The Rest of the Office Gang

There's a lot more to Microsoft Office than Word, Excel, and Outlook. Each program in the suite is available separately, and a few apps are considered part of the Office family but aren't bundled in any edition of Office.

Access 2003
This database program has an improved interface, with a task pane that helps find and correct common errors and reveal object dependencies. Other enhancements include more import/export power and the ability to link tables. (Professional Edition, $229 list.)

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FrontPage 2003
A significant upgrade, this Web site creation and management program adds many new features and controls to previous versions, including Flash support and tools to help you generate JavaScript and XML. ($199.)

PowerPoint 2003
The new PowerPoint includes support for smart tags, workgroup collaboration, and information rights management. Multimedia support lets users easily save PowerPoint 2003 files to a CD and play streaming audio and video within a slide show. ($229.)

Project 2003
Office's project management program employs flexible reporting and analysis to optimize resources and set work priorities. The Professional version is the client side of Microsoft's enterprise project management solution, which includes links to the company's Project Server and Project Web Access. (Standard, $599; Professional, $999.)

Publisher 2003
Microsoft's familiar business publishing program now has enhanced Web support, new design sets, improved commercial printing support, an e-mail wizard that lets you preview publications in various e-mail clients, and a catalog-merge feature. (Professional and Small-Business Editions, $169 each; with Digital Imaging, $209.)

Microsoft Visio 2003
Office's diagramming program, Visio 2003, is updated with several new types of diagrams, as well as the kinds of interface improvements seen across the suite. The Professional version, meant for IT pros, engineers, and developers, adds directory services and network rack diagrams. (Standard, $199; Professional, $499.)