Windows Vista Question

Nick Harvey · Wed 21 Nov, 2007 20.03

I'm a definite fan of Office 2007. I've been using it since the beginning of the year and, as most of you know, I can be a right old Luddite when I want to be.

Yes, you have to get used to slightly different ways of doing things, but once you do, it turns out much easier to use.

Many of my "favourite functions" happen, probably not by chance, to be the ones that have changed from multiple clicks to just one. Deleting a number of rows in a spreadsheet used to be a pain in 2003 and earlier versions because of the number of clicks. Now it's just highlight the row numbers and click delete. Simple. It's that sort of thing which I very much like.

I've not set the default file types to the new ones yet, however. I still save everything as legacy 1997-2003 files. What exactly does happen if you send a 'docw' to someone who's only got Office 2003? Can they do anything with it?

The one bit of file types that I do like is the opportunity to save a document as either a 'doc' or a 'pdf'.

Oh, and no, I'm not on Vista yet, still XP. Like others, I think I'll wait till Service Pack 1 before I dip that particular toe in the water.

Ebeneezer Scrooge · Wed 21 Nov, 2007 22.44

I'm another orifice 2007 fanboy! I was sceptical of it before I tried it, but since her indoors managed to get it on a home workers license through the NHS for around £20 (enterprise version too!), I'd have been a fool not to try it.
Everything is simply better! Yes, as people have pointed out, there is a learning curve to get used to it, but everything really is now in the right place - the lack of drop down menus is a benefit! Also, the fact that if you would prefer you can get back to the old format windows pretty easily (handy at least while you are getting used to it), makes it well thought out!
One of my personal favourites is the formatting box that pops up at 50% transparency when you highlight text, to become fully opaque when you mouse over - that and real time font previews... actually, there's too much to mention!

Stuart* · Wed 21 Nov, 2007 23.38

I tried it out for an hour or so from the microsoft site, and am considering getting the 60 day free trial. I found it easier, nicely laid out and very user friendly. I won't be spending £600 on it though. I'll have to find someone to get it for me on the cheap!

Nick Harvey · Thu 22 Nov, 2007 11.21

Aren't you eligible for Mrs Scrooge's option, Stuart?

Aidy · Thu 22 Nov, 2007 20.57

Ebeneezer Scrooge wrote:One of my personal favourites is the formatting box that pops up at 50% transparency when you highlight text, to become fully opaque when you mouse over

Same, but what really frustrates me with this is that it only appears once, after you've selected the text and moved the mouse slightly, after that it just disappears, sometimes half way threw using it! You then end up having to go up to the ribbon at the top to format the text, defeating the object of having the shortcut.

cdd · Thu 22 Nov, 2007 21.14

Aidsoo wrote:
Ebeneezer Scrooge wrote:One of my personal favourites is the formatting box that pops up at 50% transparency when you highlight text, to become fully opaque when you mouse over
Same, but what really frustrates me with this is that it only appears once, after you've selected the text and moved the mouse slightly, after that it just disappears, sometimes half way threw using it! You then end up having to go up to the ribbon at the top to format the text, defeating the object of having the shortcut.

Actually, if you remember the position where it is, you can mouse over that area and it reappears. Similarly, if you bring up the context menu, it appears in a more permenant state.

New FEATURES Word 07 has:

Style focus instead of format focus
Smart Art
Side-by-Side Synchronous Scrolling
Citation and Reference
Spelling check with context (i.e. it identifies there when it should be their)
Smart Art
XML-based file format
Paranoia features (aka Document Inspector)
Save as PDF and XPS directly

I'll agree, though, that it's not terribly rich on new features. The new layout makes old features more discoverable, though.

Outlook 2007 is fantastic and is reason enough to upgrade. I am in love with instant search and one-click document previewing, and the to do bar saves me from having to switch into calendar view all the time which used to be a real pain. And the junk email filters in 2007 WORK - it's like a dream. Oh, and it has a web browser. Whatever the hell point of that is.

Ebeneezer Scrooge · Thu 22 Nov, 2007 21.20

cdd wrote:
New FEATURES Word 07 has:
Style focus instead of format focus

Smart Art

Side-by-Side Synchronous Scrolling

Citation and Reference

Spelling check with context (i.e. it identifies there when it should be their)

Smart Art

XML-based file format

Paranoia features (aka Document Inspector)

Save as PDF and XPS directly

I have no idea what the flump smart art is, but it's clearly so good they named it twice.

LaSeandre · Fri 23 Nov, 2007 09.29

Nick Harvey wrote:What exactly does happen if you send a 'docw' to someone who's only got Office 2003? Can they do anything with it?

I've only got 2003 and it opens a dialogue box saying that you need a plug-in or an upgrade or something.

Ebeneezer Scrooge · Fri 23 Nov, 2007 11.05

I believe there is a conversion programme for docx files on the microsoft website.

Pete · Fri 23 Nov, 2007 17.54

Ebeneezer Scrooge wrote:I have no idea what the flump smart art is, but it's clearly so good they named it twice.

Smart Art is amazing. It allows you to make graphics like timelines and arrows and stuff in seconds. I find it particularly useful for uni notes.

Outlook has actually always had a web browser, but it calls up IE in a frame. I find that particularly odd as I believe they changed the email rendering to Word HTML rather than IE.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/ ... 31033.aspx

is the converter plugin, take note of the issues that using the older format presents you with.