Jurgen’s blog

Hands off from MS Office 2007(R)

Last month we talked about the benefits of having Vista as your operating system. Which is great! As if to reconfirm my decision just the other I had to restart my old system again. Gee, what a difference. So once you’ve changed to Vista – you won’t look back!Today I want to write about the other product Microsoft put on the market at the same time as Vista – that is Office 2007.And please let me very upfront with this: my recommendation is not(!) to buy or upgrade to 2007.

Myth bustedYou might think Office 2007 and Vista are bundled and inseparable. Let me explain to you: Vista is running with Office 2003 as good as with Office 2007.
Office 2007 is running with Vista as good as with Windows XP.
Office 2003 is running with Vista as good as with Windows XP.
This literally gives you 4 possible combinations to set up your system

Why do I recommend leaving your hands off Office 2007First and foremost it is a completely new software package to learn. Whilst Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook still run as you expect them to do, the menu system has changed dramatically.Instead of drop-down-menus and toolbars you now have tabs and icons all over the place. Microsoft calls it the Office Fluent User Interface – or Ribbon.So when you are a power user like me or just using Excel, Word or Powerpoint once in the blue moon – you are used to the menus and toolbars. Well Microsoft is probably correct most of us don’t know what is hidden within all these menus – what’s their reasoning for putting on the ribbons instead.Using the Microsoft Office package for the last ten or 15 years trained us some habits and also trained us not to worry about menus we never looked into in the first place. So what is the point to totally shift this way of working with menus and adjustable toolbars into ribbons and icons?

Example Print Preview
If you want to see the print preview in Word 2003, you simply click on the icon.In Office 2007 you search for this icon in vain. Then you start looking in the “Home”-ribbon, or the “View”-ribbon or the “Page layout”-ribbon, but this icon is not available. To get to the preview you have to click on the Office Button then on print and there you’ll find “Preview”.I’ve discovered this after some clicking around, still I am missing the lovely icon that is available in literally any other software tool. Needless to say that this preview trick is the same for Word, Excel and Powerpoint

Example Personalised ToolbarsIf you - like me - had tailored the existing toolbars in the Office programs to your needs, you will be disappointed because the only thing you can adjust is a tiny small toolbar in the very top left hand corner. Again something you have to relearn completely.

Microsoft acts like they are alone on this planetWell, you probably think: that’s not new. Look, you can argue that these new ribbons and icons all over the place is the new and more intuitive way of dealing with this large software packages. But in the end of the day you are not limited to using Microsoft products. And as long there are no other companies out there following this idea and completely restructuring the look and feel of their software you have to deal with two totally different types of menus and toolbars.So it’s not about what you personally like and be accustomed to, it is what Microsoft thinks you would (or should) like.

The good news A great relief is that the most shortcuts are still working in Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. So all the tips within “Master Your Inbox” are still correct. In Word though the shortcut for increasing the font size [Ctrl]+[>] is not working any more – bummer.And the other good news is, that you actually can save some money and keep your office package. [fname], a word of warning: if you haven’t upgraded to Office 2003 and still using some ancient versions – do it now! It’s affordable and especially for the Outlook user much better, because of the special search folders and the handling of Junk-email!

What do I like about Office 2007? Well it’s working okay and I get my tasks done. The filter-function in Excel has become more powerful, at the same time more time consuming. The formatting of text and table in Word is very powerful and by hovering over the option you already have a view of what it will look like. When you are formatting a long text or a large table this “pre-show on the fly” could be annoying, because the whole screen will flicker and you can’t see the forest for the trees.

My recommendation Use Office 2003 instead of 2007! To your success in 2008! Give yourself a top day! Best regards,