the version number of Office is no longer saved in the properties of the document as expected. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 938807  Office files that are saved in certain formats no longer contain the version number of Office after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, you experience problems when you add a combo box control or a list box control to a form or to a report. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 945280  Combo box controls and list box controls display no value or incorrect values in Access 2003 after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• After you install Office 2003 SP3, you experience other problems in Access. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
• 945674  Description of the Access 2003 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: December 18, 2007
• After you install Office SP3 for certain localized versions of Office 2003, the application installation states may become corrupted. This issue may cause malfunctions in Office 2003 applications. To resolve this issue, the following critical update needs to be applied on a system directly after the installation of Office SP3:
• 943452  Critical Update for Office 2003

Install/Removal details

• Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E25B7049-3E13-433B-B9D2-5E3C1132F206
• 873125  You cannot remove service packs for Office 2003 products

SP3 File Versions

File name	Version
Excel.exe	11.0.8169.0
Winword.exe	11.0.8169.0
Outlook.exe	11.0.8169.0
Powerpnt.exe	11.0.8169.0
Mso.dll	11.0.8172.0
Mspub.exe	11.0.8166.0
Msaccess.exe	11.0.8166.0
Infopath.exe	11.0.8165.0
Frontpg.exe	11.0.8164.0

Information for administrators about .msp files

The administrative service pack consists of a full-file Microsoft Windows Installer file (.msp file) that is packaged in a self-extracting executable file. The following .msp files are distributed in this service pack:  

Name of .msp file	Description
Mainsp3.msp	Applies to Office 2003
Owc11sp3.msp	Applies to Office 2003 Web Components
Owc102003sp3.msp	Applies to Office XP Web Components

Features for reinstalling specific components for administrators

• If you update your administrative installation point, and if you recache and reinstall Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 on client computers, run a command line that includes the REINSTALL=[list of features] property. This property specifies whether you want to reinstall specific components of Office 2003 from the administrative image. For Office 2003 SP3, the value for the [list of features] is as follows:
  REINSTALL=ALL
• For detailed procedures that explain how to update an administrative image and how to update client computers, see the "Updating clients from a patched administrative image" section in the "Distributing Office 2003 product updates" topic. To view the "Distributing Office 2003 product updates" topic, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/HA011402381033.aspx
• The Microsoft Office Desktop Applications TechCenter contains the latest administrative updates and strategic deployment resources for all versions of Office. For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://technet.microsoft.com/office/bb267346.aspx

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Office 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack
• Microsoft Office Web Components
• Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
• Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
• Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003
• Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
• Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
• Microsoft Office Access 2003
• Microsoft Office Access 2003 Runtime
• Microsoft Office Excel 2003
• Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
• Microsoft Office Word 2003