Service Pack 3 for Office 2003 was released earlier this week. Many of the fixes in the service pack were previously released in updates or hotfixes. New features are all security-related and most can be disabled by editing a registry key, if necessary for your business. Office 2003 SP3 combines previously released fixes into one update so you only need to install one service pack if you have to reinstall Office 2003, not each service pack in succession.

Included in the security fixes are the following items:

Office 2003 can no longer open or save certain file formats. This is not an Outlook issue, as the file types are not blocked in email messages; however I’m mentioning it because it has the potential to affect many sites since Office 2003 applications are blocked from opening files created in older file formats. See KB article 938810 for more information. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938810/

MAPI forms do not run in public folders and user folders because by default, SP3 blocks MAPI forms that cause new executables to be downloaded and started. KB article 938816 has more information on this security feature and instructions on how to disable it if your site is affected.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938816

Office 2003 can be configured to allow or deny specific COM components. This feature lets administrators and users set registry keys in order to enable or to disable the instantiation point of a specific COM category in an Office application. See KB 938815 for instructions.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938815 

The behavior of add-ins, ActiveX controls, and COM add-ins was changed in some scenarios in Office 2003 SP3 to improve the security poorly written COM components. This can be disabled in the registry but the recommendation is for the developer of the add-in or control update their application. See KB 938814 for more information.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938814

Attachments with the .gadget extension can no longer be opened in Outlook. See KB 938811 for more information. Ken Slovak has updated his Attachment Options application to allow users to manage this and other blocked extensions.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938811 
Attachment Options

Issues that are fixed in Outlook 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938802/

Microsoft has an Excel workbook available for download which contains a complete list of issues fixed in this service pack.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/7/c/27cca56a-4181-46e7-a4ae-b656001af4fb/office2003_sp3changes.exe

A question came up recently: "In GroupWise there is a "date difference" function, which calculates what date the 90th day fell on, but I cannot find anything like that in Outlook. Do I need to manually count out the days?"

No, you don't need to do it manually. Outlook doesn't have an obvious and easily discoverable date difference feature but it does calculate dates for you. Just type 90d in a date field and when you tab out, Outlook sets the date 90 days from today. No menu is needed and it works in any date field, including those on Tasks, Appointments, and Journal.

If you need the date 90 days from next week, either double click on the date next week where you want to start counting from to open a new appointment form with that date as the start date or type the date in the Start date field and tab out, then Shift+Tab to move back into the Start date field. Now type 90d and Outlook converts it to 90 days from the date in the start date field.

If you need to set an appointment before a specific date, you can open the appointment form on the date then type "9 days before" in the Start date field and Outlook will count backwards from the date.

You can use date shortcuts and natural language phrases with the Go to Date dialog to quickly jump to any date on the calendar. Open the Go to Date dialog using Ctrl+6 (from the calendar module), by right clicking on the calendar or from the Go menu, then type in 90d and press Enter and you're there. Remember to use “before” or “ago” to count backwards.

Natural Language Dates and Times and Date and Time Shortcuts
http://www.slipstick.com/emo/2005/up050818.htm#natualdate

Outlook Tips: Date Shortcuts
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2006/20060111.htm

Microsoft recently began an Office 2007 Ultimate promotion for US college students, allowing them to purchase Office 2007 for just $60. The requirement is attending a US college at least half time.

The promotion runs until April 30, 2008, giving students plenty of time to decide if they want Office 2007. I do recommend this offer for those who qualify in part because Ultimate includes all of the Office applications, including Outlook.

Oh why oh why didn't this promotion begin in mid-August when parents (myself included) were buying computers for their college students.

The Ultimate Steal Promotion
http://theultimatesteal.com/home.asp 

For more information and complete eligibility requirements, see http://www.microsoft.com/education/ultimatesteal.mspx 

Anyone who reads my tips and newsletters knows one of my favorite Outlook features is date shortcuts and natural language capabilities. Most date fields accept shortcuts (1 d) or phrases ("week before Christmas") and converts it to the proper date.

Another favorite feature is Filters (used with Advanced Find, Search Folders, Automatic Formatting and Views). The Advanced tab on the filter dialog gives you many filtering options. Filtering has a few idiosyncrasies, such as using the From field on the General tab does not give you the same result as using the From field on the Advanced tab and OR operator is not supported. But otherwise, it's full of potential and you can use some of the natural language tricks with it.

I was reminded of this when a person asked how to create a search folder for all messages older than 45 days. Using dynamic dates, so it always shows items older than 45 days. She'd tried several different known date shortcuts and formulas but wasn't having much luck.

The trick here using natural language queries, not shortcuts. Using words like "before" and "ago" will give reliable results in the filter dialog. For example, "Received on or before 45 days ago" will return the correct set of messages and changes daily.

Outlook doesn't support negative numbers in the date fields so you can’t use " - 45 d" and get reliable results, you'll need to use before or ago when you need to count backwards.

Now that you know how to create a filer using natural language values, creating custom Search folders is easy. If you’ve never done it before follow these steps:

Begin by creating a new Search folder. Right click on Search Folders in the folder list and choose New Search Folder... Or go to the File, New menu and select New Search Folder. Keyboards can use Ctrl+Shift+P.

In the New Search folder dialog, scroll down and choose the last option to create a new, custom search folder. If you prefer keyboarding, press End or C twice to get there.

Click the Choose button to open the Custom Search Folder dialog and type a name for your search folder then click the Criteria button to open the Search Folder Criteria dialog.

You can use any of the tabs to add conditions to your filter. If you want to filter for messages "Received on or before 45 days ago", you'll use the Advanced tab.

Type Received in the Filter field (or select it from the flyout), select on or before from the Condition field and type "45 days ago" in the Value field (without the quotes).

Click Add to list and Ok your way back to the Custom Search folder dialog. If you want to restrict the search to specific folders, click Browse and deselect the folders you don't want to search. br>
You’re done. Now when you select the search folder, all messages meeting your condition can be viewed in the folder. If you use the folder at least once every seven days Outlook will look for messages meeting these conditions and add them to the folder’s index.

Keep in mind that a search folder is a virtual folder. Messages are not moved or copied to this folder and if you flag them or mark read while viewing them in the search folder, the message will also be flagged or marked read in the folder it’s stored in. If you delete it, the message is moved to the Deleted items folder.

The first service pack for Office 2007 is not available to the public but should be released sometime this fall. I'll go out on a limb and say that you can expect the Office SP about a year after the initial release. (I know my prediction is pretty safe as Microsoft typically releases the first SP about a year after RTM.)

Like Outlook 2003 SP3 (and every other service pack released in the last seven years or so), it will contain new security features. You can expect Outlook to block more file extensions, including the gadget extension blocked by Outlook 2003 SP3, and add-ins may need tweaked to accommodate tighter security. Bug fixes previously released will be rolled into SP1 along with several new fixes.