Separate downloads of Service Pack 2 updated help files if you know where to look.
Nowhere on Microsoft’s Service Pack 2 info pages will you find mention of yet more Office 2007 downloads.
At the same time as Service Pack 2 was released are updated Help file downloads as well.
These updated help files are clearly linked to Service Pack 2 with changes in the help file that only make sense for SP2 users. For example mentions of the new OpenDocument file support and the PDF/XPS download links removed.
But no, we have no idea why the help file updates were not included in the main Service Pack 2 downloads.
‘SP2’ help files
Office 2007 common
Updates for Microsoft Office 2007 Help for Common Features
WORD 2007
For users and developers.
EXCEL 2007
For users and developers.
POWERPOINT 2007
For users and developers.
Updates for Powerpoint 2007 help
ACCESS 2007
For users and developers.
ONENOTE 2007
PUBLISHER 2007
For users and developers.
Updates for Publisher 2007 help
Sharepoint Designer 2007
For users and developers.
Updates for Sharepoint Designer 2007 help
InfoPath 2007
For users and developers.
Updates for Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 Help
Project 2007
For users and developers.
Updates for Microsoft Office Project 2007 help
Script Editor
Updates for Microsoft Script Editor help
OUTLOOK 2007
Status: unknown presumed ‘ MIA’ – missing in action.
We can’t find any mention of an April 2009 update for Outlook 2007. There is probably one hiding on Microsoft’s servers but it’s yet to reach daylight.
Why not bundle the help files into the SP2 patches?
This is another mystery of Microsoft decision-making to add to our collection, I’m afraid.
The help file sizes are relatively trivial (for example 15MB for Word 2007 including the separate installer) so that can’t be the excuse.
As it stands, someone downloading only the main SP2 update will have old help files which don’t cover new or changed features. They could have Office 2007 help files that are over 2 years old (when Office 2007 was first released) or the October 2008 Office 2007 help file downloads.
Office 2007 help does have online connectivity which lets the local help files to be supplemented with info ‘live’ from Microsoft. However not everyone has a net connection all the time – out of date Office help files are no use at 30,000 feet.
These updates won’t fix a bug in Office 2007 wherethe help files might not work if Windows is installed on a drive other than Drive C. (Tip: instead of dual or multiple boot machines – consider switching to virtual machines using VMware, MS Virtual PC, Virtual Server or even HyperV).
