Word 2007, the newest version of the workhorse word processor, doesn't bring much new to the table for average users, but it does come with improvements that will assist those who change and review documents in business environments.
The slick new "Live Preview" feature works great in Word. As you peruse possible fonts, you can simply hold the mouse cursor over a font and preview your selected text in that font. Move the mouse cursor away and nothing happens. But click on the font and it's immediately applied.
You can also compare two versions of a document in a new tri-pane review panel that shows both versions of a document with the text that has been deleted, inserted, or moved. And when you use Office Word 2007 with Office SharePoint Server 2007, you'll gain workflow services that allow workers to initiate, manage, and track document reviews and approvals from within Word.
With new "Building Blocks," you can add frequently used text to documents with just a few clicks and select from a predefined gallery of cover pages, pull quotes, and headers and footers to incorporate into documents. You can create your own "Building Blocks" that make it easy to add custom text that's frequently used, which can include legal disclaimer text and more.
A new Document Inspector removes comments and tracks changes, metadata, and other information in documents. There's also a powerful new slider bar at the screen's bottom right, a welcome new feature that lets you quickly and easily zoom in and out of documents.
Excel at It
For diehard users, Microsoft has increased Excel 2007's capacity to one million rows and 16,000 columns to accommodate massive amounts of data. Excel also comes with new options for sorting and filtering that make it easier to manage and work with these large tables.
Beyond converting spreadsheets into PDF and XPS file formats, Excel can render a spreadsheet into HTML so others may view it through a Web browser. Also, performance has been tuned to speed-up calculations when using a PC with a dual or multicore processor.
A Positive Outlook
Outlook 2007 improves its time management capabilities by allowing tasks and e-mails to be conveniently dragged onto its calendars to be scheduled. A new view allows you see multiple calendars at the same time and Outlook now comes with RSS support, which will be useful to those who want to keep up with the latest information from sites that support such broadcasts.
For larger offices with a dedicated IT person, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server offers powerful means to communicate and collaborate. With this technology, which is well integrated into the individual Office applications, users can upload files and reports, share calendars and content, and more.
Making the Upgrade?
If you only use Word to write letters, memos, and correspondence, and sometimes dabble in Excel and PowerPoint, you won't need to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007. If you want to use Outlook's new scheduling features or take advantage of the improved graphics in Excel charts and PowerPoint presentations, these may be reasons to upgrade. In other words, it's all in how you work.
Microsoft Office Basic comes with Word, Excel, and Outlook 2007 and is only available through OEMs and is not priced. Microsoft Office Home & Student comes with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and is priced at $149 (no upgrade pricing). Microsoft Office Standard comes with Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint and is priced at $399 ($239 upgrade).
Microsoft Office Small Business comes with Word, Excel, Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Publisher, and PowerPoint and is priced at $449 ($279 upgrade). Microsoft Office Professional comes with Word, Excel, Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Publisher, PowerPoint, and Access and is priced at $499 ($329 upgrade). Additional versions of Microsoft Office 2007 are also availble, with information available here.
