Microsoft occasionally releases hotfixes to resolve one or
more critical problems with Microsoft Office programs. Each of these hotfixes
is cumulative. This means that all hotfixes contain all the hotfixes in earlier
versions of the affected files. You can obtain hotfixes through Microsoft
Product Support Services. Each hotfix is described in a Microsoft Knowledge
Base article.
As a rule, each hotfix will come in two forms, a binary
update that modifies an existing file into the new version of the file and a
full-file update that replaces the existing file. If an administrative
installation point was used, the full-file update is also used to update the
administrative installation point. Exceptions to this rule will be noted in the
article that describes the hotfix.
Starting with Microsoft Office XP
Service Pack 2 (SP2), hotfixes were made available that would update the
current version of Office and one service pack release prior. Microsoft Office
2003 also follows that rule. However, Microsoft Office 2000 hotfixes will only
apply to the latest service pack. To update a service pack before to the
current version, the full-file update must be used. The binary update will only
apply to the current service pack level. For more details about the support
policies for service packs, see the Service Pack Policy Details. To view the
Service Pack Policy Details, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Any full-file hotfix that is produced for an Office program (for
example, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Word) requires as a
minimum that you apply the Office service pack before to the latest service
pack before you install the hotfix on your computer. For example, if Microsoft
Office XP Service Pack 3 is the current service pack level, all fixes that are
written after the release of Service Pack 3 require that you have at least
Service Pack 2 installed before you install the full-file update of the
fix.
Any binary hotfix that is produced for an Office program (for
example, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Word) requires that
you apply the latest Office service pack before you install the hotfix on your
computer. For example, if Office 2003 Service Pack 1(SP1) is the current
service pack level, all fixes that are written after the release of Service
Pack 1 require that you to install the service pack before you install the
binary update of the fix.
To see whether you already have the programming changes in
any publicized hotfix, follow these steps:
- Read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article that describes
the problem. Note the names of the files in the fix and their version
numbers.
- Find the corresponding files on your computer. If you do
not know how to find the files, use the Windows Search functionality, as
described in Windows Help.
- Right-click the file name, click Properties, and then click the Version tab.
- Compare the version number of the file with the version in
the Knowledge Base article. If the version number that is assigned to the file
on your computer is the same as or is later than the version that is listed in
the Knowledge Base article for the hotfix, your file contains the
fix.