Microsoft Office 2007

1. Microsoft Office 2007 Willis Kim 13 January 2007

2. Features • The 2007 Microsoft Office System, also known as Microsoft Office 2007, is the most recent version of Microsoft'sproductivity suite. • Formerly known as Office 12 in the initial stages of its beta cycle, it was released to business customers on November 30, 2006[1], with availability for retail customers following in early 2007. • Office 2007 contains a number of new features, the most notable of which is the entirely new graphical user interface called the Ribbon, replacing the menus and toolbars that have been the cornerstone of Office since its inception. • While Office 2007 includes many new features, one has been removed entirely: Microsoft FrontPage is no longer being developed; its successor is the Microsoft Expression line of products. • Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2007

3. Hardware Requirements • Microsoft Office Professional 2007 • 500 megahertz (MHz) processor or higher1 • Memory 256 megabyte (MB) RAM or higher1, 2 • Hard disk 2 gigabyte (GB); a portion of this disk space will be freed after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard drive. • Drive CD-ROM or DVD drive • Display 1024x768 or higher resolution monitor Operating system • Microsoft Windows(R) XP with Service Pack (SP) 2, Windows Server(R) 2003 with SP1, or later operating system3 Other Certain inking features require running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition or later. Speech recognition functionality requires a close-talk microphone and audio output device. Information Rights Management features require access to a Windows 2003 Server with SP1 or later running Windows Rights Management Services.

4. Hardware Requirements (con’t) • 1 1 gigahertz (GHz) processor or higher and 512 MB RAM or higher recommended for Business Contact Manager. Business Contact Manager not available in all languages.2 512 MB RAM or higher recommended for Outlook Instant Search. Grammar and contextual spelling in Word is not turned on unless the machine has 1 GB memory.3 Office Clean-up wizard not available on 64 bit OS. • Really 1 GHz processor and 1 GB memory

5. Office Comparison

6. User Interface • The new result-oriented user interface, "Ribbon", will be featured in the core applications of Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and the mail editor of Outlook. • The Ribbon, a panel that houses the command buttons and icons, organizes commands as a set of Tabs, each grouping relevant commands. Each application has a different set of tabs which expose the functionality that application offers. The Ribbon is designed to make the features of the application more discoverable and accessible with fewer mouse clicks[5] as compared to the menu-based UI used until Office 2007. • Mini toolbar, which pops up near the selected text whenever some text is selected, provides easy access to most used formatting commands.

7. Word Changes • All new professional style sheets (quick styles) and ability to switch easily among them. • Word count listed by default in the status bar. The word count dynamically updates as you type. • New contextual spell checker catches incorrect usage of correctly spelled words, such as in "I think we will loose this battle". • Translation tool tip option available for English (U.S.), French (France), and Spanish (International Sort). When selected, hovering the mouse cursor over a word will display its translation in the particular language. Non-English versions have different sets of languages. Other languages can be added by using a separate multilingual pack. • Rearchitected native mathematical equation support with TeX-like linear input/edit language or GUI interface. Also supports the Unicode Plain Text Encoding of Mathematics.[10] • Fullscreen reading layout that shows two pages at a time with maximal screen usage, plus a few critical tools for reviewing.

8. Outlook Changes • Outlook now works only with Exchange 2000 and above. • Outlook now indexes[11] the e-mails, contacts, tasks, calendar entries, RSS feeds and other items, to speed up searches. As such, it features word-wheeled search, which displays results as characters are being typed in. • Search folders, which are saved searches, have been updated to include RSS feeds as well. Search folders can be created with a specific search criteria, specifying the subject, type and other attributes of the information being searched. When a search folder is opened, all matching items for the search are automatically retrieved and grouped up. • Outlook can now support multiple calendars being worked with, simultaneously. It also includes a side-by-side view for calendars, where each calendar is displayed in a different tab, and allows easy comparison of them. Outlook also supports web calendars. Calendars can be shared with other users. • Calendar view shows which tasks are due. • Flagged e-mails and notes can also be converted to Task items. • Outlook includes a To Do Bar, which integrates the calendar, appointments and tasks items, in a concise view. • Attachment preview allows users to view Office e-mail attachments in the reading pane rather than having to open another program.

9. Excel Changes • Support up to 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns in a single worksheet.[12] • Conditional Formatting introduces support for three new features — Color Scales, Icon Sets and Data Bars • Color Scales, which automatically color the background of a group of cells with different colors according to the values. • Icon sets, which precede the text in a cell with an icon that represent some aspect of the value of the cell with respect to other values in a group of cells, can also be applied. Icons can be conditionally applied to show up only when certain criteria is met, such as a cross showing up on an invalid value, where the condition for invalidity can be specified by the user. • Data Bars show as a gradient bar in the background of a cell the contribution of the cell value in the group. • Column titles can optionally show options to control the layout of the column. • Multithreaded calculation of formulae, to speed up large calculations, especially on multi-core/multi-processor systems. • Formula Autocomplete, automatically suggests function names, arguments and named ranges, and automatically completing them if desired, based on the characters entered. Formulae can refer to a table as well. • Filters, now includes a Quick filter option allowing the selection of multiple items from a drop down list of items in the column. The option to filter based on color has been added to the choices available. • Excel features a new charting engine, which supports advanced formatting, including 3D rendering, transparencies and shadows. Chart layouts can also be customized to highlight various trends in the data , the picture brought here by Liran.

10. PowerPoint Changes • Improvements to text rendering to support text based graphics. • Rendering of 3D graphics. • Support for tables and enhanced support for table pasting from Excel.[13] • Slide Library, which lets you reuse any slide or presentation as a template. Any presentation or slide can be published to the Slide Library. • Any custom-designed slide library can be saved. • Presentations can be digitally signed. • Improved Presenter View.[14] • Added support for Widescreen Slides.[15] • Allows addition of custom placeholders.

11. PowerPoint Changes (con’t) 3D Rotation (Right-click)

12. However • Now you want to go out and buy it. • But ..

13. Why not to upgrade? • Reason 1: You already know how to use your favorite Office applications -- which users have somehow failed to discover buried under a wealth of menus and toolbars. • Reason 2: You like a consistent interface in all of your applications. Despite the endless pro-ribbon propaganda, it's not actually found in every element of Office. In particular, it hasn't been introduced to Outlook. Source: http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/7684/53/

14. Why not to upgrade? (con’t) • Reason 3: OpenXML as the default file format. It is based on XML and uses the ZIP file container is not backward compatible with Office 2003 --files are smaller, less likely to get corrupted and the file format is more easily exploited by other applications. If everyone in your company is using it -- or if you're a one-person band and don't share files at all -- then it's a useful choice.

15. Why not to upgrade? (con’t) • Reason 4: You use macros and other customization features extensively. Office 2007 renders these macros and features inoperable until they're recoded to fit the new interface and file formats. • Reason 5: It's still essentially a version beta application. While Microsoft boasts that the number of beta testers for Office 2007 far exceeds any previous versions, it still remains a product that's only just come out of beta.

16. Links • 2007 Microsoft Office System Known Issues/Readme • http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX101633871033.aspx • Downloads & Trials • http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx • Office Professional Plus 2007 • 400MB download executable • Need to register and Microsoft will provide a license key