Microsoft Office 2003 (Professional Edition) represents a major upgrade to previous versions of the world's most popular suite of software applications. Office 2003 includes new and familiar products, features, and functionality that can help organizations and their employees connect to coworkers, information, and business processes quickly and effectively.

Advances in intranet collaboration through integration with the collaboration and information-sharing portal, Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, enable employees to access and share information both internally and externally. Support for information rights management (IRM) and industry-standard Extensible Markup Language (XML) provide a platform on which to quickly build cost-effective solutions that can have an immediate impact in your business and productivity.

• Suite includes Access 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager, PowerPoint 2003, Publisher 2003, and Word 2003
• Facilitates document sharing within teams; control what gets changed with enhanced permissions settings features
• Advanced security features and IRM capabilities lets you control when email or documents can be forwarded, copied or printed
• Word Formatting and Editing Restrictions let you set permission controls on entire documents or portions of a document to prevent modifications or reformatting.
• Outlook 2003 let you view multiple calendars next to your own to help you quickly compare schedules and plan meetings.

Seamlessly Connect People with Processes
Office 2003 is designed specifically to streamline communication and collaboration between internal and external team members using the desktop productivity programs that many people rely on every day. The "Document Workspaces" feature, for instance, enable teams to modify, access, and save documents in a central location. In addition, the "Shared Workspace" task pane displays tasks, related documents, links, and member lists that notify you when your team members are online.

When you share documents with Office 2003, you have control over what gets changed. You can choose permission settings and allow co-authors to alter only the sections or formatting that you choose. Office 2003 also helps protect your documents from being unintentionally changed by using formatting and editing restrictions. Simply set permission controls on entire documents or portions of a document to prevent modifications or reformatting. You can also improve the efficiency of your meetings with "Meeting Workspaces," which offer a centralized location for sharing agendas, visual resources, and other documentation. And instant messaging (IM), which can be displayed in most programs in Office 2003 applications, lets you know when your team members are online.

Broader .XML Support
One of the most significant upgrades that's included in Office 2003 is broader XML support. Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, and Microsoft Office Access 2003 each offer XML schemas you can customize for using data, smart documents, and programmable task panes.

With these improvements, you can manipulate, analyze, and format data from your most critical business systems and can customize documents and task panes so that they integrate with XML data sources and outside programs. The enhancements also reduce development time with XML. With Excel 2003, for instance, you can use the visual mapping tool to connect a user-specified XML schema to fields in your spreadsheet, and customize smart tags to bring relevant business information directly into your work. (Access 2003, Outlook 2003, and PowerPoint 2003 each support third-party and customized smart tags.)

The Leading Suite of Applications
Included with Office 2003 Professional edition is Access 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager, PowerPoint 2003, Publisher 2003, and Word 2003.

Access 2003 provides a powerful set of tools that are sophisticated enough for professional developers, yet easy to learn for new users. With Access 2003, you can create or use powerful database solutions that make organizing, accessing, and sharing information easier than ever. Excel 2003 enables you to turn data into information with powerful tools to analyze, communicate, and share results. Excel 2003 can help you work better in teams, and help protect and control access to your work. In addition, you can work with XML data to make it easier to connect to business processes.

Outlook 2003 provides an integrated solution for managing and organizing e-mail messages, schedules, tasks, notes, contacts, and other information. Outlook 2003 delivers innovations you can use to manage your communications, organize your work, and work better with others -- all from a single location. Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager Update is designed to help small businesses manage customer information and sales opportunities within Outlook 2003. The update includes new capabilities for sharing customer information within a PC network, as well as support for synchronizing business contacts with a Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC.

PowerPoint 2003 includes new tools to help you create, present, and collaborate on presentations that have more impact. Keeping in touch and communicating with customers is essential for any business. A complete business publishing and marketing materials solution, Publisher 2003 can help you reach out to customers. With Publisher 2003, it's easier than ever to design, create, and publish professional marketing and communication materials in-house. And with Word 2003, the latest version of the best-selling word processor, you can create impressive-looking documents faster than ever before and help you collaborate more efficiently with others.

Requirements

• Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 (SP3), Microsoft Windows XP, or a later operating system
• 133 megahertz (MHz) or higher processor; Pentium III recommended
• 64 MB of RAM (128 MB recommended) for the operating system, plus an additional 8 MB of RAM for each program running simultaneously
• 245 MB of available hard-disk space with 115 MB on the hard disk where the operating system is installed
• Super VGA (800 × 600) or a higher-resolution monitor with 256 colors
• CD-ROM drive
• Microsoft mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse, or a compatible pointing device