Microsoft Outlook 2003

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Microsoft Outlook 2003

Outlook 2003 SP3 is the current version of Outlook.2003.

Included in Office 2003 is a new Outlook add-in designed for low-end customer relationship management applications, Business Contact Manager. BCM ships in the Professional and Small Business editions. Also see:

Business Contact Manager FAQ

Introducing Business Contact Manager

Support WebCast Introduction to Business Contact Manager

Overview of the Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2003 Update Windows Small Business Server 2003

Features

Outlook 2003 includes many new features such as robust anti-spam filtering, side-by-side calendars, cached connection to Exchange, and integration with Windows SharePoint Services. See:

Outlook 2003 Overview

Outlook 2003 New Features

Office 2003 Reviewer's Guide

Developers will see changes in Outlook security and some other changes that will probably cause problems for Outlook applications. See Microsoft Outlook 2003 Problems for Developers.

Availability

Outlook is available in each product bundle and as a standalone application. In addition to the bundles, Outlook 2003 is also included with client access licenses for Exchange 2003.

A "technology guarantee" allows you to buy an Office XP product between now and November 30 and get an upgrade to the corresponding Office 2003 product for only the cost of shipping and handling. The offer does not apply to copies of Office obtained through new PC purchases or volume licensing programs. No upgrade pricing is available for Outlook standalone. See Microsoft Office System Retail Technology Guarantee.

MSDN Universal subscribers can now download Office 2003 Professional Enterpise Edition. Business Contact Manager is not available from MSDN yet, however.

A 30-day trial version is available; see Try the Microsoft Office System. Each kit can be installed and activated on up to four computers. If you decide to keep the software after the 30-day trial period ends, you won't need to do a complete removal and reinstallation. According to HOW TO Convert a Microsoft Office 2003 Trial Edition to a Full Retail Edition, all you'll need to do is run setup from your retail copy and enter the product key when prompted.

For additional availability, pricing and upgrade information, see:

Office 2003 Editions

How to Buy Outlook 2003

Office 2003 Editions Licensing Transitions and Promotions -- for volume license customers

System Requirements

Outlook 2003 requires Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Microsoft Windows XP or later operating system. It will not run on Windows 95/98/ME or Windows NT.

Outlook 2003 requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.

Versions

You can check the version number with Help | About Microsoft Outlook. The version number is determined by the version number on the Outllib.dll file. The table below lists the versions and the patch that updates Outlook to that version. Public updates are marked with the version number in bold.

Note that there are actually two editions of Outlook 2003. The standalone version and the version in the Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Edition suite include support for Information Rights Management (IRM). The version in the Small Business Edition, Standard Edition, Basic Edition, or Student and Teacher Edition does not include IRM support.

Beta 2	Through the Beta 2 program and MSDN	11.4920.4920
Beta 2 Technical Refresh	Through the Beta 2 program.	11.5329.5329
Original version	Through retail, OEM, and volume license channels, as well as MSDN.	11.5608.5606 (Internet headers list it as Build 11.0.5510)
Outlook 2003 with critical update released on 11.4.2003. See KB828041.	Install updates using the Help, Check for Updates menu or visit http://office.microsoft.com	11.5608.5703 (Internet headers list it as Build 11.0.5510)
Outlook 2003 SP1	Use the Help, Check for Updates menu to install	11.6359.6360 The Internet header's X-Mailer field will report it as Build 11.0.6353
Outlook 2003 SP1 with Smart Tag update (KB 885828) released on 2.8.2005 installed.	Use Help, Check for updates menu to install or download the administrator file at Smart Tag update.	11.6359.6408 The Internet header lists it as X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.6353
Outlook 2003 SP2		11.6568.6568 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11
Outlook 2003 SP3

Other Updates

Installing any of these updates does not change the version number for Outllib.dll.

Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter Update: March 23, 2004	An optional update to the Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook 2003, this update contains with a more current definition of which messages should be considered junk. This replaces the December update and is recommended if you installed the December 2003 update.
Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter Update: December 16, 2003	Replaces Outlfltr.dat to provide a more up-to-date definition of messages that are considered to be junk e-mail or not junk e-mail by the Outlook 2003 junk e-mail filter.
Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter update: September 14, 2004	This is a rerelease of the Junk email update released in August 2004. It replaces the Outlfltr.dat with a larger filter definition file. If you installed the filter before August 5, see Office 2003 Service Pack 1 installs successfully but not all Office 2003 programs are updated.
Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB891067)	An update to the Junk Email filter, released on Feb 8, 2005.

Deployment

The Office 2003 Resource Kit contains information on deploying Outlook and managing it through group policies:

Welcome to the Office 2003 Editions Resource Kit

Problems

Get in the habit of minimizing Outlook 2003 rather than just using Alt-Tab or a Windows task bar button to switch to another program. If you leave the full Outlook 2003 window active, it may use so much memory that it stops responding. See Outlook 2003 Stops Responding After a Long Period of Use.

Interoperability with earlier versions:

Profile Does Not Work Correctly in Outlook 2002 After You Remove Office 2003 and then Reinstall Office XP

Error Message When You Open E-Mail Message That You Saved with Outlook 2003

Exchange Server compatibility issues:

XADM Information Store Intermittently Stops Responding and an Access Violation Occurs in EcDSDNFromSz

Collaborative Data Objects Heap Corruption Occurs When You Try to Access an Exchange Mailbox

Outlook Web Access Stops Responding When You Try to Access a Mailbox on an Exchange 5.5 Computer

Other known issues:

Outlook 2003 messages suspected as spam

You Receive an Error Message When You Start Outlook and You Are Using a Microsoft Exchange Server E-Mail Account

The Public Subfolder That You Add to Your Favorites Public Folder Does Not Appear

You Cannot Use RPC Over HTTP with a Proxy Automatic Configuration Script