To start off with, out of the box everything's pretty straight forward. The instruction manual, installation CD and the warranty are easily seen. The installation itself is very straight forward by Microsoft standards. Simply insert your disc, enter your serial number and you're away. Nothing complicated about it at all. It should be noted though, the bar displaying how far on the installation process is, is nothing to go by. Depending on your processor speed, the regularity of this bar moving is dependant.
After registration is complete you are asked to validate the software. This is not complicated at all, simply click Validate and the process should be finished in a few moments (providing you didn't buy the software from the guy in the pub). Once this check is completed - you can start.
What you will immediately notice about this new suite is that the layout of the toolbars is totally different from previous versions of Office.
There are too many programs to talk about in details so I'm just going to give you an insight
into the most popular - Microsoft Office:
As I mentioned, the layout is much different and comfortably fits in with Vista's Aero theme. The toolbars have been replaced with 'Tabs' stating; 'Home', 'Insert', 'Page Layout' etc. By clicking one of these tabs - a 'Pane' will open below it - this Pane displays the relevant tools. For example; by clicking the 'Insert' tab will open the 'Insert Pane'. This pane has large icons like: - Cover page - Blank page - Table - Picture - Clipart - Shapes …………….and many more.
This feature makes it easier to select the tools you want without having to scroll through all those annoying toolbars and this new layout I quite neat. However with this new layout comes the problem that the task pane is not that customizable. It should be noted that this type of toolbar is used throughout several of the Office 2007 programs, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook.
The word processor itself is pretty much the same. A few more fonts have been added. The default font is no longer 'Times New Roman' but 'Calibri' which is much more fun. It can only be described as a cross between Arial and Comic Sans MS. A series of quick launch icons such as 'Quick Print' and 'Page Preview' are also available beside what you would call the 'File Button' as it is now an orb containing the Office logo.
A couple of great new features include a tool called SmartArt and the new and improved WordArt. SmartArt is a graphics design tool in Word 2007 that allows the user to create professional looking flow diagrams and relationship charts. The new WordArt feature allows for more professional designs and more customizable formats. Also, blog sheets can be edited and directly uploaded to the web.
But enough about Word, other new features include:
OUTLOOK 2007: - Exchange 5.5 has been dropped. - Outlook now indexed, e.g.: emails, contacts etc. - Outlook includes a reader for RSS feeds. - Includes a To-Do bar. - Flagged e-mails and notes can also be converted to Task items.
EXCEL 2007: - Support up to 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns in a single worksheet. - Column titles can optionally show options to control the layout of the column. - 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.
POWERPOINT 2007: - Improvements to text rendering to support text based graphics. - Rendering of 3D graphics. - Support for many more sound file formats such as .mp3 and .wma.
ACCESS 2007: - Access now includes support for a broader range of data types, including documents and images. - Whenever any table is updated, all reports referencing the table are also updated. - Dropdown lists for a table can be modified in place.
PUBLISHER 2007: - Templates automatically fill out with information such as company name, logo etc, wherever applicable. - Frequently used content can be stored in Content Store for quick access. - Design Checker, which is used to find design inconsistencies, has been updated.
INFOPATH 2007: - InfoPath designed forms can now be used from a browser, provided the server is running InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint 2007 or Office Forms Server. - A form can be sent out to people via e-mail. Such forms can be filled out from Outlook 2007 itself. - PivotDiagrams can show aggregate statistical summaries for the data and show them.
Although some of the disadvantages include; programs take slightly long to start-up and the new layout takes some getting use to. Also, files have to be specifically saved in compatibility mode to be viewed with older versions of Office.
Microsoft Office 2007 is truly unique and more user-friendly than ever. It's defiantly worth the investment for the decades best desktoppublishing software.
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
Sources: Wikipedia= New features of Office 2007.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Good review, my husband bought me a new laptop yesterday and theres a 90 day trial version of this installed onto it. I like they layout and ease of use its alot better compared to the old MSWord :o)xx
Office Ultimate 2007 will give people working at home access to the full lineup of 2007 ... more
Microsoft Office applications so they can create, find, manage and share information across boundaries using the toolset they're familiar with at the office.
Postage & Packaging: Free Delivery Availability: 3-7 days
Office Ultimate 2007 will give people working at home access to the full lineup of 2007 ... more
Microsoft Office applications so they can create, find, manage and share information across boundaries using the toolset they're familiar with at the office.
Postage & Packaging: see site for shipping costs Availability: 3-7 days
Office Ultimate 2007 provides tech-savvy people who do work at home and within small ... more
businesses with a comprehensive set of office software tools they need to create, manage, and share information across organizational and geographic boundaries. With O...
Advantages: Powerful Applications Make Office Work Easier And Faster. Disadvantages: A little bit confusing in the beggining as the interface has tottaly changed.
Advantages: Powerful Applications Make Office Work Easier And Faster. Disadvantages: A little bit confusing in the beggining as the interface has tottaly changed.
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