Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes significant improvements that provide more stability, better performance, and enhanced security. Office XP SP3 rolls up all previously released product updates, critical security updates, and service packs, including the following:

• Office XP Update: Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Office XP Update: Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Excel 2002 Update: October 16, 2002
• Word 2002 Update: October 16, 2002
• Outlook 2002 Update: December 4, 2002
• Outlook 2002 Update: January 22, 2003
• Office XP Italian Grammar Tools Update: KB813682
• Office XP Security Patch: KB822036
• Access 2002 Snapshot Viewer Security Patch: KB 826293
• Office XP WordPerfect 5.x Converter Security Patch: KB824938
• Word 2002 Security Patch: KB824934
• Excel 2002 Security Patch: KB830350
• Word 2002 Security Patch: KB830346

For a complete catalog of changes made by the Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) update, download the Office XP Service Pack 3 version changes document.

Unlike previous service packs, Office XP SP3 installs successfully on any previous baseline of Office XP, including SP1, SP2, and the original release version of Office XP. For that reason, Office XP SP3 represents an opportunity to establish a new baseline throughout your organization and proceed with the most efficient patching strategy for the future.

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Toolbox   The full-file version of Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) consists of two Windows Installer patch files (MSP format) packaged in a downloadable file (OfficeXpSp3-kb832671-fullfile-enu.exe). You can find this downloadable file on the Office XP Resource Kit Downloads page. If you double-click the file after it has been downloaded, installation of the update will begin — a behavior that is new for this release. Detailed instructions for installing SP3 are provided later in this document.

Localized versions of this update are listed later in this article in the section titled "Localized versions of the Office XP SP3 update."

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Order the CD   Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) can be ordered from the topic Order Office XP Service Pack 3 on CD.

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Strategies for updating your Office XP installations

Like all other Office updates, Office XP SP3 is available as a full-file (administrative) patch and a binary (client) patch. You can apply the Office XP SP3 update to users’ computers in one of three ways:

• Apply the full-file version of the patch directly to client computers.

  Because full-file updates install complete files, rather than patched files, the administrative version of the patch can correctly replace any files that have been modified with previous updates. Users can usually apply them even when they do not have access to an installation source.

• Apply the full-file version of the patch to the administrative installation point and then recache and reinstall Office on client computers.

  Users must have access to the network source. To avoid becoming out of sync with a patched administrative image, users must also recache and reinstall Office promptly.

• Distribute the binary version of the patch to users.

  Binary patches are smaller and more efficient to distribute over the network; however, in most cases users must have access to the installation source to apply the patch.

For a detailed comparison of these three patching strategies, see Recommended Methods for Updating Office XP and Office 2000 Installations.

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 Note    To install update files on client computers, you must be running Windows Installer version 2.0 or later on your computers. Windows Installer 2.0 is included by default in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and Microsoft Windows® XP or later. For organizations running a previous version of Windows, Windows Installer 2.0 is available as a separate download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Windows Installer 2.0 for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me

Windows Installer 2.0 for Windows NT 4.0 (SP-6) and Windows 2000

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Applying the full-file patch to client computers

The recommended method for distributing the full-file version of the Office XP SP3 update is to apply it directly to client computers. This approach allows you to maintain an unmodified baseline administrative image and manage the patching process on the client side. In this scenario, client computers do not become unsynchronized with a patched administrative image, and tasks such as install on demand and detect and repair continue to work correctly regardless of which patches users have applied. For users installing Office from the administrative image for the first time, you can chain any patches deployed since that baseline version.

The full-file administrative update files for Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) are Microsoft Windows Installer patches (MSP files) that you apply by using a command line with specific parameters. The following table lists the MSP files included in the SP3 update.

Use the following command line to apply the full-file update to client computers:

[start] msiexec /p [path\name of update MSP file]

For more information about applying administrative patches directly to client computers, see Strategies for Updating Office 2000 Installations.

Applying the binary patch to client computers

An alternative to using the full-file update is to apply the binary version of the Office XP SP3 update directly to users' computers within your organization. This approach may be useful if you have experienced synchronization problems between your administrative installation points and your client computers. Details on this strategy are covered in the topic Distributing Office 2000 Client Updates to Users. The client version of the Office XP Service Pack 3 is available from the Microsoft Download Center.

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 Important    If you have already patched your administrative installation point, then you cannot install the binary version of Office XP SP3 or later service packs on client computers. Instead, you must install the full-file patch on clients or apply the full-file patch to the administrative image and then recache and reinstall on client computers. Once you have established SP3 or a later service pack as the new baseline on both the administrative image and all client computers, you can proceed with a binary patch strategy for updates released between service packs.

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Applying the full-file patch to the administrative image

If you support users in an environment where Office can be recached and reinstalled promptly each time the administrative installation point is patched, you may choose to apply the Office XP SP3 update to the administrative image and update client computers from there. If applied consistently, this method benefits users who install from the administrative image by giving them the most up-to-date version. Note that the procedure for applying the full-file version of SP3 has changed slightly from previous service packs.

To update your administrative installation point with Office XP SP3

1. Download the Office XP SP3 update (OfficeXpSp3-kb832671-fullfile-enu.exe) to a folder on your computer.

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    Note    If you double-click the downloaded EXE file, installation of the SP3 patch begins automatically.

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2. Extract the MSP files. To do this, click Start, click Run, and then type the following command line in the Open box:

   folder\OfficeXpSp3-kb832671-fullfile-enu.exe 
   /t:c:\OfficeXpSp3-kb832671-fullfile-enu /c
   

   where folder is the location in which you stored the EXE file. The /c command line option extracts the files without installing them. If you do not specify a target folder for the extracted files by using the /t [path] option, then you are prompted for a target folder.

3. Apply the patch to your administrative installation point. To do this, click Start, click Run, and then type the following command line in the Open box:

   [start] msiexec /a [path\name of MSI file] /p 
   c:\OfficeXpSp3-kb832671-fullfile-enu\name of update MSP 
   file SHORTFILENAMES=TRUE /qb /L* 
   [path\name of log file]
   

After you have applied the update to the administrative image, use the following command line to recache and reinstall Office on client computers:

[start] msiexec /i [path to updated .msi 
file on the administrative image] 
REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomu /qb

For more information about updating an administrative installation point and then recaching and reinstalling Office on client computers, see Deploying Product Updates from an Administrative Installation Point.

Office products updated by the SP3 release

The full-file version of the Office XP SP3 update can be applied to any the following Office XP suites or applications:

• Microsoft Office XP Professional
• Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage®
• Microsoft Office XP Standard
• Microsoft Office XP Standard for Students and Teachers
• Microsoft Office XP Small Business edition
• Microsoft Word 2002
• Microsoft Excel 2002
• Microsoft FrontPage® 2002
• Microsoft Outlook® 2002
• Microsoft PowerPoint® 2002
• Microsoft Access 2002
• SharePoint™ Team Services from Microsoft
• Microsoft Publisher 2002
• Microsoft Office XP Web Components

SP3 and the Office XP Multilingual User Interface Pack

If you are using Office XP Multilingual User Interface Pack, you must install both the Office XP SP3 release and an SP3 release for the MUI Pack. For more information, see Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Multilingual User Interface Pack.

Localized versions of the Office XP SP3 update

Localized versions of the Office XP SP3 update are available in the following languages and can be downloaded from the Office 2003 Resource Kit Localized Downloads page:

Files changed by the Office XP SP3 update

The following table lists the files changed by the full-file Office XP SP3 update. If you need to confirm whether a share has been updated, you can check the related file version number.

Related link

For an overview of Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), see Description of Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.