All previously released updates are included in the service pack and the following new issues are addressed by SP1.

Note that some, but not all, of the forms cache issues affecting Outlook should be corrected by the installation of SP1. Outlookcode.com has more information on what’s fixed with the forms cache and what is still broken.

General Information

SP1 corrects an issue that has annoyed many Outlook users–attachment names didn’t print if the message was HTML. Now, attachment names are printed for all message formats when you print out your email. Another change in printing means you no longer need to open an HTML message to print it, you can select and print all messages from the message list.

SP1 removes the Internet Free/Busy option from Outlook 2003. Microsoft is ending the internet free/busy service in October due to lack of use. You’ll still be able to share free/busy over the internet but need to use your own site for the free/busy data. For more information on the changes to the Internet Free/busy service, see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=842166

Some of the other, more common problems fixed by SP1 include issues where creating rules in OWA caused Outlook’s rules is disappear, or inserting HTML items into an email message only inserted the header. Both of these issues were corrected and your rules and the item body won’t disappear. Also, now only Active tasks should print when you print the Taskpad with the calendar, not the completed tasks.

Outlook 2003 SP1 handles multiple POP3 accounts on the same server better, eliminating timeout problems when downloading new messages. If your POP3 server supports UIDL or TOP, Outlook will now properly delete the messages from the server instead of downloading them multiple times.

Outlook 2003 adds calendar logging to Outlook. For more information on this new option, see Things to consider when you use the Calendar logging feature in Outlook 2003. Another logging improvement in SP1 is the text "(logging enabled)" is added to the title bar when logging is enabled. Because logging can cause instability, you should only use it long enough to collect the information you need and this serves as a great reminder that you have logging enabled.

Previously, when you canceled the Configuration Wizard, Outlook started in Personal Information Management (PIM) mode, which doesn’t have email accounts. This caused a lot of problems and confusion for users. With SP1 installed Outlook brings up a dialog for user to create a profile when they open Outlook after canceling the wizard.

Junk E-mail

SP1 changes how the Junk Email filter works. Previously, Rules processed messages ahead of the Junk email filter and only messages not handled by rules were processed by the spam filter. SP1 runs the junk filter on all messages before processing the messages using the Rules Wizard. While this is a good thing for people who use multiple accounts and moves messages to different folders, it may require users to add more addresses to their Safe Senders list to avoid spam filtering.

Articles that may interest you:

Outlook 2007 SP3

Outlook 2007 SP2

Outlook 2003 SP3

Outlook 2003 SP2

Last reviewed on Dec 4, 2011