contributed by David Diedriech, Technical Training Director
Many members of the DePauw campus are already using Microsoft Office 2007, but for those who haven’t upgraded yet, there is a good deal of curiosity (and probably a little concern!) about what is so different about this much-hyped new version of the popular office suite. Let’s look at some of the big differences in store in Office 2007.
As soon as you open one of the new Office applications, such as Word 2007, you will see that Microsoft made a major change to the user interface, which determines how you move around and access the many commands in the program. Microsoft calls this new look the “Fluent user interface”. You’ll notice right away that the old, familiar Menu bar is gone. It has been replaced by the Ribbon, an interactive toolbar that shows commands categorized into commonly used groups. Also, the most often used commands, such as Save, Open and Print, are now available under the Office button. In addition, a new feature called Live Preview allows to you to see a formatting change as you move your cursor over the options.
The first question that many users ask is, “Why did they change all of the toolbars?” Microsoft points to the layers of complexity that have been added to the Office programs over the years. The original version of Word has around 100 commands. Word 2003 sports over 1500 commands! The new interface addresses concerns and frustrations with finding the right commands or tools quickly.
Please also remember that as departments begin to upgrade to Office 2007 this spring, the other big difference in Office is the new file format. To incorporate all of the new capabilities, including multi-media, used in Office, the Office programs all store their files in a new format. This new format is not compatible with older Office programs, so the easiest fix for now is to always remember to save your documents in the old 2003 formats. This will ensure that everybody you send your files to will be able to open them!
As we continue to update our computers here at DePauw, please check for new information and helpful hints on our Office 2007 web page at http://www.depauw.edu/it/helpdesk/office2007/
