Most documents created with any of the Office 2003 applications can be opened in Office 2000. The exception is Publisher 2003. If you're creating a document in Publisher 2003 that will be opened in Publisher 2000, use the Save As feature and choose the Publisher 2000 format as shown below.
Outlook 2003 is the only Office 2003 application with dramatic changes. Most users will find the functionality of Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint very much the same as in Office 2000. There are, however, some enhancements worth noting.
Task Panes - Task Panes allow you to perform important tasks from a single location in your document. Task panes give you access to online help and templates. They also allow you to view open documents in the particular application, view Clipboard contents, format documents, and complete other tasks.
The Research Task Pane 
enables you to find a word's definition, use the built-in thesaurus, translate
to and from a foreign language, or do a Web search without ever leaving
your document.
Smart tags are a set of buttons shared across Office programs that deliver a menu of context-sensitive options when and where they are needed. For example, when you paste data or make an error in an Excel formula. They provide options for completing a task quickly.
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The new Reading Layout option displays your document in side-by-side "pages" so that it resembles a book.
ClearType technology makes the text easy to read in this mode, and you can quickly increase or decrease the size of the text via toolbar buttons. With large text, the Reading Layout definitely pleases the eyes. As a bonus, the Reading Layout clears out some toolbar clutter.
Word 2003 can also display thumbnails along the left side of the screen with icons representing each page in a document. This arrangement reduces your reading real estate, but it could be useful for navigating through a long report.
You can now play .avi, .mpg, and other video files full-screen from within your presentations. You can place video playback controls directly in the slide show; and you can stream both audio and video into your presentations. The new version also makes it much easier to place your PowerPoint files onto a CD.
You can package a PowerPoint presentation to a CD for broader sharing or distribution. When the recipient inserts the CD into their CD drive, the presentation automatically launches in slide-show mode using the improved PowerPoint Viewer.
The new version lets you back up the database you're working on without having to exit the program. Access 2003 can now discover errors in forms and in report designs automatically, and the program even suggests corrections. Database administrators will appreciate the added feature that lets them identify object dependencies more easily.
Microsoft has added 10 design templates to the program, bringing the total number of templates to 45. Publisher's enhanced Design Checker Task Pane makes it easier than ever to locate and fix potential problems with printing or Web publishing. The New Publication Task Pane's new categories help neophytes prepare a publication for print, for posting to a Web site, or for e-mail transmission.