The About Microsoft <Program name> dialog box reports a service pack version that is different from what is expected in Office XP and in Office 2003

When you try to determine the version of Microsoft Office XP or Microsoft Office 2003 by clicking Help and then clicking About Microsoft Program name, such as About Microsoft Excel, the About Microsoft Program name dialog box reports that a service pack has been installed. The letters SP with a number after the version number are displayed, for example SP1. However, the service pack that the About Microsoft Program name dialog box reports may not have been installed.

This problem occurs because the About Microsoft Program name dialog box in Microsoft Office retrieves the version information and the service pack information from the primary shared Office file, the Mso.dll file. Therefore, the service pack version that the About Microsoft Program name dialog box reports may not be the correct service pack version for all Office programs. For example, this may occur when a full service pack for Office has not been applied.

Conversely, the About Microsoft Program name dialog box for an individual Office program, such as Microsoft Project or Microsoft Visio, may report that a service pack has been applied when the service pack was applied to only the primary Office installation.

Microsoft provides binary updates for individual programs. These updates are applied to the latest service pack version and to the full-file updates that provide fixes for customers who are using earlier versions of a service pack. If the full-file update modifies the Mso.dll file, the About Microsoft Program name dialog box in the Office programs will report the latest service pack version.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

How to determine whether an Office service pack is installed

To determine whether an Office service pack is installed or whether an update for an individual program is installed, use the information provided by the Add or Remove Programs dialog box. This version information is the most accurate documentation of the product version that is available on your computer. For more information about how to use the Add or Remove Programs dialog box and the version numbers for the original release and service pack releases for the Office products, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information about other updates available for Office 2003 or Office XP, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: