2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) available

Microsoft has released 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) which provides the latest updates to the 2007 Office suite.

To learn about the product-specific changes introduced by SP2 and about important information that you should be aware of before installing SP2, see KB 953195 “Description of 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) and of Microsoft Office Language Pack 2007 SP2” (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/953195). To download SP2, see 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) (https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B444BF18-79EA-46C6-8A81-9DB49B4AB6E5\&displaylang=en) on the Microsoft Download Center.

SP2 includes the following types of fixes:

· Previously unreleased fixes that were made specifically for this service pack.

o In addition to general product fixes, this includes improvements in stability, performance, and security.

· All of the Public Updates, Security Updates, Cumulative Updates, and Hotfixes released through February 2009.

For more information about this service pack, including a list of the files affected, see KB 970357 "Technical details about the Office 2007 System client service packs" (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/970357).

For information about the 2007 Office system SP2 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2 packages and for information about how to obtain the SP2 packages, see KB article 968170 “List of all 2007 Office system Service Pack 2 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 packages” (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/968170).

Note: Service Packs for Office products are available only as patches to the installed product; they are not integrated with the base Office system products.

For information about distributing updates, see " Deploying all Microsoft Self-Extractor packages in a folder " and " Deploying software updates with the initial 2007 Office system installation " in Distribute product updates for the 2007 Office system (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178995.aspx). Also see Deploy 2007 Office software updates with System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc872848.aspx).

Also see Gray Knowlton's blog for a description of changes in SP2: Office 2007 Service Pack 2 Kiosk (https://blogs.technet.com/gray\_knowlton/archive/2009/04/27/office-2007-service-pack-2-kiosk.aspx).

The following sections highlight the changes in SP2.

OpenDocument Format version 1.1 (ODF)

ODF has been added as an available file format for saving documents in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For information, see the following resources:

· Differences between the OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) format and the Excel (.xlsx) format (https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA102877221033.aspx)

· Differences between the OpenDocument Presentation (.odp) format and the PowerPoint (.pptx) format (https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA102877231033.aspx)

· Differences between the OpenDocument Text (.odt) format and the Word (.docx) format  (https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA102835631033.aspx)

· Doug Mahugh’s blog: Working with ODF in Word 2007 SP2 (https://blogs.msdn.com/dmahugh/archive/2009/04/28/working-with-odf-in-word-2007-sp2.aspx)

· For information about new Group Policy and Office Customization Tool settings for OpenDocument Format and Open XML Formats in the 2007 Office system, see Group Policy and Office Customization Tool settings that address OpenDocument Format and Open XML Formats in the 2007 Office system (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd723552.aspx).

!---->

Extensible file formats

SP2 provides support for extensible file formats. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint now include a converter interface that lets developers plug third-party custom file formats into these Office programs. Developers can create a converter for files of a particular extension. When this converter is installed on a user’s computer, the custom file format effectively behaves like a built-in file format. Users can open files of this format and save them by using the Open or Save UI, and they can set the custom format as their default file format. For more information, see Introducing the Open XML Format External File Converter for 2007 Microsoft Office System SP2 on the MSDN web site (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd300649.aspx).

PDF and XPS file types

SP2 includes functionality that allows you to export and save to the PDF and XPS formats in 2007 Microsoft Office programs. It also allows you to send as e-mail attachment in the PDF and XPS formats in a subset of these programs. The Save as PDF or XPS add-in was previously offered as a separate download (2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS) and this functionality is now incorporated into SP2. For more information, see the following resources:  

· Save a file in PDF format (https://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?assetid=HA100649921033\&pid=CH100793971033\&CTT=3\&Origin=HA101675271033)

· Save a file in XPS format (https://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?assetid=HA100649931033\&pid=CH100793971033\&CTT=3\&Origin=HA101675271033)

· Publish as PDF or XPS (https://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?assetid=HA100674941033\&pid=CL100605171033\&CTT=3\&Origin=HA100649931033)

· Print, share, and protect files in the PDF and XPS file formats (https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101675271033.aspx)

Microsoft Office Outlook

Microsoft Office Outlook provides performance improvements that apply to responsiveness of startup, shutdown, and folder view and switching. It also provides improvements in data file checks, calendar, and search reliability, as well as object model improvements. For a description of changes in Outlook, see KB 968774 “Outlook 2007 improvements in the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 2” (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/968774).

Office security

SP2 provides the following security improvements:

· Fixes certain scenarios in which documents in trusted locations were treated as non-trusted.

· Improves several cryptographic or encryption scenarios.

· Provides a method to ignore time stamping expiration.

· Provides better security warnings when a certificate is revoked.

· An updated password algorithm that is synchronized with the document ISO requirements.

· Provides an ISO-OOXML-compliant password verifier for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

· Enables smarter AVAPI blocking for encrypted macros.

For more information about cryptographic improvements, see David LeBlanc’s blog: New, Improved Office Crypto (https://blogs.msdn.com/david\_leblanc/archive/2008/12/04/new-improved-office-crypto.aspx).

Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Office suite

SP2 provides a new command line tool, Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite (or 2007 Office SP Uninstall Tool), which allows administrators and advanced users to remove Service Pack 2 for Office client products without uninstalling the entire product. Previously, the only way to remove an Office service pack was to completely uninstall the product; it was not possible to uninstall a service pack. The 2007 Office SP Uninstall Tool is available only as a separate download from the Microsoft Download Center at 2007 Microsoft Office system Service Pack 2 Uninstall Tool (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=144518). The tool is not part of the SP2 download itself.

For more information about using the uninstall tool, see Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Office suite (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd723551.aspx).

Office graphics

SP2 provides the following Office graphics enhancements:

· Improved application performance, especially for Excel 2007.

· Object model fixes designed to achieve parity with Office 2003 when the object model works with graphical objects.

· Increased printing fidelity of graphical objects.

· XML-based representations of SmartArt graphics in documents are saved with the files to optimize interoperability. This new feature uses the standard DrawingML markup to describe the visual properties of the SmartArt graphic.

· Improved Edit Points feature to enable more accurate shape editing and increased interoperability with Office 2003.

Input method editor (IME)