An indexed Excel worksheet that contains cells with a large comment field is not searchable in the Indexing service and by other search providers in Windows Server 2003

Consider the following scenario:

• You create an indexing service catalog on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003.
• A folder that contains some Microsoft Office Excel worksheets (.xls) is added into this catalog.
• Some cells in one of the Excel worksheets contain a very large comment field.
  
  Note To insert a comment into a cell, right-click the cell, and then click Insert Comment.

In this scenario, this Excel worksheet is not searchable in the Indexing service or by other search providers.

If you use the Filtdump.exe utility to check the search result, you receive the following error code from the IFilter::GetText method: Error code 0x80030109 indicates that the file is corrupted. However, you can successfully use Excel 2003 to open this Excel worksheet.

This problem occurs because the filter (Offfilt.dll) that is used for Office documents does not correctly calculate the comment size.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing the problem described in this article. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, the computer must have Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 installed.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other previously released hotfixes.

Registry information

To use this hotfix, you do not have to make any changes to the registry.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Windows Server 2003 SP2, x86-based version

Windows Server 2003 SP2, Itanium-based version

Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows XP SP2, x64-based version

To work around the issue, you have to reduce the comment size.

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

For more information about a similar issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about a similar issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: