Microsoft Outlook 97 version 8.03

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Microsoft Outlook 97 version 8.03

Microsoft Outlook 8.03 includes both new features to take advantage of Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 and features that users who don't connect to Exchange Server will find useful. However, the current Outlook 97 version is 8.04, and we recommend an upgrade to it instead.

Obtaining 8.03 | Features and Fixes | Known Problems | More Information

Obtaining 8.03

There are two ways to get Outlook 8.03:

Install it from the Exchange Server 5.5 client CD.

Download it as part of Exchange Server 5.0 Service Pack 2. You will need three files -- SP2_50O1.EXE (15Mb), SP2_50O2.EXE (14Mb) and SP2_50O3.EXE (917kb). Download these files to an empty folder on your PC. Then, at an MS-DOS or Windows NT command prompt, type the name of each file, followed by -d, then press Enter. This will unpack the compressed files into the proper directories. After unpacking all three files, you can run Setup.exe. You will be prompted for the product ID used when you originally installed Outlook. I presume this means the CD key from either Office or the Exchange Server client CD; 0123-1111111 also seems to work.

The CD version of Outlook 8.03 also includes the Outlook clients for Windows 3.1x and Macintosh. Note, though that these connect only to Microsoft Mail or Microsoft Exchange Server; there is no Internet Mail MAPI transport for these Outlook clients.

If you plan to apply the Microsoft Office Service Release 1 patch, you should do so before installing Outlook 8.03. If you install 8.03 and later want to upgrade all of Office to Service Release 2, which includes Outlook 8.04, you should be able to use either SR-2 patch or the replacement CD.

Features and Fixes

OL97 Summary of Changes in Outlook 8.03

Many of the features in Outlook 8.03 require Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5:

The ability to retrieve deleted items from mailboxes or public folders

S/MIME security for messages sent through the Internet Mail Service

Incremental downloads of offline address books

Extension for developing VBScript or JavaScript scripts associated with Exchange folders

New menu item to open HTML forms created on the Exchange server

Improvements in group scheduling, including the ability to script server-based automatic scheduling of resources such as conference rooms and a utility to convert Schedule+ .sc2 files

Maintaining view settings for public folders synchronized through the Favorites folder

Features and fixes for all Outlook users include:

Expanded capacity (up to 64,000 items per folder) for Personal Folders (.pst) and Offline Folders (.ost) files (see Allow Upgrades to Large Tables Extends Limit of PST)

Display of Bcc recipients for messages in the Sent Items folder

Removal of design-time license requirements for third-party ActiveX controls added to custom Outlook forms and other automation improvements

The ability to set up the Outlook AutoSignature so that it roams with the user (see Roaming User's AutoSignature Incorrect or Missing)

Fixes a problem that can cause Outlook to crash when changing times for a recurring meeting (see Invalid Page Fault Changing Recurring Meeting Start Time)

Outlook 8.03 is compatible with Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 and 5.0, as well as 5.5, and includes all the updates in Outlook 8.02. For more details, see the MSKB article Summary of Changes in Outlook 8.03.

Known Problems

BUG Outlook 8.03 Gives Extra Copy Notification to Outlook Extensions -- hotfix available

OL97 Invalid Date in Advanced Find Causes GPF -- hotfix available

More Information

Comparing Outlook 97 8.0x Versions

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Updated Apr 09 2008