Office Resource Kit Blog

How to import Outlook Data Files (.pst) – the files formally known as Personal Folder Files (.PST)

cwatson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:11:00 GMT

If you upgrade from Outlook 2007 to Outlook 2010, your .pst files will auto-magically be imported into your Outlook profile. You don’t need to do anything (beyond upgrading) to get them there.

If you want to do a clean install where you uninstall Outlook and then install Outlook 2010, you may need to manually import your .pst files into your profile. As with Outlook 2007, it’s easy to do in Outlook 2010 but the commands to do it are in a different spot.

Here is one way to do it in Outlook 2010 Beta:

1. In Outlook 2010, click the File tab.

2. Click Open and then click Open Outlook Data File.

3. Navigate to the .pst file to import and then click Ok.

You’re done!

If you or your organization isn’t a fan of .pst files, check out the Personal Archive feature with Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook 2010. As with .pst files, the Personal Archive feature does not affect user’s primary mailbox size. The difference is that the e-mail archive folders are stored on the Exchange server and can only be accessed while the user is connected to the internet. Users can access their Personal Archive just like a .pst file in Outlook 2010. Because archived email is stored on the Exchange server users can access it from OWA as well. For more information about the Personal Archive in Exchange 2010, see Understanding Personal Archive (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=178303).

You can also disable .pst files in your organization. In Planning for Messaging Records Management 2010 Help (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=178295), see the sections “Limiting Access to PST Files” and “Configure user's systems to prevent moving or copying Exchange mailbox data to PST files”.

And while I’m on the Exchange Server 2010 tangent, you should definitely check out the new features available if you haven’t already. See Microsoft Exchange 2010 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=163579) and What's New in Exchange Server 2010 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkId=164425).

Happy Office 2010 Beta evaluating!

TechNet Office 2010 Beta documentation

cwatson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:48:00 GMT

Yes, this is why we’ve been so quiet lately – we haven’t been napping all these months! As you may have noticed from the previous post (and tweets), Office 2010 (Beta) content is now on TechNet. More content will be published over the next weeks and months.

Here are the new sites to check out:

· Office 2010 (Beta) on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ee263913.aspx

· Getting Started with Office 2010 (Beta): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ee691942.aspx

· Office 2010 Beta Resource Kit: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303401(office.14).aspx

· Office 2010 Forums: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/category/office2010

Here is a highlight of what is included in the Office 2010 Beta Resource Kit:

Product evaluation and getting started with Office 2010 Beta Provides an overview of Office 2010, and includes information about the Setup architecture, 64-bit Office 2010, system requirements, getting started information, and product comparisons.
Planning the deployment of Office 2010 Beta Provides information about assessing your current environment, planning for desktop configurations, security, and applications including Microsoft Access 2010, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft Outlook 2010, and Microsoft Project 2010. It also provides planning information for migration and upgrading from previous versions of Office, as well as planning for virtualization and Terminal Services.
Configuration and deployment of Office 2010 Beta Provides how-to information for specific deployment tasks, such as customizing the installation, and installing Office 2010 on users' computers. It also provides information about the new licensing options for Office 2010, including instructions for configuring the infrastructure for volume licensing and activation.
Maintaining and updating Office 2010 Beta Provides information about changing users' configurations after installing Office 2010.
Security and protection for Office 2010 Beta Provides information new security controls in Office 2010, which make it easier for IT professionals to build a robust defense against threats while maintaining information worker productivity.
Troubleshooting for Office 2010 Beta Provides suggested solutions to issues you might encounter during a deployment of Office 2010.
Technical reference for Office 2010 Beta Provides technical details related to Office 2010 Setup properties and command-line options, and describes the Office Customization Tool and Config.xml file.

The ORK team will be monitoring the Office 2010 Forums. If you have specific (constructive) comments or suggestions on an article in the ORK 2010 library or about the ORK 2010 library overall, please post your comments to the most appropriate Office 2010 Forum. We would be most appreciative!

Keep an eye on this Blog! Over the next few weeks and months, the ORK team will be featuring highlights of new articles we’ve published for Office 2010. Happy Office 2010 Beta evaluating!

Download the Office 2010 Beta today: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9695128

Gracias, merci and ciao!

- Cat

Office 2010 public beta announcement

cwatson — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:04:00 GMT

Here is the official word folks!

Today, Microsoft is releasing the public beta of

Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010, Project 2010, and Office Web Apps for business customers. Millions of people can download the beta at www.microsoft.com/2010 (or from TechNet: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9695128).
Office Mobile 2010 has also reached the public beta milestone and is now available on the Windows Mobile Marketplace for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones.

As part of the beta Microsoft is unveiling several new capabilities, including:

The Outlook Social Connector, a new feature which brings communications history, business and social networking feeds into the Outlook experience.

At beta The Outlook Social Connector will support SharePoint social networking and support Windows Live at launch.
Microsoft is also announcing that Linked-in and Facebook will be the among the first third-party social networking sites that have providers for the Outlook Social Connector.
Microsoft also released the Outlook Social Connector SDK for developers to build connectors to third party social networks.

Technology and design advancements, including deeper integration between Office 2010 and Office Web applications, improved navigation, visual design and icon updates, a new Office logo and increased performance and stability.

As a result of the continued partnership with SAP, Microsoft also announced intent to deliver Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP, which will expand the long standing Duet partnership. The joint solution from SAP and Microsoft will integrate SAP applications with SharePoint 2010 and provide complete flexibility and extensibility to compose solutions that blend the worlds of process and collaboration. The solution is planned to be released in the H2 2010.

Download the Office 2010 Beta today: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9695128

Office 2010 Blog post announcing the Beta: http://blogs.technet.com/office2010/archive/2009/11/16/announcing-office-2010-beta-availability.aspx

For more information, check out Office 2010 (Beta) on TechNet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ee263913.aspx.

Security updates for November 2009

patnich — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:45:00 GMT

On Tuesday, November 10^th, 2009, Microsoft released security updates for Microsoft Office products to address 11 security vulnerabilities in two security bulletins. The security updates apply to the following Office products:

· Microsoft Office Excel 2002, Excel 2003, Excel 2007, Excel Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer, and the 2007 Microsoft Office System, as described in security bulletin MS09-067, Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (972652).

· Microsoft Office Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word Viewer 2003, as described in security bulletin MS09-068, Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution (976307).

For complete details, see the following summaries:

· Microsoft Security Updates for November 2009 for home users.

· Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for November 2009 for IT professionals.

Microsoft Outlook Junk Email Filter updates

Microsoft also released two updates to the Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter. These updates provide a more current definition of which e-mail messages should be considered junk e-mail.

Security updates for October 2009

patnich — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:55:00 GMT

On Tuesday, October 13th, 2009, Microsoft released security updates for Microsoft Office products to address 11 security vulnerabilities in two security bulletins. The security updates apply to the following Office products:

· Microsoft Office XP, Office 2003, and the 2007 Microsoft Office system. The security updates also apply to Microsoft Office Outlook 2002, Outlook 2003, and Outlook 2007; and Microsoft Office Visio Viewer 2007, as described in security bulletin MS09-060, "Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Active Template Library (ATL) ActiveX Controls for Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution."

For information about known issues that customers may experience when installing this security update and for information about recommended solutions for these issues, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 973965, “MS09-060: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Active Template Library (ATL) ActiveX Controls for Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution.”

· Microsoft Office XP, Office 2003, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Microsoft Visio 2002, as described in security bulletin MS09-062, “Vulnerabilities in GDI+ Could Allow Remote Code Execution.”

For information about known issues that customers may experience when installing this security update and for information about recommended solutions for these issues, see Knowledge Base Article 957488, “MS09-062: Vulnerabilities in GDI+ could allow remote code execution.”

For complete details, see the following summaries:

· Microsoft Security Updates for October 2009 for home users

· Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for October 2009 for IT professionals.

As described in security bulletin MS09-060, Microsoft recommends that all users of Microsoft Visio Viewer 2002 and Visio Viewer 2003 upgrade to the latest version of Visio Viewer 2007 to address this security vulnerability. Users who are unable to upgrade should apply the update from MS09-034, “Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (972260).” This Internet Explorer update mitigates the attack vector for affected Visio Viewer platforms. Users may also install the cumulative security update for Internet Explorer. After you install MS09-060, you will need to upgrade to Visio Viewer 2007 and install the update described in this article to continue using Visio Viewer.

Note:

· The Security Updates for Microsoft Office XP, Office 2003 and the 2007 Office system described in MS09-060 do not fix a security vulnerability. The updates resolve a problem that occurs after you install the security updates for Microsoft Office Outlook 2002, Outlook 2003, or Outlook 2007 that are described in security bulletin MS09-060. The security updates for Outlook modify the CLSID (class identifier) of the Outlook View Control. This causes certain solutions based on Forms 2.0 that use the Outlook View Control to stop working, such as Business Contact Manager. The Security Updates for Microsoft Office XP, Office 2003, and the 2007 Office system update Forms 2.0 to work properly after the security updates to Outlook are installed.

· PowerPoint Viewer 2003 has left support as of October 8th, 2009. To continue receiving updates, please install PowerPoint Viewer 2007.

Microsoft Outlook Junk Email Filter updates

Microsoft also released two updates to the Microsoft Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter. These updates provide a more current definition of which e-mail messages should be considered junk e-mail.

For the latest information about Office updates, see the Office Sustained Engineering blog.

Where is the Office 2000 SR-1 administrator updates (O2KSR1aDL.exe)?

cwatson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:21:00 GMT

The Office 2000 SR-1 administrator updates (O2KSR1aDL.exe) is no longer available on the Microsoft Download Center. This is because Office 2000 extended support expired July 2009:

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/Default.aspx?p1=2484

If you really need this file, we suggest checking in with one of the community newsgroup to see if someone there can help you out. Sorry for the inconvenience!

- Cat

Updates for Outlook Junk E-mail Filters September 2009

patnich — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:19:00 GMT

On September 2nd, 2009, Microsoft released updates to the Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Junk E-mail Filters. The updates provide the Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 with a more current definition of which e-mail messages should be considered junk e-mail.

Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB973515) (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=63BF0D12-165B-4FEE-AC96-9BAD91DDB264&displaylang=en)

Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter (KB973514) (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1586DC82-3422-4801-874B-E6C38868945C&displaylang=en)

No Office security updates were released for September.

2007 Office system: Resource Centers for IT administrators

patnich — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:41:00 GMT

If you are an IT administrator who manages Office desktops in your organization, you will find consolidated resources in the following 2007 Office Resource Centers:

Deployment - Learn about the 2007 Office system changes in Setup architecture, language-neutral design, and customization model, and find centralized resources for preparing for and deploying the 2007 Office system (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/desktop/bb736744.aspx).

Security - Learn about deployment, configuration, and management of security and privacy settings in the 2007 Office system (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/desktop/cc948708.aspx).

User Interface - Help users learn about the Microsoft Office Fluent User Interface and find resources for customizing the Office Fluent UI (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/desktop/bb736211.aspx).

Security updates for August 2009

patnich — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:37:00 GMT

On Tuesday, August 11th, 2009, Microsoft released three security updates for Office Web Components (OWC) to address four security vulnerabilities. Office Web Components are Microsoft COM controls that allow users to publish spreadsheets, charts, and databases to an intranet and edit published documents within a Web browser. Office Web Components technology has been deprecated. This means that only security fixes are being made to all versions of OWC, and no future versions of OWC will be produced. The security updates apply to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, and Office 2003 Web Components, and are described in security bulletin MS09-043 (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-043.mspx).

The updates address the issue discussed in security advisory 973472 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973472). The security updates resolve several privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components that could allow remote code execution if a user viewed a specially crafted Web page. An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

For more detailed information, see Microsoft Security Updates for August 2009 (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/bulletins/200908.mspx) for home users and Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for August 2009 (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-aug.mspx) for IT professionals.

There are three versions of Office Web Components, and each version was also released as part of the next version of Office. For example, Office 2000 Web Components released both as part of Office 2000 and Office XP. For more information about Office Web Components, see the Office Sustained Engineering team’s blog Office Web Components Lifecycle (http://blogs.technet.com/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2009/06/30/office-web-components-lifecycle.aspx).

The following table maps the different versions of Office Web Components to the updates needed for those versions.

OWC Version	From Product	Patch Needed
2000	Office XP	KB947320
XP (2002)	Office XP, web download	KB947320
XP (2002)	Office 2003	KB947319
2003	Office 2003, web download (versions 1-3)	KB947319
2003	Web download (version 4), Project Server 2007, SQL Server 2008*	KB947318

*Project Server 2007 includes the installation package for the Office 2003 Web Components so that clients that connect to the server can automatically install the Office Web Components. Project Server installations are not vulnerable to the security vulnerability and do not need to install any updates.

**SQL Server 2008 includes the installation package for the Office 2003 Web Components for use in SQL Server client-side functionality. Most server installations will not contain Office Web Components and will not need to be updated.

Note: Office 2000 is no longer in support, as noted in our earlier blog Microsoft Office 2000 extended support ends in July, 2009 (http://blogs.technet.com/office_resource_kit/archive/2009/05/20/microsoft-office-2000-extended-support-ends-in-july-2009.aspx).

Known issues and additional information

For additional information and for known issues related to this security update, see KB MS09-043: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components could allow remote code execution (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957638).

Outlook Junk email filter updates

Microsoft also released the following updates for the Outlook Junk Email Filter for Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007:

· Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB972688) (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=44f8ad34-969a-4402-aa83-8a78941de573)

· Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter (KB972691) (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=2b832213-f733-4e90-85ea-a086c671f891)

Deploy different Microsoft Office 2007 suites (step-by-step)

RossC — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:30:00 GMT

We recently published a new article describing the options available to deploy different Microsoft Office 2007 suites to the same computer - including procedural information for each option: side-by-side and uninstall-install. Although this process might not be needed by most organizations, it can be appropriate in some scenarios. For example, departments in an organization that currently have Microsoft Office Standard 2007 installed on their computers might now need applications available in Microsoft Office Professional 2007, such as Microsoft Office Access 2007.

As always we would appreciate hearing back from you. For example, was this article helpful? Did it provide all the information you needed? Are there any suggestions for improvement?

This article is in the 2007 Office Resource Kit on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee335989.aspx

Security updates for July 2009

patnich — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:23:00 GMT

On Tuesday, July 14th, 2009, Microsoft released a security update for Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 (KB969693) which addresses a security vulnerability. The update is described in security bulletin MS09-030. For complete details, see Microsoft Security Updates for July 2009 for home users and Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for July 2009 for IT professionals.

Microsoft also released updates to the Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB971931) and Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter (KB971933).

As a reminder, July 14th 2009 was the last day of extended support for Microsoft Office 2000 (see our earlier blog, Microsoft Office 2000 extended support ends in July, 2009). Starting August 1, 2009, Microsoft will discontinue support for Office Update and the Office Update Inventory Tool, as noted in the Office Update and Office Update Inventory Tool Version 2.2 support ends in August, 2009 blog. To continue getting the latest updates for Microsoft Office products, use Microsoft Update. For more information, see the FAQ.

2007 Office ribbon and toolbar learning resources

patnich — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:57:00 GMT

The Office team has just launched the Office 2007 ribbon and toolbar portal (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX102774021033.aspx) to help users discover the learning resources and tools available for the ribbon and toolbar. The portal highlights features in an easy-to-scan format by products and includes online demos, videos, training courses, help articles, and interactive guides for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. Access and Outlook will be added soon as well. Let us know what you think.

Office 2007 installed on retail computers is usually a trial version

aweiss — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:35:00 GMT

From time to time, we receive comments on our articles asking a variant of the question, “Where is my product key?” These comments are typically from retail customers whose trial version of Office 2007 has expired and is now asking them for a product key to continue using it. Many customers try the product key included on the bottom of their computer, only to find out that it’s the product key for the operating system, not for Office 2007.

Retail customers should keep in mind that when you buy a computer from a department or online store, you are most likely receiving a trial version of Office 2007, not the full retail version. If you aren’t sure, please ask your sales representative! (Retail computers usually have a full, licensed version of the operating system, however.)

Also keep in mind that trial versions of Office 2007 do not install Outlook 2007.

If you have a trial version of Office 2007 that has expired, you have the option to purchase the full, licensed software from the Microsoft Web site, Web sites of authorized vendors, or from any authorized retail store. You can purchase the software on CD or as a download.

For more information about the trial versions of Office that are eligible for conversion to the full, licensed version and for instructions on activating a full, licensed version of Office 2007, see the KB article How to convert a trial version of a 2007 Office suite or program to a full retail perpetual license version.

What Document Inspector doesn't catch

Bill_MSFT — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Document Inspector--a privacy feature in the 2007 Office system--is a convenient tool for removing private or personal information (often known as metadata) from Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, and Word 2007 files. However, as an out-of-the-box-solution, Document Inspector can't be all things to all organizations, and there are many types of metadata that Document Inspector can't or won't remove. This article looks at some of the types of metadata that Document Inspector doesn't remove, and provides a list of companies that offer tools for removing or scrubbing this type of information from 2007 Office system files.

Note: Document Inspector is extensible and can be programmatically customized to suit a wide range of document workflow requirements. For more information, see Customizing the 2007 Office System Document Inspector (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=78577).

What you can't see can indeed byte you

Excel, PowerPoint, and Word have Document Inspector modules that remove some type of hidden or invisible data: Excel has three modules for removing invisible objects, hidden columns, hidden rows, and hidden worksheets; PowerPoint has one module for removing invisible on-slide content; Word has one module for removing hidden text. In order for these modules to work, the content must be formatted as hidden or invisible, such as hidden text in Word or invisible shapes in Excel. Why is this distinction important? Because there are lots of ways to make text and objects seem hidden or invisible, and Document Inspector doesn't remove hidden or invisible content unless the content is specifically formatted as hidden or invisible.

For example, if you put white text on a white background, you effectively hide the text, but Document Inspector assumes you meant to make the text white on a white background, so it doesn't consider it hidden and it won't remove it. Likewise, if you create a blue shape on a blue background, the shape is effectively invisible, but Document Inspector doesn't see this as invisible and won't remove it. Similarly, a shape that is covered by another shape isn't considered invisible, and a shape that has no fill and no outline is not considered invisible--even though both shapes are hidden from view. In both cases, Document Inspector does not remove the shapes even though they are not visible and appear to be hidden.

You can also hide data in Excel by putting data in a distant column or row, like row 10,000 or column 1,000,000. This effectively hides the data because the data is off-screen, or far beyond the standard display area of a typical spreadsheet. But Document Inspector sees it and thinks it's just normal data that you meant to put there, so the modules for removing hidden or invisible content do not remove it. The same thing applies to shapes or SmartArt that you move out of the visible viewing area on a spreadsheet: it might not be visible to someone casually viewing the spreadsheet, but Document Inspector still sees it as visible (unhidden) data and Document Inspector doesn’t remove it.

A good rule to remember is that the Document Inspector modules for hidden and invisible content do not remove any content unless the content is explicitly formatted as hidden or invisible. Trickery and sleight of hand might make things invisible to a casual viewer, but not to Document Inspector.

Note: PowerPoint, unlike Excel and Word, has a Document Inspector module for removing off-screen content. The off-screen content module removes the off-screen content even if it is not formatted as hidden or invisible.

Cached data

Several program features rely on data caching to increase performance. This can be a problem if the cached data contains metadata because Document Inspector does not remove cached data from files.

Pivot tables are one example where Document Inspector doesn't remove cached data. When you create a pivot table in a new worksheet, Excel creates a data cache of the data you selected so it can quickly render the pivot table. In some cases, the cached data may remain in the new worksheet after you delete the pivot table. Running Document Inspector will not help you remove this information because Document Inspector does not remove cached data. If you are concerned about the pivot table data that is cached, you can clear the Save source data with file check box that is on the Data tab in PivotTable Options. Also, if you want to display the information that appears in a pivot table, but delete the cached data, you can copy the pivot table, use Paste Special to paste only the values and formats into a new area on the worksheet, and then delete the original pivot table.

Using the sort and filter features can also create cached data because the filter and sort states are cached. Generally, this is not an issue because the data that gets cached is derived from the data that's visible in the worksheet, but it is possible that what's in the cache no longer exists in the spreadsheet. For example, say you sort a column with a filter, and then you remove some rows and columns. The filtered values can still appear because they're in a cache, but the data in the worksheet might've been deleted. Document Inspector doesn’t remove this type of cached data from a worksheet.

Embedded objects can also be a source of cached data. For example, if you copy a chart from Excel and use the default paste options to paste it into a PowerPoint slide, you are actually pasting the chart and the underlying data for the chart into the PowerPoint slide. The chart is visible, but the data associated with the chart isn't visible, although it's cached. Removing or deleting the chart does not necessarily remove the cached data that's associated with the chart, and Document Inspector does not remove the cached data that's associated with the chart. In general, Document Inspector does not remove any data that's associated with an embedded object. If you paste an object into a document, and you don’t want to include the data that’s associated with the object, use the Paste as Picture option.

External connections

Database connections and printer connections are two common types of external connections that might put metadata into a file without you knowing it. In both cases, Document Inspector cannot remove this information from the file.

Database connections can be particularly tricky because you usually must provide private information in order to create the database connection, such as a user name, password, path to the database, database name, and the name of the machine from which you are creating the connection. This private information makes up the connection string, which is cached in the Excel file. Document Inspector does not remove this information from the file. However, you can remove the cached connection string data by deleting the connection. You can also configure connection properties so that passwords are not saved with connection information, which is a recommended best practice.

Printer information is also tricky because Office applications pass printer-specific information to printer drivers, and they do this by embedding the information in the document, workbook, or presentation file. Printer-specific information can include the path to the printer and the printer name. It can also include a user name and password if you're using secure printing features. Document Inspector can remove printer name and printer path information from a file, but it can’t remove all of the printer-specific information from a file. Document Inspector can’t remove all printer-specific information from a file because printer drivers usually don't provide enough detailed information for Document Inspector to determine what type of metadata is embedded in a file.

Protected and restricted files

Document Inspector doesn't remove any metadata that's in a protected or restricted file, such as a file that has editing restrictions, is digitally signed, or is protected by restricted permissions. For example, if you apply editing restrictions to a file or you add a digital signature to a file, Document Inspector can't access the file and so it can't remove any metadata. As a rule, be sure to run Document Inspector before you restrict or protect a file.

In addition, Document Inspector doesn’t remove comments that are added by a user when they apply a digital signature to a document. Since you have no control over what a document signer might say in a comment, it's possible that a comment could contain metadata that you don't want revealed. This can occur when you insert a Microsoft Office signature line in a document and you check the Allow the signer to add comments in the Sign dialog checkbox. This option enables a signer to create a comment when they add their signature to a document. Anyone can view the comment by looking at the signature details. But because the document is digitally signed, and can’t be modified, the comment can’t be removed by Document Inspector after the signature is applied. To avoid this, don't allow signers to add a comment when they sign a document.

VBA and ActiveX

Document Inspector doesn't remove any code or comments from Visual Basic for Application (VBA) modules, and Document Inspector doesn't remove any data that’s associated with an ActiveX control. In both cases it’s impossible for Document Inspector to determine whether or not it’s removing critical data, so it leaves VBA modules and ActiveX controls as they are.

Other things to keep in mind when you use Document Inspector

Some collaboration or workflow features embed an email address in a file as metadata. Document Inspector usually removes these types of embedded email addresses, unless you use a send-for-review feature to embed an email address. In this case, Document Inspector doesn't remove the email address because it assumes that you want someone to send the document back to you after they are done reviewing it. Keep in mind, Document Inspector doesn’t remove email addresses that are added to the content of a document, workbook, or presentation, such as an email address that appears in a cell or in a paragraph or on a slide.

Also, Document Inspector doesn't remove hyperlinks, unless the hyperlinks are contained in some type of metadata that Document Inspector does remove, such as a document property, a watermark, a header, or a footer. For example, if you add a hyperlink to a comment, and you use Document Inspector to remove comments, then the hyperlink is removed along with the comment. But if you add a hyperlink to a paragraph or put a hyperlink in a cell or on a slide, Document Inspector will just see it as ordinary content and it won’t remove it.

File names, file paths, template names, and template paths can all be problematic as well, especially if you use template names or file names that contain metadata. In general, Document Inspector does not remove any of these things from a file. If it did, your files would not know what template to attach and it wouldn't know where to save your file. A good rule to remember when choosing template names and file names is to keep them generic and not use naming conventions that contain personal or private information.

Field codes in Word documents can be problematic, too, because Document Inspector removes the contents of field codes, but it doesn't remove the field code itself. For example, if you add the author field code to a document, Document Inspector removes the author name from the field code, but it keeps the author field code in the document. For more information about field codes, see Field codes in Word (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=154134).

Some other things that Document Inspector doesn't inspect include SmartArt, WordArt, shapes, and quick parts. Document Inspector assumes these things are part of the content you are creating and it doesn't remove them and it doesn’t remove the labels or text that you add to them.

Finally, Document Inspector doesn’t remove custom prompt text in PowerPoint presentations. You can add custom prompt text to a slide master, thereby overwriting the placeholder text that users see when they create new slides. Be sure to replace or remove the custom prompt text if it contains personal or private information. If you don’t, anyone who opens the presentation and then views the slide master will be able to see the custom prompt text.

Some final thoughts about using Document Inspector

Document Inspector is just a tool that helps you remove various types of metadata from Excel, PowerPoint, and Word files. Like spelling checker, it’s designed to help you perform a specific publishing task, but it’s not designed to take the place of common workflow processes, such as technical and legal review, peer review, and editorial review. Also, as you incorporate Document Inspector into your organization’s publishing workflows, make sure that your organization's workflows aren't inadvertently putting unwanted metadata back into a file after Document Inspector removes it. Some workflows might incorporate metadata back into a file when it’s sent for review or when it's printed. Examples of things that could be added back into the file include: watermarks, author information, printer paths, and so on.

If your organization has specific compliance requirements or workflow requirements that aren’t met by the default Document Inspector modules, try using the Document Inspector API to create a custom solution or try using a third-party scrubbing tool. The following companies provide applications and services for scrubbing metadata from Office files.

Workshare™, Inc.

Unedged Software, LLC

Litera® Corporation

Esquire Innovations, Inc.

Payne Consulting Group

BEC Legal Systems

3BView

Onstream Systems

NextLabs® Inc.

Register Office 2007 file format MIME types on servers

aweiss — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:16:00 GMT

In order for servers to recognize the new file formats in the 2007 Office system, you will need to register the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) types for each new file type. If the MIME types are not registered, servers will detect the new file formats as ZIP archives. MIME types are automatically registered with computers running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later versions.

For servers running Windows 2003 Server and Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, you can add the Open XML types in IIS Manager | Server Properties | MIME Types. IIS 7.0 includes these new MIME types by default.

For servers that are not Windows-based, you will need to register the MIME types manually. Please refer to the product documentation for your server or refer to the links at the end of this article for more information about registering MIME types.

The following table shows the extensions you will need to register, their file type, and their MIME type:

File extension	File type	MIME type
.docx	Microsoft Office Word 2007 document	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
.docm	Office Word 2007 macro-enabled document	application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12
.dotx	Office Word 2007 template	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template
.dotm	Office Word 2007 macro-enabled document template	application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12
.xlsx	Microsoft Office Excel 2007 workbook	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
.xlsm	Office Excel 2007 macro-enabled workbook	application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12
.xltx	Office Excel 2007 template	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template
.xltm	Office Excel 2007 macro-enabled workbook template	application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12
.xlsb	Office Excel 2007 binary workbook	application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12
.xlam	Office Excel 2007 add-in	application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12
.pptx	Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 presentation	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation
.pptm	Office PowerPoint 2007 macro-enabled presentation	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12
.ppsx	Office PowerPoint 2007 slide show	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow
.ppsm	Office PowerPoint 2007 macro-enabled slide show	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12
.potx	Office PowerPoint 2007 template	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template
.potm	Office PowerPoint 2007 macro-enabled presentation template	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12
.ppam	Office PowerPoint 2007 add-in	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12
.sldx	Office PowerPoint 2007 slide	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slide
.sldm	Office PowerPoint 2007 macro-enabled slide	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slide.macroEnabled.12
.one	Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 section	application/onenote
.onetoc2	Office OneNote 2007 TOC	application/onenote
.onetmp	Office OneNote 2007 temporary file	application/onenote
.onepkg	Office OneNote 2007 package	application/onenote
.thmx	2007 Office release theme	application/vnd.ms-officetheme

For more information on setting these types on different servers, see the following articles:

· How to get Companyweb (Windows SharePoint Services v2) to work with Office 2007 on David Overton’s blog

· Office 2007 MIME types for Apache on Vladimir Mazek’s blog

· Description of the default settings for the MimeMap property and for the ScriptMaps property in IIS (includes MIME types for other file extensions)