Microsoft Office 2007 brings the user new sets of impressive design tools while retaining some of the functions of Office 2003.
I made the change from Office 2003 (which I had used for many years) to Office 2007 because Office 2007 was installed on my new laptop. I struggled for awhile, since Office 2003’s drop down menus have been replaced in Office 2007 by a “ribbon”. For others who struggle with change, you will be happy to know that the dialog boxes in Office 2007 are the same as in Office 2003. The way you get to the dialog boxes has changed in Office 2007. At first, finding those new pathways was a little daunting, but then, during my quest to conquer, I had some “wow” moments tripping over new features. Following are some of my favorite changes in Office 2007.
MS Word
Styles in Word 2003 (left, below) were viewed from a drop down menu or side pane. In Word 2007, Styles display in a grid that depicts what the style will actually look like. Great enhancement!
Word 2007 has a new tool called SmartArt. Microsoft describes SmartArt as “a visual representation of your information and ideas. You can create SmartArt graphics by choosing from among many different layouts to quickly, easily, and effectively communicate your message.” I describe it as an easy way to spiff-up your work. SmartArt is also available in PowerPoint 2007 and Excel 2007. From the SmartArt dialog box (below) you choose what you want to create – a list, for example.
The list below was created in Word 2007 from SmartArt. You can see from the SmartArt dialog box (above) that you have options for lots of formats. Even after you choose one of the formats, you can then fine tune it for a special look, including the colors. The best part, you can resize it, as if it were a graphic image. Another great enhancement!
MS PowerPoint
WordArt is available in PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. WordArt gives you more options than the 2003 version, including three dimensional text. Their respective menus, 2003 and 2007, are shown below.
And shown below, is an example of what each product, 2003 and 2007, can produce. Yet another great enhancement!
MS Excel
The grandest wow factor with Excel 2007 is the ease at which you can create a table. Enter your columns and rows of data, select the data, click on the Style option, and then click on Format as Table. A drop down grid provides you with 60 layout options, from light, to medium, to dark tones.
With your data selected, by clicking on the layout of your choice, the table is created. You can see a portion of the table below; I selected a dark template with contrasting row colors. Each column header of the table has a drop down to sort or filter the information. And instead of using the words “ascending” or “descending” order as it was in Excel 2003, with Excel 2007, you choose to sort in “large to small” or “small to large” if numbers are in the table. When the column contents are text, the order selection is “A to Z” or “Z to A” so you don’t have to contemplate what ascend and descend mean in regard to your data.
Go For It!
So if you have been hesitant to upgrade to Office 2007, I say go for it. This is one time when change is a good thing. You will not be disappointed.
Nida | 
02 14th, 2009| 
