Microsoft Office 2003 Professional

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.

Includes:

• Word 2003
• Excel 2003
• Outlook 2003
• PowerPoint 2003
• Access 2003
• Publisher 2003
• Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager

Connect People
Streamline communication and collaboration between internal and external team members by using the desktop productivity programs that many people rely on every day.

• Enable teams to modify, access, and save documents in a central location by using Document Workspaces. In addition, the Shared Workspace task pane displays tasks, related documents, links, and member lists that notify you when your team members are online. Document Workspaces and the Shared Workspace task pane require Microsoft Windows Server 2003 running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.
• Share documents with team members for modifications and have control over what gets changed. You can choose permission settings and allow coauthors to alter only the sections or formatting that you choose.
• Improve the efficiency of your meetings with Meeting Workspaces, which offer a centralized location for sharing agendas, visual resources, and other documentation. Meeting Workspaces require Windows Server 2003 running Windows SharePoint Services.
• Contact team members quickly with instant messaging (IM), which can be displayed in most programs in Office 2003 Editions and lets you know when your team members are online. Online presence information requires Windows Server 2003 running Windows SharePoint Services.
• Schedule meeting times quickly with team members. When you use the personal information manager and communication program, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, with Windows SharePoint Services, you can compare schedules side by side or view team calendars.

Connect Information
Manage, prioritize, and act on an ever-increasing volume of business information.

• Read e-mail more quickly. The Outlook 2003 Reading Pane displays twice as much content as previous versions of Outlook, reducing the amount you need to scroll to read e-mail messages.
• Prioritize e-mail messages by using Quick Flags to indicate a priority or time-sensitive messages.
• Save time spent rereading e-mail messages in threaded conversations. You can group all messages by subject line and then quickly scan or delete entire conversation threads.
• Find important e-mail messages immediately. Use Search Folders to save commonly used searches and then use them when you need them. Store the resulting messages in any folder, and still access them quickly. Search folders require a connection to Microsoft Exchange 2003.
• Help block junk e-mail messages from cluttering your Inbox with the new Junk E-Mail Filter in Outlook 2003.
• Use Outlook 2003 in different network environments. Outlook stays connected to a network even when you roam between different connections.
• Help protect your privacy. With Outlook, you can choose when to include Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) content in an e-mail message, and can help prevent unsolicited attachments from automatically returning information to the originating server.
• Keep working regardless of your connection status. If your network connection is unreliable, the Cached Exchange Mode in Outlook 2003 saves and displays the information from the last time you connected to the network. Caching requires Exchange Server 2003.
• Access resources while working on a files. The new Research task pane can help you access electronic dictionaries, thesauruses, online research sites, and proprietary company information while working in Office 2003 programs. You can find information and incorporate it into your work quickly and easily.
• Take notes directly in your files. If you use a Tablet PC, you can use the tablet pen to add comments.

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.)

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.
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.

System Requirements:

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 (SP3), Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
• Processor: 133 megahertz (MHz) or higher; Pentium III recommended
• RAM: 64 MB (128 MB recommended) for the operating system, plus an additional 8 MB of RAM for each program running simultaneously
• Hard Drive Space: 245 MB of available hard-disk space with 115 MB on the hard disk where the operating system is installed
• Graphics: Super VGA (800 600) or a higher-resolution monitor with 256 colors
• Other: CD-ROM drive, Microsoft mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse, or a compatible pointing device