Microsoft Released Office 2007 Service Pack 2

A much awaited service pack for Microsoft Office 2007, Service Pack 2, got released by Microsoft today.

Here are some snaps.

 

 

So what will Office 2007 Service Pack 2 bring to us in details?

Changes that impact desktop applications

• Service Pack 2 adds the ability to open, edit and save documents in version 1.1 of the OpenDocument Format for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These applications now let users save, open, and edit files as OpenDocument Text (*.odt), OpenDocument Spreadsheet (*.ods), and OpenDocument Presentations (*.odp).

• The 2007 Microsoft Office Service Pack 2 is the first service pack to support uninstall of client updates through the Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite as well as via Windows Installer command line. The Service Pack Uninstall Tool will be available as a separate download.

• The Microsoft Save As PDF or XPS add-in has been built into Office applications in SP2. Users no longer have to download and install the add-in separately.

• When many graphic objects are present performance has been improved.

• In many scenarios, expect increased print fidelity of graphical objects.

• Improved interoperability using standard DrawingML markup to describe the visual properties of the SmartArt graphic. 

• Substantial improvements to Forms-based authentication support in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and SPD.

In details:

Access

• The ability to export reports to Excel has been added.

• Fixes for issues with the import data wizards, report printing and previewing, macros, Excel integration, and date filters.
  Updates to Access Developer Extensions are now included in SP2.

Excel

• The charting mechanism has improved robustness and targeted performance improvements.

• A chart object model has been added to Word and PowerPoint.

• Improved printing of graphical content, especially on PCL printers.

Groove

• Improved form tools.

• Synchronization reliability has been improved.

InfoPath

• Increased compatibility between InfoPath forms and other Microsoft products, such as Groove and Outlook.

OneNote

• SharePoint synchronization has been improved which helps reduce the load on SharePoint servers and produce fewer errors.

Outlook

• Performance in startup, shutdown, view rendering, and folder switch has been improved.
• Calendar updates, search, and RSS are more reliable.
• The object model has been improved.

PowerPoint

• Resaving of files is faster. Several printer-specific problems have been fixed.

• The Microsoft Office Excel Chart Object Model has been more fully integrated.

Project

• The scheduling engine, Active Cache, and Gantt charts all have improvements.

• There is additional reliability with earlier versions of the .mpp format.

Publisher

• Fixes have been made in the following areas: print preview, compatibility with Internet Explorer 8, e-mail on Windows Vista, and saving to the Content library. 

Visio

• Improved compatibility with other Microsoft products in several key scenarios, such as inserting Visio drawings as linked objects in PowerPoint or Word, exporting reports to Excel, and saving drawings as Web pages for browsing in Internet Explorer 8.

Word

• Fidelity of PDF and XPS output has been enhanced compared to the output created through the use of the download. 

• Better integration of the Microsoft Office Excel Chart Object Model.

Changes that impact the server products

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server SP2 include fixes and enhancements designed to improve performance, availability, and stability in your server farms. SP2 provides the groundwork for future major releases of SharePoint Products and Technologies.

• An STSADM command line that scans your server farm to establish whether it is ready for upgrade to the next version of SharePoint and provides feedback and best practice recommendations on your current environment.

• SP2 offers support for a broader range of Web browsers.

In details:

Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

• The performance and stability of content deployment and variations feature has been improved.

• A new tool has been added to the STSADM command-line utility that enables a SharePoint administrator to scan sites that use the variations feature for errors.

Excel Services

• SP2 makes it easier to configure Excel Web Access Web Parts on new sites.

• Several rendering, calculation, and security issues have been resolved.

• Some display issues have been addressed.

• Improved compatibility with Mozilla Firefox browsers.

Groove Server

• Improved  synchronization reliability.

• Groove Server 2007 Manager will install and run with SQL 2008.

• Groove’s LDAP connectivity and auto-activation functionality have been improved.

• Error reporting in the Groove Relay Server has improved significantly.

• Groove Relay Server has improved robustness.

Forms Server

• Memory requirements and the page load times for large browser-rendered forms have been reduced.

• Browser rendering of various controls, such as the ‘cannot be blank’ asterisk and the rich text field has been improved.

Project Server

• Better memory management in the queue service.

• Performance to certain database table indexes is improved.

• Resource plans, build team, cost resources, and the server scheduling engine have improved.

Search Server

• Improvements to the reliability and stability of very large corpus crawls.

• Backup-restore has been improved.

• A new command has been introduced to the stsadm.exe tool that lets a SharePoint Administrator to tune the Query processor multiplier parameter.

• Improved accuracy in searches involving numbers.

 

Microsoft had tested the upcoming service pack against its upcoming operating systems, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and upcoming refreshment to older OS, Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2, to ensure trouble free compatibility.

Microsoft had prepared a new page on Microsoft Support to illustrate the technical details of Service Pack 2, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970357, with downloads for all updates provided.

 

The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2                Download

Microsoft Office Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 2       Download

Microsoft Office Project 2007 Service Pack 2                    Download

Microsoft Office Project Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 2    Download

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Service Pack 2        Download

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer Language Pack 2007 SP2    Download

Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Service Pack 2                                 Download

Microsoft Office Visio Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 2        Download

Microsoft Office Proofing Tools 2007 Service Pack 2                  Download

Microsoft Office Access Runtime and Data Connectivity 2007 SP2 Download

Calendar Printing Assistant for Office Outlook 2007 SP2            Download

Microsoft Office InterConnect 2007 Service Pack 2                    Download

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack Service Pack 2                     Download

Excel Viewer 2007 Service Pack 2                                               Download

PowerPoint Viewer 2007 Service Pack 2                                     Download

Visio Viewer 2007 Service Pack 2                                                Download

 

 

 

[Snaps courtesy: PC Magazine, Details from Microsoft.]