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Microsoft Office XP version comparison
Compare the features and benefits of Office XP with previous versions. For additional comparison information on Office XP and Microsoft Office 2000, read an independent report by the American Institutes for Research.
In this article
Making productivity simple
KEY:
 = Feature Included  = Improved in Office XP  = New in Office XP
Productivity and efficiency
| Feature |
Office 97 |
Office 2000 |
Office XP |
Smart tags
A set of buttons shared across Microsoft Office programs, smart tags appear as needed (when you paste data, for example, or make an error in a Microsoft Excel formula) to provide options for completing a task quickly. |
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Task panes
Access important tasks from a single location with task panes. Perform searches, open documents, view your Clipboard, format documents and presentations, download templates from the Web, and more. |
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Paste Options smart tags
Change the formatting of copied data before you paste it into a new document with Paste Options smart tags. You can even apply specific characteristics to data, based on content. |
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AutoCorrect Options smart tags
Control automatic functions that take place within Office applications. You can undo or disable automatic corrections, and access the AutoCorrect Options dialog box without going to the Tools menu. |
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File New (Task Pane)
Now you can launch a new document from inside another document, create documents from templates stored on the Web, and see a list of recently used templates and documents. |
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Office Clipboard (Task Pane)
The Clipboard now holds 24 pieces of information—double the number in Office 2000. Thumbnails in Task Pane View make it easier to distinguish among items. |
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Office Document Imaging
Scan documents for later viewing or to reuse the text in Microsoft Office programs. Take advantage of the text search capabilities of Office to search scanned documents. |
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Speech recognition
Increase productivity by using speech to dictate text and voice commands to make formatting changes and navigate menus. |
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Handwriting
Notes you take on a handheld device can be uploaded to Microsoft Office programs as text. You can also write directly in Microsoft Word—in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, in addition to English—and save your work as a handwritten document or convert it to text or typed characters. |
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Compress pictures
Compress images simply by designating how they will be used (on the Web, for example). Office XP compression minimizes file size without sacrificing quality. |
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Office e-mail introduction
Add a short introduction to e-mail messages sent from Microsoft Office programs. |
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Ask a question
Get help in Office XP by typing questions into the Office menu bar without launching the Answer Wizard or Office Assistant. |
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Office Assistant
In Office XP, the Office Assistant is hidden by default and only appears when Help is activated. |
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Now hidden by default |
Help Window improvements
Access Help and useful Web sites—including Microsoft Product Support Services and Office Tools on the Web—more easily. A "What's New" catalog provides information about new features. |
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Access to information
| Feature |
Office 97 |
Office 2000 |
Office XP |
Context-Sensitive smart tags
Using smart tags, Office XP automatically recognizes many information types, including names, dates, addresses, telephone numbers, places, and stock symbols. Smart tags can be developed to recognize any kind of data. |
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Search task pane
The task pane makes it easy to find text in a document and locate files or folders from within the document you are working on. You can also index files on your machine for faster searches. |
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Web queries
Access and analyze live data from the Web by simply copying and pasting Web pages into Excel. Smart tags automatically provide the option to create refreshable Web queries. |
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Template Gallery
The New Document task pane gives you direct access to hundreds of professionally designed templates available on the Web in the Template Gallery. |
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Available from the Web |
Available right from the Office task pane |
Design Gallery Live
Access thousands of images, sounds, and animations on the Web. Monthly updates mean you always have access to fresh material. |
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My Data Sources
Connect quickly to databases and other data sources from this new folder inside My Documents, which tracks information you have previously accessed. |
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Print from Browser
HTML files are now printed directly from the Microsoft Office program they were created in, providing significantly better printing results. |
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Web Options capability
A new drop-down menu in Web Options makes it easy to create documents compatible with specific browsers. |
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Insert Hyperlink dialog box
Enhancements to the Insert Hyperlink dialog box make it easier to link to files when creating or maintaining Web pages. |
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Reliability, data recovery, and security
| Feature |
Office 97 |
Office 2000 |
Office XP |
Document Recovery
In the event of a program error, Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Access enable you to save the file you are working on when the error occurs. |
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AutoRecover
Automatic recovery, now provided in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Publisher, enables you to choose how often files are saved. If an error occurs, you can discard the recovered file, save it in place of the original, or keep it as a separate file. |
Only in Word |
Only in Word |
Now in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel |
Application error reporting
Office XP programs can automatically report errors directly to Microsoft or a corporate IT department. Error information can be used to correct problems and provide workarounds. |
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Application and Document Recovery
A safe method for quitting a program that has stopped responding, Application and Document Recovery lets you initiate recovery of a document while you are shutting down the program. |
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Repair and extract
This sophisticated document recovery feature is automatically invoked in Word and Excel whenever an error occurs or a document fails to load properly. Also accessible from the File Open dialog box. |
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Safe mode
Office XP eliminates unnecessary downtime by automatically running workarounds for common problems that can occur when programs are launched. |
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Digital signatures
Digitally sign entire documents in Office XP. With digital signatures, you'll know if a document has come from a trusted source, or if it has been altered. |
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Document password encryption
Word and Excel offer improved password security through the addition of the CryptoAPI standard. Password encryption has been added to PowerPoint for the first time. |
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Simple password protection without encryption |
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Single security tab
Office XP provides easy access to security features by placing security options for each program under a single tab. |
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 Top of Page
Enabling collaboration for everyone
KEY:
= Feature Included = Improved in Office XP = New in Office XP
Collaborative document review
| Feature |
Office 97 |
Office 2000 |
Office XP |
Send for review
New features let you assign roles to everyone involved in the document review cycle, while automatically providing the correct tools for each reviewer. As the review process progresses, changes can be easily merged back into the original document. |
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Compare and merge
Office XP makes it easier to merge comments and revisions from more than one reviewer into a single version of a document, and accept or reject proposed edits. |
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Markup
Markups in Word and PowerPoint now appear in the right margin of documents, and identify revisions and reviewer comments without obscuring the original document or affecting its layout. |
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Reviewing toolbar
New Reviewing toolbar features include the option to view changes by specific reviewers or by all reviewers, and then accept or reject changes one at a time or all at once. |
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Collaborating with others: Integration with SharePoint Team Services
| Feature |
Office 97 |
Office 2000 |
Office XP |
SharePoint Team Services from Microsoft
An easy-to-create Web site that serves as a central location for all project information, SharePoint Team Services (included with Microsoft FrontPage version 2002) makes it easy to conduct discussions and create contact and task lists, event calendars, document libraries, and surveys—all from a Web browser. |
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Document Libraries
Document Libraries make collaboration easier by providing a single location where Web users can store documents. |
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Save/Open dialog
A new HTML interface lets you navigate directly to a Document Library from within the File Open/File Save dialog box. |
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Lists
View and edit structured lists used to build SharePoint Team Services–based Web sites using a Web interface. List templates include announcements, team contacts, team events, and surveys, and lists can be customized or created from scratch. |
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Events
A central location for storing team events, this new feature lets team members add information about events and then export them directly to a Microsoft Outlook calendar. |
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Team contacts
Manage contacts, change columns and views of contacts, and export or import contacts to or from the Outlook Contacts folder. |
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Document discussions
With Office XP, you can conduct discussions in an Office document or Web site. |
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Editing in FrontPage
Use FrontPage to edit SharePoint Team Services–based Web sites. Customization options include changing themes, adding FrontPage components, and incorporating static HTML elements. |
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Connecting and coordinating with others
| Feature |
Office 97 |
Office 2000 |
Office XP |
MSN Messenger integration
Now you can find out if someone is online when you open their e-mail message or contact card, and immediately initiate an MSN Messenger session. |
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Outlook Free/Busy sharing
Outlook makes it easier to schedule meetings with Outlook users who don't share a Microsoft Exchange Server by providing Free/Busy information over the Internet. |
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Propose new time
Now you can propose a new meeting time when you receive a meeting request. Access Free/Busy information for meeting attendees before proposing a meeting time. |
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Group schedules
Save group calendars within Outlook for quick and easy access to team schedules. View Free/Busy information from a group calendar and set up meetings for an entire group. |
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Top of Page Flexibly addressing business needs
KEY:
= Feature Included = Improved in Office XP = New in Office XP
Integrated Microsoft Office and Web-based solutions
| Feature |
Office 97 |
Office 2000 |
Office XP |
File format compatibility
Backward compatibility between Office XP, Office 2000, and Office 97 (with the exception of Access 97) lets users of all three versions seamlessly share documents. Microsoft Access 2002 uses the Microsoft Access 2000 file format by default. |
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Smart tag extensibility
Smart tag technology provides a great platform for third-party developers building business solutions for Office XP users. One example: a smart tag that links you to customers, orders, and prices when you type an order number into Excel. |
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XML Support in Excel and Access
Rich support for XML in Office XP enables you to load and save XML directly into Excel and analyze online data by querying XML spreadsheets from the Web. In Access, you can import and export XML schemata, data, and tables automatically using default settings, or you can take advantage of advanced options that provide more control. |
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Microsoft Office Web components
Excel Web Components now support native Excel files and named ranges, and allow for multiple worksheets, wrapped texts, and the ability to publish interactive workbooks to the Web. Microsoft Excel PivotTable components provide conditional filtering on a range of expressions. Office XP extends the object model to allow developers to build custom solutions that deliver data to the browser. |
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Deployment, management, and administration
| Feature |
Office 97 |
Office 2000 |
Office XP |
Intelligent Setup
Intelligent Setup simplifies installation when you upgrade to Office XP by analyzing your system configuration and installing Office components that match your existing setup. |
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Custom Installation Wizard
New features include the ability to remove files (such as outdated add-ins) during installation, the chance to set security levels for each program, and options for customizing Outlook. |
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Custom Maintenance Wizard
This new feature simplifies maintenance and configuration after installation. Use it to add or remove files, programs, and components; change configuration settings; and conduct many other administrative tasks. |
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Save My Settings Wizard
Copy settings from one computer to another easily by transferring them to a file or the Web (using Microsoft Passport for authentication), and then applying them to another machine. |
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Available as a Web download |
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Setup from HTTP
Installation support for HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP means Office XP can be installed directly from a Web server or a file share on your organization's network. |
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Policy support
Office XP provides added policy support for most new Office XP functionality, allowing administrators to set policies that control Office security settings and Office task panes. |
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Worldwide support
Enhanced support for worldwide features includes an independent setup for each language; a new Multi-Language Pack setup wizard; and automatic operating system language detection. FrontPage, now available in 26 languages (FrontPage 2000 came in 15), supports bi-directional character sets and Unicode, making it possible to create FrontPage content in any installed language. |
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Support for Windows Terminal Server
Upgraded interaction between Office and Microsoft Windows Terminal Server means Windows Terminal Server can now be installed along with Office XP, eliminating the need for custom installations. In addition, complex display features are turned off when you connect to a remote machine, yielding improved application performance. |
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