Internet and Intranet Technologies

Web Browser Support in Office 2000

Some of the features in Microsoft Office 2000 applications depend on functionality that is provided by the Web browser components that are installed on users’ computers.

Web browser requirements for Office 2000

Office 2000 works best with versions of Windows that have been updated with the latest Web browsing functionality — Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later. If you install Office 2000 on a computer that does not include Internet Explorer 5 or later, clicking the Install Now button in Office 2000 Setup automatically upgrades Windows to Internet Explorer 5.

If a user’s computer has a version of Windows that includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or 4.0, users are not required to upgrade or install Web browsing functionality during Office Setup. In this case, clicking the Customize button in Office 2000 Setup makes upgrading Windows with Internet Explorer 5 optional.

When a user’s computer has one of the following Web browsers installed, Windows must be upgraded to include the latest Web browsing functionality:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 or earlier
• Another browser, such as Netscape Navigator
• No browser

In this case, choosing the Customize button in the Office 2000 Setup provides three installation options:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 — Standard
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 — Minimal
• Windows Web Browsing Components Only

The Windows Web Browsing Components feature updates Windows with basic Web browsing functionality, but leaves the user’s default browser unchanged. Running Office 2000 on a computer that has been updated with the Windows Web Browsing Components yields full functionality in Office 2000 applications.

Note   If Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 is installed before you install Microsoft Office 2000, choosing the Windows Web Browsing Components feature upgrades Internet Explorer 2.0 to Internet Explorer 5. Internet Explorer 2.0 and the updated Windows Web Browsing Components cannot coexist on the same computer.

If you do not install Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or Windows Web Browsing Components when you install Office 2000, the available features scale to match the level of Web browsing support in Windows. An Office 2000 application determines the level of Web browsing support that is available in Windows when that application is run, and then presents users with the appropriate set of features. If users upgrade Windows to include Internet Explorer 5 or later at any time after installing Office 2000, full functionality becomes available at that time.

Tip   To upgrade to Internet Explorer 5 after installing Office 2000, run Ie5setup.exe, which is located in the \Ie\En subfolder on Microsoft Office 2000 Disc 1. Alternatively, you can download the latest version from the Internet Explorer Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/. The Windows Web Browsing Components can be installed only by running Office 2000 Setup.

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Web features available in Office 2000

When you run Office 2000 on a version of Windows that includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later or the Windows Web Browsing Components, all Office 2000 features that depend on Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 components are available, as described in the following sections.

Application-specific Web features

In Office 2000, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and FrontPage allow users to open and save HTML documents. Access can also import and export data in several Web formats, and Excel can retrieve data from Web sources by using Web Queries. All Office 2000 applications allow users to follow hyperlinks in documents.

By using the Open and Save As dialog boxes (File menu), users can also open and save files on Web servers through the HTTP protocol. By using the Web Folders object in Windows Explorer or in the Open and Save As dialog boxes, users can also open, cut, copy, paste, or drag files to or from a Web server. These features also require that the Web server have one of the following programs installed:

• Microsoft Office Server Extensions (OSE)
• FrontPage Server Extensions
• Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV) protocol

Data access pages

Users can view and work with data access pages if they are running Windows with Internet Explorer 5 or later or the Windows Web Browsing Components. To create data access pages, Access 2000 users must have Internet Explorer 5 or later or the Windows Web Browsing Components installed.

Microsoft Office Server Extensions

In addition to using the HTTP protocol to open and save documents, OSE provides the following additional features for working with documents stored on a Web server:

• Web Discussions allows users to collaborate in threaded discussions in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and HTML documents stored on a Web server.
• Web Subscriptions notifies users when documents on the Web server are modified.
• The OSE Start Page gives users a logical starting place for browsing or searching for documents on a Web server.

For users running Windows with Internet Explorer 5, OSE also includes offline caching and replication features.

Office online Help

Office 2000 online Help requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later. When running under Internet Explorer 3.0, the Show me feature and concept cards in Help are disabled and display a message prompting users to update to a later version of Internet Explorer.

Programming tools

The Microsoft Script Editor can be used to work with Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript), JScript, HTML Intrinsic controls, and ActiveX controls in HTML documents. Users activate Microsoft Script Editor by clicking the Microsoft Script Editor command (Tools menu, Macros submenu).

Developers of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros created in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook can identify themselves to users by digitally signing the VBA project that contains their macros. When a macro is altered, the digital signature is automatically removed to indicate that the macro might have been tampered with.

Roaming user profiles

Traveling users (sometimes referred to as roaming users) move between different computers on a network. Through the use of roaming user profiles, traveling users can move between computers and take their application settings and working files with them, along with any system preferences.

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Limitations under Internet Explorer 4.01

When you run Office 2000 on a version of Windows that includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01, most Web features are available. However, the following Office 2000 Web features are not available to users running Office 2000 with Internet Explorer 4.01:

• Data access pages

  Viewing and working with data access pages in a Web browser requires Windows updated to Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later, or the Windows Web Browsing Components. To create data access pages, Access 2000 users must have Internet Explorer 5 or later or the Windows Web Browsing Components installed.

• Office Server Extensions features

  Offline features (offline caching and replication) require Windows updated to Internet Explorer 5 or later, or the Windows Web Browsing Components.

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Limitations under Internet Explorer 3.0

When you run Office 2000 on a version of Windows that includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, some Web features are available. However, the following Office 2000 Web features are not available to users running Office 2000 with Internet Explorer 3.0:

• Excel Web Queries
• Data access pages

  Viewing and working with data access pages in a Web browser requires Windows updated to Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later, or the Windows Web Browsing Components. To create data access pages, Access 2000 users must have Internet Explorer 5 or later or the Windows Web Browsing Components installed.

• Office Server Extensions features

  Using Web Discussions and Web Subscriptions within Office applications requires Windows updated to Internet Explorer 4.01 or later. Offline features (offline caching and replication) require Windows updated to Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later, or the Windows Web Browsing Components.

• Office Web Components

  Office Web Components require Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later.

• Outlook 2000

  Outlook 2000 requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later.

• Programming tools

  Both the Microsoft Script Editor and digital signatures for VBA macros require Internet Explorer 4.01 or later.

• Roaming user profiles

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Web features that require the Windows Desktop Update shell

Some features in Office 2000 require a later version of the Windows Desktop Update shell than the shell that ships with Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or Windows 95. The following Office 2000 features require the updated version of the Windows Desktop Update shell:

• Switching between files by using the Windows taskbar or by pressing ALT+TAB
• Using the Windows Installer to advertise a program on the Windows Start menu
• Sending to the Windows Desktop from Web Folders

Two versions of the shell meet the Office 2000 requirements: the version installed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01, and the version installed with Window 98 or Windows 2000.

To ensure that features that depend on the Windows Desktop Update shell are available, administrators can install the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 shell by using the Internet Explorer Administrator’s Kit (IEAK) with the Office Custom Installation Wizard. This step is necessary only for computers running under Window 95 or Windows NT Workstation 4.0.

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See also

You can deploy, customize, and maintain Internet Explorer by using the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK). For more information about the IEAK, see the Internet Explorer Administration Kit Web site at http://ieak.microsoft.com/.

For more information about installing and using Office Server Extensions features, see Using Office with a Web Server.

For more information about using Office 2000 with HTML documents, see Using Office Documents in a Web World.

For more information about Office Web Components, see Managing Office Web Components or Adding Interactive Web Controls to Office Documents.

For information about roaming user profiles, see Supporting Users Who Travel Between Computers.