Support for IRM in Office

Article
07/02/2012

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

In order to use IRM-protected documents in the Microsoft Office suites the user needs to have installed either a version of a Microsoft Office program that understands IRM protected documents or a Microsoft Office document viewer, available for free from the Microsoft download center on the Web. Word and Excel IRM-enabled viewers are available. For PowerPoint and InfoPath documents, the full version of a Microsoft Office suite is necessary.

Not all editions of Office can produce IRM protected documents, but all editions of the IRM enabled versions of Office (Office 2003, Office 2007, and Office 2010) can consume IRM protected documents.

This table presents the IRM capabilities of the different editions of the IRM enabled versions of Office and their viewers.

Office version	Edition	Create IRM protected Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents	Read and edit IRM protected Word and Excel documents	Read and edit IRM protected PowerPoint documents	Send rights protected e-mail messages	Receive and reply to rights protected e-mail messages	Create or use protected InfoPath forms

Office 2003	Student and Teacher		√	√		√
	Standard		√	√		√
	Small Business		√	√		√
	Basic		√	√		√
	Enterprise	√	√	√	√	√
	Professional	√	√	√	√	√
	Downloadable Office Readers		√ (read only)
Office 2007	Home and Student		√	√
	Standard		√	√		√
	Small Business		√	√		√
	Professional		√	√		√
	Professional Plus	√	√	√	√	√	√
	Enterprise	√	√	√	√	√	√
	Ultimate	√	√	√	√	√	√
	Downloadable Office Readers		√ (read only)
Office 2010	Professional Plus	√	√	√	√	√	√
	Professional	√	√	√	√	√	√
	Home and Business		√			√
	Home and Student		√
	Professional Academic		√			√
	Word and Excel Viewers		√ (read only)
Pocket Office	Only edition		√ (read only)	√ (read only)	√	√

For additional information on deploying AD RMS with Microsoft Office, see AD RMS and Microsoft Office Deployment Considerations (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd772697(WS.10).aspx).

Support for IRM in Office

Additional resources