Regarding Custom XML Patch distribution and availability

Background reading
What is Custom XML- ... and the impact of the i4i judgment on Word ,
Associating Data with Content Controls ,
Using Content Controls vs. Custom XML Elements ,
Scanning tool to detect documents with custom XML  

A few questions have popped up about the patch for Custom XML and I thought I'd take a moment to address those. First, please see the patch posted on the public download site.

This patch will be not "pushed" through our update channels , because existing customers are not required to install it.

Will the patch be "pushed" to my system? Is this an automatic update?
No. The patch will not be made available from Microsoft Update or Office Update, and will not be "pushed" to any user's machine by Microsoft services.

What about future Office updates such as hotfixes or Security patches? Will the patched version of Word require different updates?
We will continue to provide security updates and hotfixes that work with both patched and unpatched versions of Word.

How can I tell if a document uses CustomXML markup?
The easiest way to know is by opening the document in an unpatched version of Word and to look for the "pink tags" that typically delineate CustomXML markup. Alternatively, for large volumes of documents, we will make a document scanning tool available which will evaluate .DOCX and .DOCM files for the presence of CustomXML markup. My next blog post will offer more information regarding this tool, which we plan to make available at no charge. Because .DOC files are not affected, we do not plan to offer a scanning tool for them.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  yagao, http://blogs.technet.com/gray_knowlton/archive/2009/12/23/what-is-custom-xml-and-the-impact-of-the-i4i-judgment-on-word.aspx You should read this post to get the background. I would recommend looking into Content Controls as a replacement.

• Anonymous
  January 12, 2010
  Thanks for the update. What's MS' recommendation on existing systems built around the CustomXml functionality of Word 2007? Should we starting look for some other technologies? Or stick around till the dust is settled in the courtroom? Thanks.

• Anonymous
  January 13, 2010
  Hello, today I was wondering about my Word 2003. I installed the Office Compatibility Pack and my CustomXML-Tags were deleted. Then I saw, that the FileFormatConverters.exe was updated on 06.01.2010! Then I noticed the comment under the download which says that it will delete the customXML Tags. This comment is only in the english version. BUT in ALL language versions of the converter this behaviour occurs! I thought that this issue will never touch Office 2003 Systems. This update of the converter was never reported... -Stefan

• Anonymous
  March 17, 2010
  Gray, Thanks for the patch info. James