WebReady Document viewing is a new feature in Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access. It allows user to view common file types without the need to have the corresponding application installed on their PC. As a result, the user will be able to view the attachments without saving them to disk or opening them in a locally-installed application.

When the user requests to view certain attachments from Outlook Web Access 2007, it gives user the option to open attachment as a webpage. Exchange 2007 then does the conversion so the user doesn’t need anything but a web browser to view the attachment.

Currently, WebReady Document viewing in Exchange 2007 supports the following types of files:
• .doc (Microsoft Word Documents)
• .dot (Microsoft Word Templates)
• .rtf (Rich Text Format)
• .xls (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets)
• .ppt (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations)
• .pps (Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Shows)
• .pdf (Adobe PDF Documents)

By the way, documents created by Microsoft Office 2007 are not supported in WebReady Document Viewing at the moment. This limitation will be addressed in Exchange 2007 Service pack 1.

Willy