Microsoft Corp. has issued its first "critical" update for Office 2003, less than a month after the software was officially launched.
The update, fixes a problem that can occur when a user opens or saves a PowerPoint 2003, Word 2003 or Excel 2003 file that contains an OfficeArt element that was modified and saved in an earlier version of Office, Microsoft said in a support article on its Web site.
OfficeArt is a feature in Office that allows users to design 3-D effects, shadows, multicolored files, textures and Bezier curves.
The earlier versions of Office can make changes to an Office 2003 file with OfficeArt that cause problems when the file is subsequently used in Office 2003 applications, Microsoft said. The document may not open completely or open with missing content, or it may be corrupted, or the user may see an error message.
Office 2003 went through what Microsoft called its largest beta test ever, including an unprecedented "refresh" of the second beta. The refresh further pushed back the Office 2003 release (see story), but Microsoft said it would enhance the product's stability, making the first release comparable to a product with the first service pack installed.
"Microsoft's goal in any testing process is to identify and address all issues critical to customers and their needs. Unfortunately, in this circumstance, the issue was limited to such a small number of customers that it was not identified before Office 2003 was shipped," a Microsoft spokeswoman said yesterday.
The fix is now available for download and will be available shortly via OfficeUpdate, the automated update service for Office 2003
The update, fixes a problem that can occur when a user opens or saves a PowerPoint 2003, Word 2003 or Excel 2003 file that contains an OfficeArt element that was modified and saved in an earlier version of Office, Microsoft said in a support article on its Web site.
OfficeArt is a feature in Office that allows users to design 3-D effects, shadows, multicolored files, textures and Bezier curves.
The earlier versions of Office can make changes to an Office 2003 file with OfficeArt that cause problems when the file is subsequently used in Office 2003 applications, Microsoft said. The document may not open completely or open with missing content, or it may be corrupted, or the user may see an error message.
Office 2003 went through what Microsoft called its largest beta test ever, including an unprecedented "refresh" of the second beta. The refresh further pushed back the Office 2003 release (see story), but Microsoft said it would enhance the product's stability, making the first release comparable to a product with the first service pack installed.
"Microsoft's goal in any testing process is to identify and address all issues critical to customers and their needs. Unfortunately, in this circumstance, the issue was limited to such a small number of customers that it was not identified before Office 2003 was shipped," a Microsoft spokeswoman said yesterday.
The fix is now available for download and will be available shortly via OfficeUpdate, the automated update service for Office 2003
