Software:Microsoft Office 97

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Microsoft Office 97
Microsoft Office 97 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) running with the Office Assistant present
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial releaseNovember 19, 1996; 29 years ago (1996-11-19)
Final release
Service Release 2B (8.0.5903) / October 7, 1999; 26 years ago (1999-10-07)[1]
Operating systemWindows NT 3.51 SP5 or later[2]
PlatformIA-32, DEC Alpha (partial)
PredecessorMicrosoft Office 95 (1995)
SuccessorMicrosoft Office 2000 (1999)
TypeOffice suite
LicenseProprietary commercial software

Microsoft Office 97 (version 8.0) is the fifth major release for Windows of Microsoft Office, released by Microsoft on November 19, 1996.[3] A Mac OS equivalent, Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition, was released on January 6, 1998. Microsoft Office 97 became a major milestone release for introducing new features and improvements over its predecessor Microsoft Office 95.

The suite is officially compatible with Windows NT 3.51 SP5 through Windows Me.[lower-alpha 1] It is the last version of Microsoft Office to support Windows NT 3.51 SP5 and Windows NT 4.0 RTM–SP2. Two Service Releases (SR-1 and SR-2) have been released for Office 97; SR-2 solves the year 2000 problem in Office 97.[4] Hotfix support for Office 97 ended on February 28, 2002, while assisted support options and security updates ended on January 16, 2004.[5]

Features

Office 97 introduced "Command Bars", a paradigm in which menus and toolbars are made more similar in capability and visual design. It also featured natural language systems and sophisticated grammar checking.

Office 97 introduced the Office Assistant, an interactive animated character designed to assist users via Office help content. The default assistant is "Clippit", nicknamed "Clippy", a paperclip.

Office 97 is the first Microsoft product to include product activation, albeit limited to the Brazilian editions of Office 97 Small Business Edition and Publisher.[6]


Three Office 97 applications feature easter eggs: a hidden pinball game in Microsoft Word, a hidden flight simulator in Microsoft Excel[7][8] and a secret developer credits screen in Microsoft Word. The latter went undiscovered for 29 years.[9]

Office 97 supported UTF-16.[10]

Editions

The vivid cover art emphasized the fifth "puzzle piece", Microsoft Access.

Office 97 has been released in five editions: Standard Edition, Professional Edition, Small Business Edition, Small Business Edition 2.0, and Developer Edition. Each has its own selection of included applications.

Office programs Standard Edition Professional Edition Small Business Edition Small Business Edition 2.0[11] Developer Edition
Word Yes Yes Yes Yes[lower-alpha 2] Yes
Excel Yes Yes Yes Yes[lower-alpha 2] Yes
Outlook Yes Yes Yes Yes[lower-alpha 3] Yes
PowerPoint Yes Yes No No Yes
Access No Yes No No Yes
Bookshelf Basics No Yes No No Yes
Developer Tools and SDK No No No No Yes
Publisher 97 No No Yes No No
Small Business Financial Manager 97 No No Yes[lower-alpha 4] No No
Automap Streets Plus 5.0[12] No No Yes[lower-alpha 5] No No
Publisher 98 No No No Yes No
Small Business Financial Manager 98 No No No Yes[lower-alpha 6] No
Direct Mail Manager No No No Yes[lower-alpha 7] No
Expedia Streets[13] No No No Yes[lower-alpha 5] No
Internet Explorer 3 Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Internet Explorer 4 No No No Yes No
Schedule+ Yes Yes No No Yes
Binder Yes Yes No No Yes
FrontPage No No No No No
Project No No No No No
Team Manager No No No No No

Notes

  1. ↑ Outlook, FrontPage and Publisher 98 require Windows NT 4.0
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Includes SR-1 update
  3. ↑ Can be upgraded to Outlook 98 via coupon or download, although several OEM copies included Outlook 98
  4. ↑ Can be upgraded to Small Business Financial Manager 98 for free from Office Update website (requires Excel 97 SR-1); available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Available only in the United States and Canada
  6. ↑ Available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia
  7. ↑ Available only in the United States

References

  1. ↑ Thurrott, Paul (October 7, 1999). "Microsoft Quietly Issues New Version of Office 97 SR2". https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/microsoft-quietly-issues-new-version-office-97-sr2. 
  2. ↑ "Chapter 5 - System Requirements for MS Office". Microsoft Office 97 Resource Kit. Microsoft. 14 June 2017. ISBN 9781572313293. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749816.aspx. Retrieved 16 August 2019. 
  3. ↑ "Microsoft Office 97 Released to Manufacturing". Las Vegas: Microsoft. November 19, 1996. https://news.microsoft.com/1996/11/19/microsoft-office-97-released-to-manufacturing/. 
  4. ↑ "MS Office 97 Service Release 2B (SR-2B)". Microsoft. October 1999. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc767936.aspx. 
  5. ↑ "Microsoft Office Family Product Support Lifecycle FAQ". Microsoft. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/gp/lifeoffice. 
  6. ↑ "Microsoft Extends Anti-Piracy Features in Office 2000". Redmond, WA: Microsoft. December 9, 1998. http://news.microsoft.com/1998/12/09/microsoft-extends-anti-piracy-features-in-office-2000/. 
  7. ↑ "Excel Easter Egg - Excel 97 Flight to Credits". http://eeggs.com/items/718.html. 
  8. ↑ "Excel Easter Egg - Excel 97 Flight Simulator - for Later Versions of Microsoft Excel". http://eeggs.com/items/29841.html. 
  9. ↑ Batt, Simon (January 13, 2026). "Someone found an Office 97 Easter egg that nobody spotted for 29 years". https://www.xda-developers.com/someone-found-an-office-97-easter-egg-that-nobody-spotted-for-29-years/. 
  10. ↑ https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000509.shtml
  11. ↑ "Office 97 Small Business Edition v2 - Features". Microsoft. February 1, 2000. http://www.microsoft.com/catalog/display.asp?site=620&subid=22&pg=2. 
  12. ↑ "Microsoft Automap Streets Plus Preferred 2-to-1 in New Study". June 11, 1997. https://news.microsoft.com/1997/06/11/microsoft-automap-streets-plus-preferred-2-to-1-in-new-study/. 
  13. ↑ "Microsoft Launches New Version of Preferred Street-Finding Software". August 26, 1997. https://news.microsoft.com/1997/08/26/microsoft-launches-new-version-of-preferred-street-finding-software/. 



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