Office, SharePoint, Project Updated

The 2007 versions of Office, SharePoint Server, Project and related products received a new round of service packs (SPs) in Apr. 2009. The SPs update the Office, Project, Visio, and SharePoint Designer client applications, as well as Windows SharePoint Services, SharePoint Server, Project Server, and Groove Server. The SPs fix security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and deliver new file format filters and compatibility with the latest browsers and the upcoming Windows Server 2008 R2. The new features and the large numbers of fixes mean that the SPs need testing in non-production environments and phased rollouts, although these SPs deliver fewer changes than the previous wave.

Client: Faster Outlook, New File Filters

Together, the client SPs deliver over 600 documented bug fixes, including some that resolve crashes or hangs in the applications. There SPs can all be uninstalled, unlike the previous SPs that shipped for these products.

Office 2007 SP2. Outlook and Excel account for more than half of the documented fixes in the client SPs. With SP2 Outlook starts up and shuts down faster, and reduces user interface delays on tasks such as folder switching and dismissal of reminders, (SP2 updates Outlook data files to implement these improvements, which can lead to a noticeable delay the first time Outlook is started after applying SP2.) Excel’s charting and PivotTable features, which received major rewrites in Office 2007, get many fixes, and new APIs enable charts in Word and PowerPoint to be manipulated by Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code.