Microsoft Office Visio® 2003 has released two updated add-ins: the Visio IFilter 2003, which allows users to search for text, shapes, and other information in Visio diagrams; and the Visio Viewer 2003, which allows users who do not have Visio installed on their computers to view VSD and VDX files in Internet Explorer. Both add-ins have been enhanced with new features.

 Note   Like all the other Microsoft Office System applications, Visio 2003 and the Visio 2003 add-ins require Microsoft Windows® 2000 Service Pack 3 or later.

The Visio IFilter and the Visio Viewer are Windows Installer packages (MSI files), and you use standard methods to deploy them:

• Run Windows Installer (Msiexec.exe) with the /a command-line option to create an administrative installation point.
• Add other command-line options to customize the installation process.

  For example, you can now run the installation of the IFilter or Viewer silently by using the /q command-line option.

• Use Group Policy to assign or publish the package to computers.

  This method requires the Active Directory® directory service. Note that you can assign the IFilter or Viewer package to computers but not to users; once an add-in is installed on the computer, all users can use it.

• Use Microsoft Systems Management Server to deploy the package.

You can apply a transform (MST file) to customize the installation process for either the IFilter or the Viewer by adding /t mstfile to the Windows Installer command line. However, you cannot use the Custom Installation Wizard to create the transform. Instead, you use a tool named Orca to modify the tables in the MSI file, and then run Msitran.exe to generate a transform based on the modified MSI file. Both of these tools are available in the Roadmap to Windows Installer Documentation.

Visio IFilter 2003

The Visio IFilter 2003 works with files created in Visio 5.0 or later. This version of the IFilter has also been designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft Office SharePoint™ Portal Server 2003.

Download the Microsoft Visio IFilter 2003 Add-in: Text Search in Visio Files from the Microsoft.com Download Center.

The Visio IFilter download is an IExpress package (Visfilt.exe). After you download the EXE file, extract the IFilter package (Visfilt.msi). After the IFilter is installed on users' computers, you must start the Indexing Service before users can perform searches. Users can then use the IFilter or any other search mechanism, such as SharePoint Team Services or SharePoint Portal Server, to query for files.

For detailed procedures for installing and customizing the Visio IFilter, see Visio IFilter 2003 Deployment on the TechNet Web site.

Visio Viewer 2003

The Visio Viewer 2003 allows users to open, but not edit, files created in Visio 5.0 or later. New and improved features in this version of the Viewer include:

• Better co-existence with Visio 2003
• Better upgrade scenario from Visio 2002 Viewer
• Support for multiple languages

Download the Visio Viewer 2003 from the Microsoft.com Download Center.

The Visio Viewer 2003 can coexist on a computer with the Visio 2003 application, with the following results:

• If Visio 2003 is installed first, then all users will be able to use both Visio 2003 and the Visio Viewer. Default file extensions continue to be associated with Visio 2003, but if a user opens a VSD or VXD file in Internet Explorer, the file is rendered by the Visio Viewer within Internet Explorer.
• If Visio 2003 is installed after the Visio Viewer, then all Visio files open in Visio, even when users open them within Internet Explorer. You can re-enable the Visio Viewer in Internet Explorer by repairing the Visio installation.
• If both Visio 2003 and the Visio Viewer are installed on a computer but Visio is subsequently removed, then Visio file associations in both Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer are orphaned. You can re-associate Visio files with the Visio Viewer by repairing the Visio Viewer installation.

For full details about the improvements in this release, as well as detailed procedures for installing and customizing the Visio Viewer, see Deploy Microsoft Visio Viewer 2003 on the TechNet Web site.

Related links

For more information about creating and deploying from an administration installation point, see Creating an Administrative Installation Point.

For more information about using Group Policy to deploy these Visio 2003 add-ins or any other package in the Microsoft Office System, see Using Group Policy to Deploy Office.

For definitions of the command-line options you can use during the installation, see Setup Command-line Options (Office XP Resource Kit Tools).