Having used Office 2007 for a few months now, I am still impressed with the host of new features available. While some may view the new interfaces as cumbersome, which anything new can be until you get used to them, I instead appreciate the effort to streamline menus and buttons so that everything is more accessible. But let me tell you, the first time I tried to find Print Preview in Word 2007 there was a bit of cussing.
I’ll break down some of the most interesting features by program:
Word 2007
No more cramming all of your toolbars into one section, then having the buttons you use the most disappear along the way. Instead, the new version of Word compartmentalizes the toolbars into several tabs, just click on the tab and the toolbars associated with them show up. You can even minimize the toolbar ribbon so you have more room to work.
As a person who writes for a living, I appreciate the word count appearing right on the bottom of the screen instead of having to go through the menu for it.
Excel 2007
If you are in need of some super-sized spreadsheets then you will certainly dig the fact that there are now 1 million columns and 16 thousand rows available, along with an increase of the number of worksheets allowed in a workbook, from 255 to 1024.
Additionally there are now a host of themes and styles that allow you to quickly add colors, borders and nifty fonts to an otherwise dull worksheet.
Outlook 2007
It is now simpler to find that message you were looking for with the instant search option. Enter a name, keyword, date or other search term to find all related messages. Now instead of having to open an attachment to view its contents you can use the attachment preview pane.
The calendar is easier to use and offers color coding to match your emails so you can keep on top of things that need to be completed. A To-Do bar allows you to view at a glance any tasks, follow-up emails, appointments or other information so you always know what is going on.
PowerPoint 2007
Designing and changing the layout and color of your presentation is a snap, and you can now go from boring to brilliant with just a few clicks with the variety of themes, layouts and styles. There are also many additional graphic effects that can bring more interest to those pie charts and graphs. Add drop shadows, transparency, glows and many other effects quickly and easily.
No longer having to use the cumbersome charting system in PowerPoint is a definite plus, now you can import the information and chart from Excel for results that are much more professional.
OneNote 2007
If you are like me, you probably have a note book or two kicking around with various reminders of things you need to do today, tomorrow, or even general lists of stuff you need. With OneNote you can keep everything together in one place so nothing gets forgotten. This great add-on product from Microsoft can help all of our lives stay more organized.
In a nutshell, these are a few things that you may like about the new and improved MS Office 2007, it’s easier, better and above all makes your life and your business more streamlined.
Tue, Dec 23, 2008
MS Office